Chaotic Advection and Enhanced Groundwater Remediation
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 19, Issue 1
Abstract
The field of groundwater remediation needs cost effective and time efficient technologies. Recent developments in the field of chaotic advection in low Reynolds number flows have led to the belief that a system of wells that oscillate between injection and extraction with time-dependent, randomly constrained flow rates could cause substantial mixing in an aquifer. This could have significant effects when combined with the advection and dispersion and biodegradation aspects of natural attenuation, especially in the context of mixing rate-limiting electron acceptors with contaminants that are serving as substrate for microbes. Chaotic advection enhanced remediation could possibly turn decades into years, while reducing both exposure risk and clean up costs. In this research work, we use flow and transport modeling to study the mixing phenomena created in groundwater by oscillating wells. To quantify mixing, an index is developed using the concept of average interparticle distances and implemented along with the dilution index, presented in the literature before.
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Acknowledgments
The writers wish to thank Professor Rene Chevray, of Columbia University, for many valuable contributions in the form of discussions, suggestions, and literature review pointers; Daniel Cornacchiulo, of Columbia University, for his help and collaboration during the formative stages of this research endeavor; and Dr. Andrei Novikov, of Pfizer Inc. and Mr. Anthony Benoit, of the University of Connecticut, for contributions in the literature review of chaos theory and chaotic advection. The first writer (A.C.B.) greatfully acknowledges the financial support and collaboration of the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Institute of Water Resources through Grant No. 01HQGR0078. The second writer (P.O.) gratefully acknowledges the financial support of a NSF Graduate Fellowship. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the writers and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. Government.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 19 • Issue 1 • January 2007
Pages: 75 - 83
Copyright
© 2007 ASCE.
History
Received: Feb 11, 2005
Accepted: Jul 29, 2005
Published online: Jan 1, 2007
Published in print: Jan 2007
Notes
Note. Associate Editor: Hilary I. Inyang
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