Bayesian estimation of the transmissivity spatial structure from pumping test data

Demir, Mehmet Taner; Copty, Nadım K.; Trinchero, Paolo; Sánchez-Vila, Xavier

doi:10.1016/j.advwatres.2017.03.021

Cited by 16 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 48 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…A qualitatively similar behavior is observed when interpreting drawdown data from a pumping test, with the heterogeneous aquifer acting as an equivalent homogeneous system at late times; i.e. when the cone of depression has sampled a large portion of the aquifer[34,35]. Discussion and conclusionsThe SKB Task Force GWFTS is an international forum supporting theÄspö Hard Rock Laboratory activities.…”

supporting

confidence: 61%

Microtomography-based Inter-Granular Network for the simulation of radionuclide diffusion and sorption in a granitic rock

Iraola

Trinchero

Voutilainen

et al. 2017

Journal of Contaminant Hydrology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Field investigation studies, conducted in the context of safety analyses of deep geological repositories for nuclear waste, have pointed out that in fractured crystalline rocks sorbing radionuclides can diffuse surprisingly long distances deep into the intact rock matrix; i.e. much longer distances than those predicted by reactive transport models based on a homogeneous description of the properties of the rock matrix. Here, we focus on cesium diffusion and use detailed micro characterisation data, based on micro computed tomography, along with a grain-scale Inter-Granular Network model, to offer a plausible explanation for the anomalously long cesium penetration profiles observed in these in-situ experiments. The sparse distribution of chemically reactive grains (i.e. grains belonging to sorbing mineral phases) is shown to have a strong control on the diffusive patterns of sorbing radionuclides. The computed penetration profiles of cesium agree well with an analytical model based on two parallel diffusive pathways. This agreement, along with visual inspection of the spatial distribution of cesium concentration, indicates that for sorbing radionuclides the medium indeed behaves as a composite system, with most of the mass being retained close to the injection boundary and a non-negligible part diffusing faster along preferential diffusive pathways.

show abstract

supporting

confidence: 61%

Microtomography-based Inter-Granular Network for the simulation of radionuclide diffusion and sorption in a granitic rock

Iraola

Trinchero

Voutilainen

et al. 2017

Journal of Contaminant Hydrology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The turning bands method (Mantoglou and Wilson 1982) was used to generate spatially variable transmissivity fields. As transmissivity is considered the most salient feature of natural aquifers (e.g., Demir et al 2017), the analyses focus on the spatial variability of transmissivity; the storativity was assumed uniform with S 0 = 5 × 10 −4 .…”

Section: Applying Hantush's Methods To Drawdown Data From Heterogeneous Aquifersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interpretation of Pumping Tests in Heterogeneous Aquifers with Constant Head Boundary

Pechstein

Copty

2021

Groundwater

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper investigates the impact of heterogeneity of the transmissivity field on the interpretation of steady-state pumping test data from aquifer systems delimited by constant head boundaries such as aquifers adjacent to lakes or rivers. Spatially variable transmissivity fields are randomly generated and used to simulate the drawdown due to a pumping well located at different distances from a constant head boundary. The steady-state drawdown simulated at different observation wells are then interpreted using the Hantush method (Hantush 1959). The numerical simulations show that, in contrast to the case of infinite aquifer domains, the interpreted transmissivity varies depending on well locations and the separation distance between pumping well and boundary relative to the correlation length. The ensemble-averaged estimated transmissivity varies between the geometric mean and the arithmetic mean, and can even exceed the arithmetic mean in a narrow domain adjacent to the boundary. It approaches the geometric mean of the underlying transmissivity field only if the distance between the pumping well is more than 20 times the characteristic length of the transmissivity field.

show abstract

“…(2016) and Demir et al. (2017)). In the present study, we follow an avenue similar to that of Indelman et al.…”

Section: Applications and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Well‐Type Steady Flow in Strongly Heterogeneous Porous Media: An Experimental Study

Brunetti

Fallico

Bartolo

et al. 2022

Water Resources Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Many hydrological applications, such as pumping tests or the set up of in situ remediation protocols, depend to a great extent upon the spatial variability (generically referred as heterogeneity) of the aquifer's hydraulic properties (Rubin, 2003). In particular, it is a common tenet to regard the heterogeneity of the hydraulic conductivity K as the controlling parameter of flow and transport (Dagan, 1989). The variability of K implies that the flow variables are affected by a spatial uncertainty, and therefore developing efficient and reliable methodologies to quantify the K-heterogeneity becomes of paramount importance. This is particularly relevant for strongly heterogeneous formations, where the difference with the homogeneous formation is not evident, sometimes counterintuitive (see, e.g., Janković et al., 2006, and references therein).Among the plethora of methods used to identify the hydraulic conductivity (a comprehensive critical review can be found in Cardiff et al., 2013), pumping tests are (thanks to their minimal equipment's requirement, and ease of implementation), by far, the most prominent tools. Owing to several (mainly economic and logistic) limitations, most of the efforts have focused on the identification of average properties (Copty et al., 2008(Copty et al., , 2011Desbarats, 1994;Zech et al., 2012). However, this is not satisfactory at all, especially to achieve meaningful predictions on solute transport (Dagan, 1989;Rubin, 2003). For this reason, recently it was suggested to carry out measurements over dense borehole spacings in order to achieve accurate three dimensional estimates for mildly heterogeneous aquifers (Cardiff et al., 2013). In line with this trend, the natural question here is whether pumping tests enable one to identify efficiently the heterogeneity structure of the conductivity even in strongly heterogeneous formations. In fact, with the exception of a single pumping test carried out as part of the well known MADE-experiment (Bohling et al., 2012), other experimental investigations under similar conditions limit to deal with "mildly heterogeneous formations" (see, e.g., Fernández-Garcia et al., 2004;Cardiff et al., 2013). Thus, from the experimental point of view, very little has been done when the degree of the formation's heterogeneity is high, and the present study constitutes an attempt to (partially) fill the gap.

show abstract

Bayesian estimation of the transmissivity spatial structure from pumping test data

Cited by 16 publications

References 48 publications

Microtomography-based Inter-Granular Network for the simulation of radionuclide diffusion and sorption in a granitic rock

Microtomography-based Inter-Granular Network for the simulation of radionuclide diffusion and sorption in a granitic rock

Interpretation of Pumping Tests in Heterogeneous Aquifers with Constant Head Boundary

Well‐Type Steady Flow in Strongly Heterogeneous Porous Media: An Experimental Study

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About