Spatial heterogeneity of the hydraulic properties of geological porous formations leads to erratically shaped solute clouds, thus increasing the edge area of the solute body and augmenting the dilution rate. In this study, we provide a theoretical framework to quantify dilution of a non-reactive solute within a steady state flow as affected by the spatial variability of the hydraulic conductivity. Embracing the Lagrangian concentration framework, we obtain explicit semi-analytical expressions for the dilution index as a function of the structural parameters of the random hydraulic conductivity field, under the assumptions of uniform-in-the-average flow, small injection source and weak-to-mild eterogeneity. Results show how the dilution enhancement of the solute cloud is strongly dependent on both the statistical anisotropy ratio and the heterogeneity level of the porous medium. The explicit semi-analytical solution also captures the temporal evolution of the dilution rate; for the early- and late-time limits, the proposed solution recovers previous results from the literature, while at intermediate times it reflects the increasing interplay between large-scale advection and local-scale dispersion. The performance of the theoretical framework is verified with high resolution numerical results and successfully tested against the Cape Cod field data. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A theoretical framework for modeling dilution enhancement of non-reactive solutes in heterogeneous porous media / De Barros, F. P. J.; Fiori, A.; Boso, F.; Bellin, Alberto. - In: JOURNAL OF CONTAMINANT HYDROLOGY. - ISSN 0169-7722. - ELETTRONICO. - 2015, 175-176:(2015), pp. 72-83. [10.1016/j.jconhyd.2015.01.004]

A theoretical framework for modeling dilution enhancement of non-reactive solutes in heterogeneous porous media

Bellin, Alberto
2015-01-01

Abstract

Spatial heterogeneity of the hydraulic properties of geological porous formations leads to erratically shaped solute clouds, thus increasing the edge area of the solute body and augmenting the dilution rate. In this study, we provide a theoretical framework to quantify dilution of a non-reactive solute within a steady state flow as affected by the spatial variability of the hydraulic conductivity. Embracing the Lagrangian concentration framework, we obtain explicit semi-analytical expressions for the dilution index as a function of the structural parameters of the random hydraulic conductivity field, under the assumptions of uniform-in-the-average flow, small injection source and weak-to-mild eterogeneity. Results show how the dilution enhancement of the solute cloud is strongly dependent on both the statistical anisotropy ratio and the heterogeneity level of the porous medium. The explicit semi-analytical solution also captures the temporal evolution of the dilution rate; for the early- and late-time limits, the proposed solution recovers previous results from the literature, while at intermediate times it reflects the increasing interplay between large-scale advection and local-scale dispersion. The performance of the theoretical framework is verified with high resolution numerical results and successfully tested against the Cape Cod field data. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
2015
De Barros, F. P. J.; Fiori, A.; Boso, F.; Bellin, Alberto
A theoretical framework for modeling dilution enhancement of non-reactive solutes in heterogeneous porous media / De Barros, F. P. J.; Fiori, A.; Boso, F.; Bellin, Alberto. - In: JOURNAL OF CONTAMINANT HYDROLOGY. - ISSN 0169-7722. - ELETTRONICO. - 2015, 175-176:(2015), pp. 72-83. [10.1016/j.jconhyd.2015.01.004]
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
deBarros&al_JCH2015.pdf

Solo gestori archivio

Tipologia: Versione editoriale (Publisher’s layout)
Licenza: Tutti i diritti riservati (All rights reserved)
Dimensione 930.16 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
930.16 kB Adobe PDF   Visualizza/Apri

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11572/112859
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? 0
  • Scopus 47
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 46
  • OpenAlex ND
social impact