Measuring Spatial Variability of Vapor Flux to Characterize Vadose-zone VOC Sources [electronic resource] : Flow-cell Experiments
- Published:
- Washington, D.C. : United States. Dept. of Energy, 2014.
Oak Ridge, Tenn. : Distributed by the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, U.S. Dept. of Energy - Physical Description:
- pages 32-43 : digital, PDF file
- Additional Creators:
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (U.S.)
United States. Department of Energy
United States. Department of Energy. Office of Scientific and Technical Information - Access Online:
- www.osti.gov
- Summary:
- A method termed vapor-phase tomography has recently been proposed to characterize the distribution of volatile organic contaminant mass in vadose-zone source areas, and to measure associated three-dimensional distributions of local contaminant mass discharge. The method is based on measuring the spatial variability of vapor flux, and thus inherent to its effectiveness is the premise that the magnitudes and temporal variability of vapor concentrations measured at different monitoring points within the interrogated area will be a function of the geospatial positions of the points relative to the source location. A series of flow-cell experiments was conducted to evaluate this premise. A well-defined source zone was created by injection and extraction of a non-reactive gas (SF6). Spatial and temporal concentration distributions obtained from the tests were compared to simulations produced with a mathematical model describing advective and diffusive transport. Tests were conducted to characterize both areal and vertical components of the application. Decreases in concentration over time were observed for monitoring points located on the opposite side of the source zone from the local–extraction point, whereas increases were observed for monitoring points located between the local–extraction point and the source zone. We found that the results illustrate that comparison of temporal concentration profiles obtained at various monitoring points gives a general indication of the source location with respect to the extraction and monitoring points.
- Subject(s):
- Note:
- Published through SciTech Connect.
08/05/2014.
"pnnl-sa--104210"
"47929"
"830403000"
Journal of Contaminant Hydrology 167 ISSN 0169-7722 AM
Jon Mainhagu; C. Morrison; Michael J. Truex; Martinus Oostrom; Mark Brusseau. - Funding Information:
- AC05-76RL01830
110080
P42 ESO4940
View MARC record | catkey: 23777671