Abstract
A permeable reactive barrier (PRB) is an effective groundwater in situ remediation technology, and the design methods used for PRBs are significant in ensuring that they meet remediation goals. Steady-state analytical solutions are an effective tool to provide conservative and simple design methods. A steady-state analytical solution is proposed to describe organic contaminant transport through the PRB and aquifer in a PRB and cut-off wall system. The proposed analytical solution may serve as an effective tool to provide conservative and simple design methods. The shape factor () is introduced at the PRB-aquifer interface to investigate the effects of a PRB’s layout forms on its performance. The results show that the relative contaminant concentration at the point of compliance for a PRB with is 11 orders of magnitude larger than that without considering the shape factor. Effects of degradation, dispersion, and advection on PRB design are subjected to dimensionless analysis. Dimensionless analysis shows that degradation plays a key role in decreasing contaminant concentration in the PRB. In addition, increasing advection may promote contaminant transport from the source to the aquifer. Simplified solutions to estimate PRB thickness and source remediation time are derived for the practical design and performance evaluation of the PRB system.
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Data Availability Statement
All data are available from the authors upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
Financial support from the Pioneer and Leading Goose Programs of Zhejiang (2022C03051), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 52278375, 41977223, and 41931289), the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant Nos. 2018YFC1802303 and 2019YFC1806005), the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (Grant No. LR20E080002), and the Overseas Expertise Introduction Project for Discipline Innovation (111project) (Grant No. B18047) is greatly appreciated.
Author contributions: Haijian Xie: conceptualization, funding acquisition, project administration, resources, supervision, and writing (review and editing). Mengzhen Yu: conceptualization, investigation, methodology, visualization, and writing (original draft, review, and editing). Huaxiang Yan: conceptualization, resources, supervision, and writing (original draft, review, and editing). Hywel Rhys Thomas: review and editing. Yunmin Chen: review and editing. Yun Chen: review and editing.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 149 • Issue 9 • September 2023
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 2, 2022
Accepted: Apr 11, 2023
Published online: Jun 19, 2023
Published in print: Sep 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Nov 19, 2023
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Business management
- Chemical degradation
- Chemical processes
- Chemistry
- Contaminant transport
- Environmental engineering
- Groundwater
- Groundwater management
- Material mechanics
- Material properties
- Materials characterization
- Materials engineering
- Mechanical properties
- Mitigation and remediation
- Permeability (material)
- Pollutants
- Practice and Profession
- Steady states
- Tension
- Water (by type)
- Water and water resources
- Water management
- Water treatment
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