Transport Characteristics in a 3D Groundwater Circulation Flow Field by Experimental and Numerical Investigations
Publication: Practice Periodical of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste Management
Volume 14, Issue 3
Abstract
The groundwater circulation well (GCW) is one of the important in situ techniques used for the remediation of volatile organic contaminants (VOCs) in groundwater. The hydraulic flow field of the GCW permits physical and biological remediation of the saturated as well as the unsaturated subsurface region. The GCW is designed to remove VOCs from the groundwater by transferring the contaminants from the aqueous phase to the gaseous phase and subsequently treating the resulting air stream through carbon adsorption units. As the flow phenomena surrounding a GCW in a heterogeneous aquifer are very complex, the characterization of transport is very difficult. This paper presents the analysis of experimental tracer transport in a three-dimensional (3D) flow field induced by a GCW in an artificial aquifer at the research facility for groundwater and subsurface remediation, Versuchseinrichtung zur Grundwasser und Altlastensanierung (VEGAS), at University of Stuttgart, Germany. The circulation flow field within a heterogeneous aquifer was investigated by a partial tracer injection tracing a certain stream tube of the flow field. The controlled extraction of the tracer was rather difficult because of the aquifer heterogeneity. A numerical model has been built up and simulation has been carried out for flow and transport processes. Experimental and simulated breakthrough curves were compared and the influence of aquifer heterogeneity on the transport has been brought out. The present study reveals the various flow and transport characteristics in a circulation well field giving further insight into the remediation process by the GCW.
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Acknowledgments
The writers are thankful to the German Federal Ministry of Research and Education (BMBF), which funded the experimental investigations and also to the company IEG, Reutlingen (Germany), for the technical support of the GCW technology. The writers are grateful to DAAD, Germany for the support given to the second and third writers during their stay in Germany for this study. The writers are also thankful to Professor Gerhard H. Jirka, Director, Dr. M. Scholz, and Dr. J. Stamm, former Scientists, Institute for Hydromechanics, University of Karlsruhe, Germany for their support.
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Published In
Practice Periodical of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste Management
Volume 14 • Issue 3 • July 2010
Pages: 185 - 194
Copyright
© 2010 ASCE.
History
Received: Jun 26, 2008
Accepted: Apr 6, 2010
Published online: Jun 15, 2010
Published in print: Jul 2010
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