Influence of Clay Lens on Migration of Light Nonaqueous Phase Liquid in Unsaturated Zone
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 137, Issue 1
Abstract
This study concerns the control of movement of light nonaqueous phase liquid (LNAPL) in unsaturated zone in the presence of relatively low permeability clay lens. A two-dimensional, finite-difference numerical model for the simultaneous movement of LNAPL and water through the unsaturated zone of the soil has been developed. The system is a three fluid phase system (water, LNAPL, and air) but in the derivation of the model, air was treated as an immobile phase at constant atmospheric pressure. The flow equations for LNAPL and water were cast in terms of the wetting and non-wetting fluid pressure heads, respectively. The finite-difference equations were solved implicitly with explicitly scheme using Newton-Raphson iteration with Taylor series expansion to treat nonlinearity. A physical model to represent the infiltration of kerosene above the clay lens was constructed. The numerical results were compared with those observed experimentally. The results of all tests showed that the presence of clay lens controls the vertical movement of LNAPL in heterogeneous porous medium.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 137 • Issue 1 • January 2011
Pages: 9 - 14
Copyright
© 2011 ASCE.
History
Received: Sep 28, 2009
Accepted: Jun 24, 2010
Published online: Jun 26, 2010
Published in print: Jan 2011
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