scholarly journals New model of reactive transport in a single-well push–pull test with aquitard effect and wellbore storage

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (8) ◽  
pp. 3983-4000
Author(s):  
Quanrong Wang ◽  
Junxia Wang ◽  
Hongbin Zhan ◽  
Wenguang Shi

Abstract. The model of single-well push–pull (SWPP) test has been widely used to investigate reactive radial dispersion in remediation or parameter estimation of in situ aquifers. Previous analytical solutions only focused on a completely isolated aquifer for the SWPP test, excluding any influence of aquitards bounding the tested aquifer, and ignored the wellbore storage of the chaser and rest phases in the SWPP test. Such simplification might be questionable in field applications when test durations are relatively long because solute transport in or out of the bounding aquitards is inevitable due to molecular diffusion and cross-formational advective transport. Here, a new SWPP model is developed in an aquifer–aquitard system with wellbore storage, and the analytical solution in the Laplace domain is derived. Four phases of the test are included: the injection phase, the chaser phase, the rest phase and the extraction phase. As the permeability of the aquitard is much smaller than the permeability of the aquifer, the flow is assumed to be perpendicular to the aquitard; thus only vertical dispersive and advective transports are considered for the aquitard. The validity of this treatment is tested against results grounded in numerical simulations. The global sensitivity analysis indicates that the results of the SWPP test are largely sensitive (i.e., influenced by) to the parameters of porosity and radial dispersion of the aquifer, whereas the influence of the aquitard on results could not be ignored. In the injection phase, the larger radial dispersivity of the aquifer could result in the smaller values of breakthrough curves (BTCs), while there are greater BTC values in the chaser and rest phases. In the extraction phase, it could lead to the smaller peak values of BTCs. The new model of this study is a generalization of several previous studies, and it performs better than previous studies ignoring the aquitard effect and wellbore storage for interpreting data of the field SWPP test reported by Yang et al. (2014).

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quanrong Wang ◽  
Wenguang Shi ◽  
Hongbin Zhan

Abstract. The model of single-well injection-withdrawal (SWIW) test has been widely used to investigate reactive radial dispersion in remediation or parameter estimation of the in situ aquifers. Previous analytical solutions only focused on a completely isolated aquifer for the SWIW test, excluding any influence of aquitards bounding the tested aquifer. This simplification might be questionable in field applications when test durations are relatively long, because solute transport in or out of the bounding aquitards is inevitable due to molecular diffusion and cross-formational advective transport. Here, a new SWIW model is developed in an aquifer-aquitard system, and the analytical solution in the Laplace domain is derived. Four phases of the test are included: the injection phase, the chaser phase, the rest phase and the extraction phase. The Green's function method is employed for the solution in the extraction phase. As the permeability of aquitard is much smaller than the permeability of the aquifer, the flow is assumed to be perpendicular to the aquitard, thus only vertical dispersive and advective transports are considered for aquitard. The validity of this treatment is tested by a numerical solution. The sensitivity analysis demonstrates that the influence of vertical flow velocity and porosity in the aquitards, and radial dispersion of the aquifer is more sensitive to the SWIW test than other parameters. In the injection phase, the larger radial dispersivity of the aquifer could result in the smaller values of breakthrough curves (BTCs), while greater values of BTCs of the chaser and rest phases. In the extraction phase, it could lead to the smaller peak values of BTCs. The new model of this study performs better than previous studies excluding the aquitard effect for interpreting data of the field SWIW test.


2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 2207-2223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quanrong Wang ◽  
Hongbin Zhan

Abstract. Using the single-well push–pull (SWPP) test to determine the in situ biogeochemical reaction kinetics, a chase phase and a rest phase were recommended to increase the duration of reaction, besides the injection and extraction phases. In this study, we presented multi-species reactive models of the four-phase SWPP test considering the wellbore storages for both groundwater flow and solute transport and a finite aquifer hydraulic diffusivity, which were ignored in previous studies. The models of the wellbore storage for solute transport were proposed based on the mass balance, and the sensitivity analysis and uniqueness analysis were employed to investigate the assumptions used in previous studies on the parameter estimation. The results showed that ignoring it might produce great errors in the SWPP test. In the injection and chase phases, the influence of the wellbore storage increased with the decreasing aquifer hydraulic diffusivity. The peak values of the breakthrough curves (BTCs) increased with the increasing aquifer hydraulic diffusivity in the extraction phase, and the arrival time of the peak value became shorter with a greater aquifer hydraulic diffusivity. Meanwhile, the Robin condition performed well at the rest phase only when the chase concentration was zero and the solute in the injection phase was completely flushed out of the borehole into the aquifer. The Danckwerts condition was better than the Robin condition even when the chase concentration was not zero. The reaction parameters could be determined by directly best fitting the observed data when the nonlinear reactions were described by piece-wise linear functions, while such an approach might not work if one attempted to use nonlinear functions to describe such nonlinear reactions. The field application demonstrated that the new model of this study performed well in interpreting BTCs of a SWPP test.


Author(s):  
G. Severino ◽  
D. M. Tartakovsky ◽  
G. Srinivasan ◽  
H. Viswanathan

We consider multi-component reactive transport in heterogeneous porous media with uncertain hydraulic and chemical properties. This parametric uncertainty is quantified by treating relevant flow and transport parameters as random fields, which renders the governing equations stochastic. We adopt a stochastic Lagrangian framework to replace a three-dimensional advection–reaction transport equation with a one-dimensional equation for solute travel times. We derive approximate expressions for breakthrough curves and their temporal moments. To illustrate our general theory, we consider advective transport of dissolved species undergoing an irreversible bimolecular reaction.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quanrong Wang ◽  
Hongbin Zhan

Abstract. Using the single-well push-pull (SWPP) test to determine the in situ biogeochemical reaction kinetics, a chase phase and a rest phase were recommended to increase the duration of reaction, besides the injection and extraction phases. In this study, we presented multi-species reactive models of the four-phase SWPP test considering the wellbore storages for both groundwater flow and solute transport and a finite aquifer hydraulic diffusivity, including three isotherm-based models (Freundlich, Langmuir and linear sorption models), one-site kinetic sorption model, two-site sorption model, which were also capable of describing the biogeochemical reactive transport processes, e.g. Monod or Michaelis-Menten kinetics. The models of the wellbore storage for solute transport were derived based on the mass balance, and the results showed that ignoring it could produce great errors in the SWPP test. In the injection and chase phases, the influence of the wellbore storage increased with the decreasing aquifer hydraulic diffusivity. The peak values of the breakthrough curves (BTCs) increased with the increasing aquifer hydraulic diffusivity in the extraction phase, and the arrival time of the peak value became shorter with a greater aquifer hydraulic diffusivity. Meanwhile, the Robin condition performed well at the rest phase only when the chase concentration was zero and the solute in the injection phase was completely flushed out of the borehole into the aquifer. The Danckwerts condition was better than the Robin condition even when the chase concentration was not zero. The reaction parameters could be determined by directly best fitting the observed data when the non-linear reactions were described by piece-wise linear functions, while such an approach might not work if one attempted to use non-linear functions to describe such non-linear reactions. The field application demonstrated that the new model of this study performed well in interpreting BTCs of a SWPP test.


2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 815-870 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. J. Riley ◽  
F. M. Maggi ◽  
M. Kleber ◽  
M. S. Torn ◽  
J. Y. Tang ◽  
...  

Abstract. Accurate representation of soil organic matter (SOM) dynamics in Earth System Models is critical for future climate prediction, yet large uncertainties exist regarding how, and to what extent, the suite of proposed relevant mechanisms should be included. To investigate how various mechanisms interact to influence SOM storage and dynamics, we developed a SOM reaction network integrated in a one-dimensional, multi-phase, and multi-component reactive transport solver. The model includes representations of bacterial and fungal activity, multiple archetypal polymeric and monomeric carbon substrate groups, aqueous chemistry, aqueous advection and diffusion, gaseous diffusion, and adsorption (and protection) and desorption from the soil mineral phase. The model predictions reasonably matched observed depth-resolved SOM and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) stocks in grassland ecosystems as well as lignin content and fungi to aerobic bacteria ratios. We performed a suite of sensitivity analyses under equilibrium and dynamic conditions to examine the role of dynamic sorption, microbial assimilation rates, and carbon inputs. To our knowledge, observations do not exist to fully test such a complicated model structure or to test the hypotheses used to explain observations of substantial storage of very old SOM below the rooting depth. Nevertheless, we demonstrated that a reasonable combination of sorption parameters, microbial biomass and necromass dynamics, and advective transport can match observations without resorting to an arbitrary depth-dependent decline in SOM turnover rates, as is often done. We conclude that, contrary to assertions derived from existing turnover time based model formulations, observed carbon content and δ14C vertical profiles are consistent with a representation of SOM dynamics consisting of (1) carbon compounds without designated intrinsic turnover times, (2) vertical aqueous transport, and (3) dynamic protection on mineral surfaces.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Dentz ◽  
Alexandre Puyguiraud ◽  
Philippe Gouze

<p>Transport of dissolved substances through porous media is determined by the complexity of the pore space and diffusive mass transfer within and between pores. The interplay of diffusive pore-scale mixing and spatial flow variability are key for the understanding of transport and reaction phenomena in porous media. We study the interplay of pore-scale mixing and network-scale advection through heterogeneous porous media, and its role for the evolution and asymptotic behavior of hydrodynamic dispersion. In a Lagrangian framework, we identify three fundamental mechanisms of pore-scale mixing that determine large scale particle motion: (i) The smoothing of intra-pore velocity contrasts, (ii) the increase of the tortuosity of particle paths, and (iii) the setting of a maximum time for particle transitions. Based on these mechanisms, we derive an upscaled approach that predicts anomalous and normal hydrodynamic dispersion based on the characteristic pore length, Eulerian velocity distribution and Péclet number. The theoretical developments are supported and validated by direct numerical flow and transport simulations in a three-dimensional digitized Berea sandstone sample obtained using X-Ray microtomography. Solute breakthrough curves, are characterized by an intermediate power-law behavior and exponential cut-off, which reflect pore-scale velocity variability and intra-pore solute mixing. Similarly, dispersion evolves from molecular diffusion at early times to asymptotic hydrodynamics dispersion via an intermediate superdiffusive regime. The theory captures the full evolution form anomalous to normal transport behavior at different Péclet numbers as well as the Péclet-dependence of asymptotic dispersion. It sheds light on hydrodynamic dispersion behaviors as a consequence of the interaction between pore-scale mixing and Eulerian flow variability. </p>


2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Bertrand ◽  
H. Celle-Jeanton ◽  
F. Huneau ◽  
A. Baillieux ◽  
G. Mauri ◽  
...  

AbstractThe aim of this paper is to evaluate the vulnerability after point source contamination and characterize water circulations in volcanic flows located in the Argnat basin volcanic system (Chaîne des Puys, French Massif Central) using a tracer test performed by injecting a iodide solution. The analysis of breakthrough curves allowed the hydrodispersive characteristics of the massive lava flows to be determined. Large Peclet numbers indicated a dominant advective transport. The multimodal feature of breakthrough curves combined with high values of mean velocity and low longitudinal dispersion coefficients indicated thatwater flows in an environment analogous to a fissure system, and only slightly interacts with a low porosity matrix (ne < 1%). Combining this information with lava flow stratigraphy provided by several drillings allowed a conceptual scheme of potential contaminant behaviour to be designed. Although lava flows are vulnerable to point source pollution due to the rapid transfer of water within fractures, the saturated scoriaceous layers located between massive rocks should suffice to strongly buffer the transit of pollution through dilution and longer transit times. This was consistent with the low recovery rate of the presented tracer test.


2012 ◽  
Vol 518-523 ◽  
pp. 2183-2191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheng Zhang ◽  
David N Lerner

Perfluorinated surfactants have emerged as priority environmental contaminants due to their detection in environmental and biological matrices as well as concerns regarding their persistence and toxicity. They have been found in groundwater, particularly at sites used for training firefighters. They do not biodegrade easily in groundwater, and are not retarded during transport. The most common chemical is Perfluorooctanyl Sulphonate (PFOS), which is mainly used in aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) to extinguish hydrocarbon-fuel fires. It is also used in many herbicide and insecticide formulations, cosmetics, greases and lubricants, paints, polishes, and adhesives. PFOS and related fluoro-organic chemicals have been used since the 1950s. A quantity of fluorosurfactants and related products are still in use all over the world. Intensive studies over the last few years discovered that PFOS and certain by-products were both ubiquitous in the environment and highly persistent. PFOS does not biodegrade in the environment and very limited degradation has been observed in wastewater treatment. The breakthrough curves of a single-well push-pull test indicated that there was no retardation for PFOS as well. It was detected in part-per-billion levels in blood samples obtained from blood banks in the United States, Japan, Europe, and China. There have been more and more reports on the accumulation and effect of PFOS in wild animals’ liver, serum and muscle as well. This suggests that PFOS can bioaccumulate to higher levels of the food chain.


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