The effect of entrapped nonaqueous phase liquids on tracer transport in heterogeneous porous media: laboratory experiments at the intermediate scale

Barth, Gilbert; Illangasekare, Tissa H.; Rajaram, Harihar

doi:10.1016/s0169-7722(03)00066-4

Cited by 14 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Intermediate‐scale experimentation was originally introduced in the early 1990s and has been extensively adopted at CESEP for studying the fate and transport behavior of nonaqueous phase liquids [e.g., Illangasekare et al ., ; Barth et al ., ; Moreno‐Barbero and Illangasekare , ] and CO 2 leakage, exsolution, and trapping [e.g., Plampin et al ., ; Trevisan et al ., ; Agartan et al ., ]. According to the definition provided above, wind tunnel testing can also be considered a form of intermediate‐scale testing; wind tunnels have historically been employed in the investigation of the atmospheric boundary layer development [e.g., Cermak and Arya , ; Cermak , ; Burton , ], atmospheric gas dispersion [e.g., Meroney and Neff , ; Michioka et al ., ], and wind erosion of soils and dune formation [e.g., Bagnold , ; Gabriels et al ., ].…”

Section: Experimental Design Conceptsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of an experimental approach to study coupled soil‐plant‐atmosphere processes using plant analogs

Trautz

Illangasekare

Rodrı́guez-Iturbe

et al. 2017

Water Resources Research

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The atmosphere, soils, and vegetation near the land‐atmosphere interface are in a state of continuous dynamic interaction via a myriad of complex interrelated feedback processes which collectively, remain poorly understood. Studying the fundamental nature and dynamics of such processes in atmospheric, ecological, and/or hydrological contexts in the field setting presents many challenges; current experimental approaches are an important factor given a general lack of control and high measurement uncertainty. In an effort to address these issues and reduce overall complexity, new experimental design considerations (two‐dimensional intermediate‐scale coupled wind tunnel‐synthetic aquifer testing using synthetic plants) for studying soil‐plant‐atmosphere continuum soil moisture dynamics are introduced and tested in this study. Validation of these experimental considerations, particularly the adoption of synthetic plants, is required prior to their application in future research. A comparison of three experiments with bare soil surfaces or transplanted with a Stargazer lily/limestone block was used to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed approaches. Results demonstrate that coupled wind tunnel‐porous media experimentation, used to simulate field conditions, reduces complexity, and enhances control while allowing fine spatial‐temporal resolution measurements to be made using state‐of‐the‐art technologies. Synthetic plants further help reduce system complexity (e.g., airflow) while preserving the basic hydrodynamic functions of plants (e.g., water uptake and transpiration). The trends and distributions of key measured atmospheric and subsurface spatial and temporal variables (e.g., soil moisture, relative humidity, temperature, air velocity) were comparable, showing that synthetic plants can be used as simple, idealized, nonbiological analogs for living vegetation in fundamental hydrodynamic studies.

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Section: Experimental Design Conceptsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of an experimental approach to study coupled soil‐plant‐atmosphere processes using plant analogs

Trautz

Illangasekare

Rodrı́guez-Iturbe

et al. 2017

Water Resources Research

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“…The term macro‐entrapped NAPL is used to describe NAPL in systems where NAPL is located in a porous medium zone surrounded by finer‐grained materials. Examples of such configurations are discussed by Barth et al (2003) and Moreno‐Barbero and Illangasekare (2006)…”

Section: Overview Of Nonaqueous Phase Liquid (Napl) Intermediate‐scalmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…LNAPL infiltration and redistribution in variably‐saturated systems with moving ground water were reported by Illangasekare et al (1995a) Kechavarzi et al (2000) conducted LNAPL infiltration experiments in homogeneous and heterogeneous systems in support of developing a multispectral image analysis method. One of these experiments was revisited by Kechavarzi et al (2005) using measured data that were not provided by Kechavarzi et al (2000) Soltrol 220 infiltration behavior, observed when establishing initial conditions for solute tracer experiments, was discussed by Barth et al (2003)…”

Section: Flow Behavior Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of Multidimensional, Multifluid, Intermediate‐Scale Experiments: Flow Behavior, Saturation Imaging, and Tracer Detection and Quantification

Oostrom

Dane

Wietsma

2007

Vadose Zone Journal

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A review is presented of original multidimensional, intermediate‐scale experiments involving nonaqueous phase liquid (NAPL) flow behavior, imaging, and detection and quantification with solute tracers. In a companion paper (Oostrom et al., 2006a), experiments related to aqueous dissolution and enhanced remediation were discussed. The experiments investigating flow behavior include infiltration and redistribution experiments with both light and dense NAPLs in homogeneous and heterogeneous porous medium systems. The techniques used for NAPL saturation mapping for intermediate‐scale experiments include photon‐attenuation methods such as gamma and X‐ray techniques, and photographic methods such as the light reflection, light transmission, and multispectral image analysis techniques. Solute tracer methods used for detection and quantification of NAPL in the subsurface are primarily limited to variations of techniques comparing the behavior of conservative and partitioning tracers. Besides a discussion of the experimental efforts, recommendations for future research at this laboratory scale are provided.

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“…Hereby, the difficulty in carrying out controlled field experiments has always involved uncertainty related to the rigorous application of boundary conditions and the exact distribution of sandstone rock types. Most of the work to date has focused on nonaqueous phase liquid (NAPL) migration observed in sandbox experiments [e.g., Barth et al ., ; Fagerlund et al ., ; Glass et al ., ; Kueper and Frind , ], while studies that specifically address GCS are quite scarce and are limited to cm‐to‐m observations of immiscible [ Pini et al ., ; Polak et al ., ; Trevisan et al ., ; Werner et al ., ; Zhao et al ., ] and miscible displacements [ Agartan et al ., ; Neufeld et al ., ]. A dimensional analysis approach has also been proposed to reconcile laboratory scales and field scales [ Cinar et al ., ; Polak et al ., ; Trevisan et al ., ; Werner et al ., ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Imaging and quantification of spreading and trapping of carbon dioxide in saline aquifers using meter‐scale laboratory experiments

Trevisan

Pini

Cihan

et al. 2017

Water Resources Research

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The role of capillary forces during buoyant migration of CO2 is critical toward plume immobilization within the postinjection phase of a geological carbon sequestration operation. However, the inherent heterogeneity of the subsurface makes it very challenging to evaluate the effects of capillary forces on the storage capacity of these formations and to assess in situ plume evolution. To overcome the lack of accurate and continuous observations at the field scale and to mimic vertical migration and entrapment of realistic CO2 plumes in the presence of a background hydraulic gradient, we conducted two unique long‐term experiments in a 2.44 m × 0.5 m tank. X‐ray attenuation allowed measuring the evolution of a CO2‐surrogate fluid saturation, thus providing direct insight into capillarity‐dominated and buoyancy‐dominated flow processes occurring under successive drainage and imbibition conditions. The comparison of saturation distributions between two experimental campaigns suggests that layered‐type heterogeneity plays an important role on nonwetting phase (NWP) migration and trapping, because it leads to (i) longer displacement times (3.6 months versus 24 days) to reach stable trapping conditions, (ii) limited vertical migration of the plume (with center of mass at 39% versus 55% of aquifer thickness), and (iii) immobilization of a larger fraction of injected NWP mass (67.2% versus 51.5% of injected volume) as compared to the homogenous scenario. While these observations confirm once more the role of geological heterogeneity in controlling buoyant flows in the subsurface, they also highlight the importance of characterizing it at scales that are below seismic resolution (1–10 m).

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The effect of entrapped nonaqueous phase liquids on tracer transport in heterogeneous porous media: laboratory experiments at the intermediate scale

Cited by 14 publications

References 26 publications

Development of an experimental approach to study coupled soil‐plant‐atmosphere processes using plant analogs

Development of an experimental approach to study coupled soil‐plant‐atmosphere processes using plant analogs

A Review of Multidimensional, Multifluid, Intermediate‐Scale Experiments: Flow Behavior, Saturation Imaging, and Tracer Detection and Quantification

Imaging and quantification of spreading and trapping of carbon dioxide in saline aquifers using meter‐scale laboratory experiments

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