Numerical Modelling of the Fate of Residual Immiscible Fluids in Saturated Porous Media

In the subsurface, small but significant quantities of chemicals will be dissolved by groundwater in contact with Non-aqueous Phase Liquids (NAPL) and can result in groundwater contamination. The rate of NAPL dissolution will influence the magnitude of dissolved chemical concentrations in groundwate...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inWater science and technology Vol. 24; no. 11; pp. 261 - 270
Main Author Guiguer, Nilson
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London IWA Publishing 01.01.1991
Subjects
Aquifers
Chemical plumes
Computational fluid dynamics
Computer simulation
Contamination
Dissolved chemicals
Fluids
Groundwater
Groundwater pollution
Liquids
Mathematical models
Migration
Modelling
Nonaqueous phase liquids
Plumes
Pollution sources
Porous media
Purging
Subsoils
Trichloroethylene
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:In the subsurface, small but significant quantities of chemicals will be dissolved by groundwater in contact with Non-aqueous Phase Liquids (NAPL) and can result in groundwater contamination. The rate of NAPL dissolution will influence the magnitude of dissolved chemical concentrations in groundwater and the length of time that NAPL sources may cause groundwater contamination. A suitable understanding of NAPL fate in the subsoil is required in order to evaluate the sources of existing dissolved chemical plumes, to allow predictions of future plume migration and to evaluate the effectiveness of dissolved plume purging in situations where NAPL remains in the subsurface. In this study the mathematical formulation necessary to represent the behavior of NAPL in the saturated zone is presented. The results of the simulation of a trichloroethene spill demonstrates that immiscible liquids can act as a continuous contamination source in an aquifer for many decades, even in small quantities.
ISSN:0273-1223
1996-9732
DOI:10.2166/wst.1991.0359