Density-driven Transport of Volatile Organic Compounds and its Impact on Contaminated Groundwater Plume Evolution

Density-driven advection of gas phase due to vaporization of chlorinated volatile organic compounds (VOCs) has a significant effect on fate and transport of contaminants. In this study, we investigated the effects of density-driven advection, infiltration, and permeability on contaminant plume evolution and natural attenuation of VOCs in the subsurface system. To analyze these effects, multiphase flow and contaminant transport processes were simulated using a three-dimensional Galerkin-finite-element-based model. Trichloroethylene (TCE) is selected as a target contaminant. Density-driven advection of gas phase elevated the potential of groundwater pollution in the saturated zone by accelerating downward migration of vaporized contaminant in the unsaturated zone. The advection contributed to increased removal rates of non-aqueous phase liquid (NAPL) TCE source and reduced dissolved TCE plume development in the downstream area. Infiltration reduced the velocity of the density-driven advection and its influence zone, but raised TCE transfer from the unsaturated to the saturated zone. The variation in soil permeability showed greater impact on contaminant migration within water phase in the saturated zone than within gas phase in the unsaturated zone. Temporal variations of TCE mass within two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) domains under several modeling conditions were compared. These results are important in evaluation of natural attenuation processes, and should be considered to effectively design monitored natural attenuation as a remedial option.     

Effect of sorption hysteresis on the spatial distribution of contaminants in soils

A mathematical model of the combined transport of water and a dissolved contaminant in a peaty soil which takes hysteresis of the sorption and desorption processes into account is developed. The solvability of the initial and boundary value problems and the stability of the solutions are investigated. A series of problems characterizing the features of the contaminant distribution over peaty masses is solved numerically. A physical mechanism leading to the frequently observed effect of localization of the equilibrium sorbent distribution over the upper layer of soil is proposed. The effect of both the medium parameters and the regime of water and contaminant supply to the system is analyzed numerically.     

Fluid-solid coupling mathematical model of contaminant transport in unsaturated zone and its asymptotical solution

IntroductionThetransportofcontaminantsinunsaturatedzonehascausedmuchattention .Inearly1960s,contaminationproblemsofsoilandgroundwaterhadbeenstudiedathomeandabroad[1].Andinrecentyears ,thetransformationandtransportationofcontaminantshavebeendeeplystudiedinthefieldsofhydrogeology ,petroleumengineering ,environmentalengineeringandsoon[2 ,3].Somecontaminanttransportmodelshavebeenpresentedsofar.Forexample ,Paker[4 ]etal.presentedaconstitutivemodelgoverningparametersofwater,gasandcontaminantswhenth…     

On Analytical Solutions of Advective Transport by Infiltration–Redistribution Gravitational Flow

Contaminant transport in the upper layers of soil during the multiple cycles of short infiltration and prolonged redistribution is investigated. Analytical solutions for the two typical problems encountered in agricultural engineering are derived. The first problem considers the penetration of fertilizer initially applied at the soil surface. The second one is the propagation of contaminant injected with the applied water. Explicit analytical expressions for the solute concentration are obtained under assumptions of one-dimensional gravitational flow and advective solute transport under equilibrium conditions. The properties of the solute penetration are analyzed for the case of contaminant initially applied at the soil surface and picked up by the water flow during ten infiltration–redistribution cycles. P. Indelman - (deceased)     

The Role of Biofilm Growth in Bacteria-Facilitated Contaminant Transport in Porous Media

Groundwater contaminants adhered to colloid surfaces may migrate to greater distances than predicted by using the conventional advective-dispersive transport equation. Introduction of exogenous bacteria in a bioremediation operation or mobilization of indigenous bacteria in groundwater aquifers can enhance the transport of contaminants in groundwater by reducing the retardation effects. Because of their colloidal size and favorable surface conditions, bacteria can be efficient contaminant carriers. In cases where contaminants have low mobility because of their high partition with aquifer solids, facilitated contaminant transport by mobile bacteria can create high contaminant fluxes. In this paper, we developed a methodology to describe the bacteria-facilitated contaminant transport in a subsurface environment using the biofilm theory. The model is based on mass balance equations for bacteria and contaminant. The contaminant is utilized as a substrate for bacterial growth. Bacteria are attached to solid surfaces as a biofilm. We investigate the role of the contaminant adsorption on both biofilm and mobile bacteria on groundwater contaminant transport. Also, the effect of bacterial injection on the contaminant transport is evaluated in the presence of indigenous bacteria in porous media. The model was solved numerically and validated by experimental data reported in the literature. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to deduce the effect of critical model parameters. Results show that biofilm grows rapidly near the top of the column where the bacteria and contaminant are injected, and is detached by increasing fluid shear stress and re-attach downstream. The adsorption of contaminant on bacterial surfaces reduces contaminant mobility remarkably in the presence of a biofilm. The contaminant concentration decreases significantly along the biofilm when contaminant partition into bacteria. Bacterial injection and migration in subsurface environments can be important in bioremediation operations regardless of the presence of indigenous bacteria.     

Comparison of Kinetic and Hybrid-Equilibrium Models Simulating Colloid-Facilitated Contaminant Transport in Porous Media

The presence of colloidal particles in groundwater can enhance contaminant transport by reducing retardation effects and carrying them to distances further than predicted by a conventional advective/dispersive equation with normal retardation values. When colloids exist in porous media and affect contaminant migration, the system can best be simulated as a three-phase medium. Mechanisms of mass transfer from one phase to another by colloids and contaminants can be kinetic or equilibrium-based, depending on the sorption–desorption reaction rate between the aqueous and solid phases. When the rate of sorption between the water phase and the solid phase(s) is not much greater than the rate of change in contaminant concentration in the water phase, kinetic sorption models may better describe the phenomenon. In some cases of modeling one or more mass transfer processes, a useful simplification may be to introduce the local equilibrium assumption. In this study, the local equilibrium assumption for sorption processes on colloidal surfaces (hybrid equilibrium model) was compared with kinetic-based models. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to deduce the effect of major parameters on contaminant transport. The results obtained from the hybrid equilibrium model in predicting the transport of colloid-facilitated groundwater contaminant are very similar to those of the kinetic model, when the point of interest is not at contaminant and colloid source vicinities and the time of interest is sufficiently long for imposed sources.     

A critical review of dispersion in packed beds

The phenomenon of dispersion (transverse and longitudinal) in packed beds is summarized and reviewed for a great deal of information from the literature. Dispersion plays an important part, for example, in contaminant transport in ground water flows, in miscible displacement of oil and gas and in reactant and product transport in packed bed reactors. There are several variables that must be considered, in the analysis of dispersion in packed beds, like the length of the packed column, viscosity and density of the fluid, ratio of column diameter to particle diameter, ratio of column length to particle diameter, particle size distribution, particle shape, effect of fluid velocity and effect of temperature (or Schmidt number). Empirical correlations are presented for the prediction of the dispersion coefficients (D _T and D _L) over the entire range of practical values of Sc and Pe_m, and works on transverse and longitudinal dispersion of non-Newtonian fluids in packed beds are also considered.     

Laboratory Investigation of Variable-Density Flow and Solute Transport in Unsaturated–Saturated Porous Media

In many groundwater systems, fluid density and viscosity may vary in space and time as a function of changes in concentration and temperature of the fluid. When dense groundwater plumes interact with less dense ambient groundwater, these density variations can significantly affect flow and transport processes. Under certain conditions, gravitational instabilities in the form of lobe-shaped fingers can occur. This process is significant because it can lead to more rapid and spatially extensive solute transport. This paper presents new experiments carried out in a sand filled glass flow container under both fully saturated and variably-saturated conditions and focuses upon the processes that occur at the capillary fringe and below the water table, as affected by a dense contaminant plumes migration through the unsaturated zone. Source fluids stained with Rhodamine-WT were introduced at the upper boundary of the tank at a range of low and high densities. In addition to the fluid density gradients and porous medium permeability that determine the onset conditions for instabilities in fully saturated experiments, volumetric water content appears critical in the variably-saturated laboratory runs. Plume behaviour at the water table appears dependent upon the density of the fluid that accumulates there. For neutral and low density fluids, plumes accumulate at the water table and then spread laterally above it and the water table forms a barrier to further vertical flow as pore water velocities reduce with increasing water content. For medium and high density fluids, vertical movement continues as instabilities form at the capillary fringe and fingers begin to grow at the water table boundary and move downwards into the saturated zone. In these cases, lateral spreading of the plume is small. Despite these more qualitative observations, the exact nature of the relevant stability criteria for the onset and growth of instabilities in variably-saturated porous media presently remain unclear. All experimental results suggest, however, that the unsaturated zone and position of the water table must be considered in contaminant studies in order to predict the migration pathways, rates and ultimate fate of dense contaminant plumes. It is possible that the results of experiments presented in this paper could form a useful basis for the testing of variable-density (and variably-saturated) groundwater flow and solute transport numerical codes because they offer controlled physical laboratory analogs for comparison. They also provide a strong basis for the development of more rigorous mathematical formulations that are likely to be either developed or tested using numerical flow and solute transport simulators.     

Numerical simulation of soil–water interaction using smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method

An application of smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) to simulation of soil–water interaction is presented. In this calculation, water is modeled as a viscous fluid with week compressibility and soil is modeled as an elastic–perfectly plastic material. The Mohr–Coulomb failure criterion is applied to describe the stress states of soil in the plastic flow regime. Dry soil is modeled by one-phase flow while saturated soil is modeled by separate water and soil phases. Interaction between soil and water is taken into account by means of pore water pressure and seepage force. Simulation tests of soil excavation by a water jet are calculated as a challenging example to verify the broad applicability of the SPH method. The excavations are carried out in two different soil models, one is dry soil and the other is fully saturated soil. Numerical results obtained in this paper have shown that the gross discontinuities of soil failure can be simulated without any difficulties. This supports the feasibility and attractiveness of this a new approach in geomechanics applications. Advantages of the method are robustness, conceptual simplicity and relative ease of incorporating new physics.     

Tire footprint characteristics as a function of soil properties and tire operations

The main objective of the following presentation is to examine the possibility of predicting agricultural tire footprint parameters under different operational conditions. The experimental part of the research involved the operation of two agricultural transport tires on two soils, under variations of tire load, inflation pressures and soil moisture contents. Results obtained show that tire footprint parameters, such as contact area, length, width and sinkage, can be reliably predicted using multifactorial linear and total regressions, within the range of recommended tire loads, inflation pressures and soil moisture contents around the plastic limit.     

Investigation of Transport- and Sorption-Related Factors on the Removal of Hydrophobic Organic Compounds in Heterogeneous Soils Using a Hierarchical Modeling Approach

Hydrophobic organic compounds (HOCs) represent a class of generally highly persistent contaminants in groundwater. Factors influencing the transport of HOCs are evaluated through a hierarchical modeling approach, which incorporates particle scale sorption/diffusion with pore scale flow and transport models. The relative contributions of transport- and sorption-related factors on HOCs transport are first elucidated in a simplified single particle system. The comparative roles of different soil organic matter contents and compositions on the fate and transport of HOCs are further investigated by simulation of phenanthrene transport in porous media. This effort represents a proof-of-concept demonstration of bridging comprehensive representations of fluid-flow with mechanistic sorption/desorption processes.     

Numerical modeling of liquid-waste infiltration from storage facilities into surrounding groundwater and surface-water bodies

This study focuses on the infiltration of saturated brine from liquid-waste storage facilities into the surrounding groundwater and surface-water bodies. The storage facilities are situated at the Verkhnekamsk Potassium and Magnesium Salt Deposit (Perm krai, Russian Federation); they store highly mineralized brine of potassium, sodium, and magnesium chlorides. An analytical solution of a one-dimensional equation of contaminant transport by a homogeneous steady-state groundwater flow is used to estimate the time it takes the contaminant to travel from the storage facilities to the nearest surface water body, as well as to evaluate the formation time of a stationary concentration profile, with contaminant adsorption in the porous matrix either neglected or taken into account. The contaminant concentration at the point of brine entry into the surface water body is calculated. The ANSYS Fluent software package is used for direct 3D simulation of brine infiltration into the surrounding medium. The simulation results revealed different stages of contaminant propagation in the porous medium. The contaminant was found to spread over a wide area with an almost uniform high brine concentration close to the saturation value. The contaminant reaches the nearest riverbed approximately 20 days after the start of infiltration. The estimates of the time required for the contaminant front to reach the surface water body obtained by three-dimensional simulation agree with the analytical estimates derived from a one-dimensional model. The proposed system of physical models adequately describes the hydrodynamic processes accompanying the operation of large storage facilities and can be used to predict contaminant-front propagation in the groundwater near storage facilities.     

Influence of root resistivity on plant water uptake mechanism,Part II: analytical solutions for low/moderate soil-root conductivity ratio

A one-dimensional approximate analytical model, which preserves the main features of soil-crop-atmospheric hydrodynamics, has been suggested for plant roots of low soil-root conductivity ratio (SRCR). The proposed approach involves physically based concepts, such as mass balance equation, Darcy’s law, and related water uptake and plant transpiration functions. Two main assumptions have been made to derive the analytical solution: (1) gravitational flow is adopted and (2) the uniform soil moisture distribution within the root water activity zone is supposed. The mass balance equation in its integral form is solved by the method of characteristics. This leads to the two functional equations for soil pressure head and root potential, which can be solved simultaneously by using common software. The model has been further verified against the numerical one. The model represents a reasonable compromise between the complicated mechanism of unsaturated water flow with root water uptake (RWU) and still insufficient knowledge of the soil-plant-atmospheric continuum. It is able to account for temporal fluctuations in root activity zone and provides a relatively simple algorithm for investigation of RWU-mechanism. Besides the theoretical and applicative importance, this flow model yields water and velocity distributions within soil profile, and, thereby, constitutes a preliminary step toward solution of contaminant transport problems in vadose zone. Deceased     

Sloping Saturated–Unsaturated Flow with Outflow at Seepage Face

Analytic series solutions are constructed for the phreatic free surface problem of two-dimensional steady downslope saturated–unsaturated flow, with water exiting at a seepage face. The region in free parameter space is delineated for which the water table intersects the upper surface, and the steady state with uniform constant irrigation rate, ceases to exist. The flow solution is extended to a case of the domain being more general than a parallelogram, with the upper and lower boundaries being piecewise linear. This geometry resembles that of large-scale rainfall simulators that are designed to test slope stability of wetted soil beds.     

Evaluation of Effective Parameters for Volatile Organic Compounds in Porous Media with Mobile Air Phase

Soil-venting or vacuum extraction is an effective tool for remediation of soils contaminated with volatile compounds. Brusseau’s [Water Resour. Res. 27(12), 3189–3199, 1991] model of fate and transport of volatile compounds in the gaseous phase of dual-porosity soils with rate-limited sorption is adopted in this study. Using temporal moment analysis, expressions for effective velocity and dispersion are derived. The values of effective transport properties are presented for a set of volatile compounds for two typical soils. Sensitivity of these effective parameters to Peclet and Damkohler numbers is discussed.     

高温高压气体在低含水率介质中迁移的数值模拟

针对气液两相非等温渗流模型高度非线性的特点,发展了适宜的数值离散方法。根据相态转换准则和控制方程的性质,采用最低饱和度法简化算法。空间离散方面,使用有限体积法;时间离散方面,设计了一套包含合理求解顺序的Picard迭代法,解决了方程组强耦合的问题。利用上述数值方法对高温高压气体的迁移行为进行数值模拟,证明了气体在低含水率介质和等效孔隙度的干燥介质内的运动基本一致,并分析了空腔内的气液相态转变过程。在此基础上,研究了多孔介质孔隙度和渗透率对气体压强演化和示踪气体迁移的影响。研究表明,孔隙度越小（相同渗透率）、渗透率越高（相同孔隙度）,示踪气体的迁移距离越远,并给出了估算不同孔隙度和渗透率下迁移距离的半经验公式。     

Deposition Behavior of Mud in Sand Beds Under the Effects of Organic Properties

Mud transport in sand fractures has yielded a large body of information which is used to understand the sludge-ization of tidal flats, to improve the tidal flat environment, and to design artificial tidal flats. Over the past decades, studies of particle transport in saturated and unsaturated porous media provide a very clear understanding of the processes that govern particle transport. It has been reported that the particle transport and capture in porous media are significantly governed by hydraulic pressure gradient, porosity, and permeability distribution. The objective of this research is to present a study of mud transport in saturated sand beds, aiming to delineate the effects of the organic properties of mud on the general behavior of mud transport and deposition condition in pores. Laboratory experiments were undertaken to look into the effects of the organic properties. The experiments were conducted at a flow rate of 1.3 cm³/s. Many types of muds that have differences in the organic properties were injected into different sand beds at a concentration of 120 mg/L. It was observed that the deposition condition of mud in the beds was mostly due to the organic properties of mud. Mud containing high amounts of organic matter easily remained in sand beds. Furthermore, it was found that mud deposited in the pores as clusters rather than being separately adsorbed onto the surface of soil particles.     

Effect of biotransformation on multispecies plume evolution and natural attenuation

Biological transformation of volatile organic compounds is one of the key factors that influence contaminant-plume evolution and thus natural attenuation. In this study we investigate the effect of biological transformation on the transport of contaminants in the aqueous and gaseous phases. The analysis includes the study of the effect of density-driven advection of contaminants in the gaseous phase on multiphase and multispecies flow, fate and transport modeling in the subsurface. Trichloroethylene (TCE) and its two byproducts, dichloroethylene and vinyl chloride, are analyzed as the target contaminants. Our results indicate that density-driven advection of the gaseous phase, which is initiated by evaporation of TCE as a nonaqueous phase liquid, increases the downward and also the lateral migration of TCE within the unsaturated zone. This process also influences the location of high-concentration zones of the byproducts of TCE in the unsaturated and the saturated zones. Biotransformation of TCE contributes to the reduction of dissolved TCE plume development as expected. The daughter byproducts, which are introduced into the subsurface system, show distinct transport patterns as they are affected by their independent degradation kinetics and density-driven advection. These observations, which are based on our simulation results for biotransformation and transport of TCE and its byproducts, are useful in evaluating the natural attenuation processes, its potential health hazards and also the evaluation of potential plume development at contaminated sites.     

Modeling Biogeochemical Processes in Leachate-Contaminated Soils: A Review

During subsurface transport, reactive solutes are subject to a variety of hydrological, physical and biochemical processes. The major hydrological and physical processes include advection, diffusion and hydrodynamic dispersion, and key biochemical processes are aqueous complexation, precipitation/dissolution, adsorption/desorption, microbial reactions, and redox transformations. The addition of strongly reduced landfill leachate to an aquifer may lead to the development of different redox environments depending on factors such as the redox capacities and reactivities of the reduced and oxidised compounds in the leachate and the aquifer. The prevailing redox environment is key to understanding the fate of pollutants in the aquifer. The local hydrogeologic conditions such as hydraulic conductivity, ion exchange capacity, and buffering capacity of the soil are also important in assessing the potential for groundwater pollution. Attenuating processes such as bacterial growth and metal precipitation, which alter soil characteristics, must be considered to correctly assess environmental impact. A multicomponent reactive solute transport model coupled to kinetic biodegradation and precipitation/dissolution model, and geochemical equilibrium model can be used to assess the impact of contaminants leaking from landfills on groundwater quality. The fluid flow model can also be coupled to the transport model to simulate the clogging of soils using a relationship between permeability and change in soil porosity. This paper discusses the different biogeochemical processes occurring in leachate-contaminated soils and the modeling of the transport and fate of organic and inorganic contaminants under such conditions.