scholarly journals Breakthrough Investigation of Advective and Diffusive Transport in a Porous Matrix with a Crack

Fluids ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (10) ◽  
pp. 358
Author(s):  
Ekkehard Holzbecher

Fluid flow and transport processes in fractured porous media are of particular interest for geologists and in the material sciences. Here a systematic investigation is presented, dealing with a generic geometric set-up of a porous matrix with a crack. In such a combined porous medium/free fluid system flow patterns have been examined frequently, while the resulting transport patterns have attracted less attention. Using numerical modeling with finite elements the problem is approached using a dimensionless formulation. With a reduced number of dimensionless parameter combinations (Darcy-, Peclet- and Reynolds-numbers) solution dependencies are examined in parametric sweeps. Breakthrough curves are fitted in comparison to those of 1D model approaches, yielding effective diffusivities and velocities. The computations reveal highest sensitivity concerning the angle between crack axis and flow direction, followed by the Peclet number and the crack axes ratio. As a dimensionless representation is used the results are scale independent. Thus, they deliver estimations concerning effective heat and solute transport parameters that can be relevant in all application fields.

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Banzhaf ◽  
Klaus H. Hebig

Abstract. Although column experiments are frequently used to investigate the transport of organic micropollutants, little guidance is available on what they can be used for, how they should be set up, and how the experiments should be carried out. This review covers the use of column experiments to investigate the fate of organic micropollutants. Alternative setups are discussed together with their respective advantages and limitations. An overview is presented of published column experiments investigating the transport of organic micropollutants, and suggestions are offered on how to improve the comparability of future results from different experiments. The main purpose of column experiments is to investigate the transport and attenuation of a specific compound within a specific sediment or substrate. The transport of (organic) solutes in groundwater is influenced by the chemical and physical properties of the compounds, the solvent (i.e. the groundwater, including all solutes), and the substrate (the aquifer material). By adjusting these boundary conditions a multitude of different processes and related research questions can be investigated using a variety of experimental setups. Apart from the ability to effectively control the individual boundary conditions, the main advantage of column experiments compared to other experimental setups (such as those used in field experiments, or in batch microcosm experiments) is that conservative and reactive solute breakthrough curves can be derived, which represent the sum of the transport processes. There are well-established methods for analyzing these curves. The effects observed in column studies are often a result of dynamic, non-equilibrium processes. Time (or flow velocity) is an important factor, in contrast to batch experiments where all processes are observed until equilibrium is reached in the substrate-solution system. Slight variations in the boundary conditions of different experiments can have a marked influence on the transport and degradation of organic micropollutants. This is of critical importance when comparing general results from different column experiments investigating the transport behavior of a specific organic compound. Such variations unfortunately mean that the results from most column experiments are not transferable to other hydrogeochemical environments but are only valid for the specific experimental setup used. Column experiments are fast, flexible, and easy to manage; their boundary conditions can be controlled and they are cheap compared to extensive field experiments. They can provide good estimates of all relevant transport parameters. However, the obtained results will almost always be limited to the scale of the experiment and not directly transferrable to field scales as too many parameters are exclusive to the column setup. The challenge for the future is to develop standardized column experiments on organic micropollutants in order to overcome these issues.


2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (9) ◽  
pp. 3719-3737 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Banzhaf ◽  
Klaus H. Hebig

Abstract. Although column experiments are frequently used to investigate the transport of organic micropollutants, little guidance is available on what they can be used for, how they should be set up, and how the experiments should be carried out. This review covers the use of column experiments to investigate the fate of organic micropollutants. Alternative setups are discussed together with their respective advantages and limitations. An overview is presented of published column experiments investigating the transport of organic micropollutants, and suggestions are offered on how to improve the comparability of future results from different experiments. The main purpose of column experiments is to investigate the transport and attenuation of a specific compound within a specific sediment or substrate. The transport of (organic) solutes in groundwater is influenced by the chemical and physical properties of the compounds, the solvent (i.e., the groundwater, including all solutes), and the substrate (the aquifer material). By adjusting these boundary conditions a multitude of different processes and related research questions can be investigated using a variety of experimental setups. Apart from the ability to effectively control the individual boundary conditions, the main advantage of column experiments compared to other experimental setups (such as those used in field experiments, or in batch microcosm experiments) is that conservative and reactive solute breakthrough curves can be derived, which represent the sum of the transport processes. There are well-established methods for analyzing these curves. The effects observed in column studies are often a result of dynamic, non-equilibrium processes. Time (or flow velocity) is an important factor, in contrast to batch experiments where all processes are observed until equilibrium is reached in the substrate-solution system. Slight variations in the boundary conditions of different experiments can have a marked influence on the transport and degradation of organic micropollutants. This is of critical importance when comparing general results from different column experiments investigating the transport behavior of a specific organic compound. Such variations unfortunately mean that the results from most column experiments are not transferable to other hydrogeochemical environments but are only valid for the specific experimental setup used. Column experiments are fast, flexible, and easy to manage; their boundary conditions can be controlled and they are cheap compared to extensive field experiments. They can provide good estimates of all relevant transport parameters. However, the obtained results will almost always be limited to the scale of the experiment and are not directly transferrable to field scales as too many parameters are exclusive to the column setup. The challenge for the future is to develop standardized column experiments on organic micropollutants in order to overcome these issues.


Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 2530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sascha Frank ◽  
Thomas Heinze ◽  
Stefan Wohnlich

In single fractures, dispersion is often linked to the roughness of the fracture surfaces and the resulting local aperture distribution. To experimentally investigate the effects of diverse fracture types and surface morphologies in sandstones, three fractures were considered: those generated by sawing and splitting, and a natural sedimentary fracture. The fracture surface morphologies were digitally analyzed and the hydraulic and transport parameters of the fractures were determined from Darcy and the tracer tests using a fit of a continuous time random walk (CTRW) and a classical advection–dispersion equation (ADE). While the sawed specimen with the smoothest surface had the smallest dispersivity, the natural fracture has the largest dispersivity due to strong anisotropy and non-matching fracture surfaces, although its surface roughness is comparable to the split specimen. The parameterization of the CTRW and of the ADE agree well for β > 4 of the truncated power law. For smaller values of β, non-Fickian transport processes are dominant. Channeling effects are observable in the tracer breakthrough curves. The transport behavior in the fractures is controlled by multiple constraints such as several surface roughness parameters and the equivalent hydraulic aperture.


Author(s):  
Marek Marciniak ◽  
Monika Okońska ◽  
Mariusz Kaczmarek

AbstractIn order to describe the contamination of saturated porous media, it is necessary to find an appropriate mathematical model that includes processes occurring in aquifers, such as advection, dispersion, diffusion, and various kinds of sorption. The identification of parameters of those processes is possible through laboratory column experiments, which result in records of breakthrough curves for a conservative tracer and a reactive tracer. An algorithm leading to the preliminary selection of the mathematical model that best describes transport processes of the reactive tracer in the experimental column is proposed in this article. A study published previously presented a sensitivity analysis for an arbitrarily adopted variability of the transport parameters. The analysis involved examining changes in the shape of breakthrough curves caused by the alteration of each parameter value. Specially defined indicators called descriptors were proposed to quantitatively describe the breakthrough curves. Then, formulas were proposed to determine the percentage deviations of descriptors of the breakthrough curve obtained for the reactive tracer in relation to the descriptors of the breakthrough curve of the conservative tracer. In the work described in this article, the deviations are analyzed and an algorithm is proposed that allows the preselection of the most suitable sorption model out of the five discussed simple (one-site) and six hybrid (two-site) models. The algorithm can facilitate and accelerate the interpretation of column experiments of contaminant transport in a porous medium. An example is provided to illustrate the usability of the proposed algorithm.


Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Kiecak ◽  
Friederike Breuer ◽  
Christine Stumpp

The presence of pharmaceuticals in the environment, and in groundwater, has been recognized as a great environmental concern. Biodegradation and sorption are the main processes leading to the removal of contamination from the water phase. The aim of this study was to determine the transport processes of selected pharmaceuticals (antipyrine, atenolol, carbamazepine, caffeine, diclofenac, ketoprofen, sulfamethoxazole) in selected sediments (coarse sand, medium sand, sandy loam) in laboratory experiments. Moreover, the impact of flow velocities on the sorption and degradation rates of the selected compounds was studied. Column experiments were performed at three flow velocities, under abiotic and biotic conditions, applying conservative (bromide) and reactive tracers (pharmaceuticals). From the breakthrough curves, retardation factors and degradation rates were determined and the influence of variable flow conditions on transport parameters was evaluated. Low observed concentrations and recoveries of atenolol indicated a strong influence of sorption on its transport. Diclofenac, caffeine, and carbamazepine were also affected by sorption but to a lesser extent. Sulfamethoxazole, ketoprofen, and antipyrine were recovered nearly completely, indicating an almost conservative transport behavior. Biodegradation was small for all the compounds, as the results from biotic and abiotic column experiments were similar. Transport of the tested pharmaceuticals was not influenced by different flow velocities, as similar modelled degradation rates and retardation factors were found for all tested flow velocities.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhilin Guo ◽  
Rich Pauloo ◽  
Graham E. Fogg ◽  
Christopher Henri ◽  
Chunmiao Zheng

<p>Regional scale transport models are needed to support the long-term evaluation of groundwater quality and to develop management strategies aiming to prevent serious groundwater degradation. The transport dominant process, advection or diffusion, was identified for flow fields with different primary flow directions. The capacities of Multi-Rate Mass Transfer (MRMT) and adaptive Multi-rate Mass Transfer (aMMT), modified from MRMT by updating mass transfer rates with changing velocities, to adequately describe the main solute transport processes, including the capture of late-time tails under changing boundary conditions were evaluated. Advective-dispersive contaminant transport simulated in a 3D heterogeneous medium was used as a reference solution. Equivalent transport under homogeneous flow conditions was then evaluated by applying the MRMT or aMMT models for upscaling. Results indicated that for advection-dominated transport, both the MRMT and aMMT methods can upscale the anomalous transport dynamics affected by sub-grid heterogeneity under transient flow conditions. Whereas, for diffusion-dominated systems, the MRMT model failed to capture the tails of tracer breakthrough curves (BTCs) after the boundary condition changed, but the results from the aMMT model were significantly improved. However, if the overall flow direction changed, both MRMT and aMMT failed to represent the BTC tail generated by the heterogeneous system. In this study, an indicator that describe the primary flow direction in anisotropic heterogeneous domain was developed, and the relationship between the flow direction and the dominant transport process was investigated. The ranges of the indicator, within which the advection or diffusion is dominant, are determined. Therefore, this study not only show the capability of upscaling methods on describing the transport that dominated by different processes, but provides a guide on choosing upscaling methods in field site, which supports long-term management of groundwater.</p>


1996 ◽  
Vol 61 (6) ◽  
pp. 844-855 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Šolcová ◽  
Petr Schneider

It was shown that the sampling loop, detector and connecting elements in the chromatographic set-up for determination of transport parameters by the dynamic method significantly influence the response peaks from columns packed with porous or nonporous particles. A method, based on the use of convolution theorem, was developed which can take these effects into account. The applicability of this method was demonstrated on the case of axial dispersion in a single-pellet-string column (SPSR) packed with nonporous particles. It is possible to handle also responses from columns packed with porous particles by a similar procedure.


Catalysts ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iván Santamaría-Holek ◽  
Saúl Hernández ◽  
Consuelo García-Alcántara ◽  
Aldo Ledesma-Durán

We review and generalize a recent theoretical framework that provides a sound physicochemical basis to describe how volume and surface diffusion are affected by adsorption and desorption processes, as well as by catalytic conversion within the space defined by the irregular geometry of the pores in a material. The theory is based on two single-dimensional mass conservation equations for irregular domains deduced for the volumetric (bulk) and surface mass concentrations. It offers a powerful tool for analyzing and modeling mass transport across porous media like zeolites or artificially build materials, since it establishes how the microscopic quantities that refer to the internal details of the geometry, the flow and the interactions within the irregular pore can be translated into macroscopic variables that are currently measured in experiments. The use of the theory in mass uptake experiments is explained in terms of breakthrough curves and effective mass diffusion coefficients which are explicitly related to the internal geometry of the pores.


2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bahia & Naser

A laboratory experiment was carried out at the Department of Soil Sciences and Water Resources, College of Agriculture, University of Baghdad. Silty clay soil was treated with three salt solutions (NaCl, CaCl2 and mixed NaCl–CaCl2). Homogeneously packed soil columns (10 cm, 40 cm) were leached six times using tap water. Effluent samples were collected to determine ion concentration Cl-, Ca++, Na+, K+ and Mg++. Breakthrough curves were used to estimate solute transport parameters (retardation factor, peclet number) using an analytical solution of convection-dispersion equation (CDE) by CXTFIT program. The results showed that relative concentration of chloride was increased rapidly with calcium chloride, which increased sodium leaching rate at starting of breakthrough curve. Sodium chloride increased water requirements for calcium displacement. Results indicated a good fitting of convection-dispersion equation with breakthrough curves data. The best-fit were used to calculate peclet number, retardation factor and dispersion coefficient. When soil was treated with calcium chloride, Peclet number of chloride was increased from 3.13 to 6.48, while it has been decreased for calcium, sodium and potassium. Sodium chloride decreased peclet numbers of chloride, calcium and sodium. Also mixed salts increased sodium peclet number from 1.01 to 9.02. Results showed, calcium chloride decreased retardation factor of chloride from 1.59 to 0.50, while it has been increased from 1.39, 1.58 to 175.00, 493.36 for each of sodium and potassium, respectively. Retardation factor of calcium was decreased when soil was treated with sodium chloride or mixed salts. Dispersion coefficient was decreased for chloride, and increased for calcium and magnesium. When soil was treated with calcium chloride, dispersion coefficients have been increased from 24.29, 25.56 to 40.51, 40.89 cm2hr-1 for sodium and potassium, respectively.


2015 ◽  
Vol 821-823 ◽  
pp. 31-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomonori Umezaki ◽  
Daiki Koike ◽  
S. Harada ◽  
Toru Ujihara

The solution growth of SiC on an off-axis seed is effective on the reduction of threading dislocations. We proposed a novel method to grow a SiC crystal on an off-axis seed by top-seeded solution growth (TSSG). In our previous study, a unidirectional solution flow above a seed crystal is effective to suppress surface roughness in the growth on the off-axis seed. However, it is difficult to apply the unidirectional flow in an axisymmetric TSSG set-up. In this study, the unidirectional flow could be achieved by shifting the rotational axis away from the center of the seed crystal. As a result, the smooth surface was obtained in the wider area where the solution flow direction was opposite to the step-flow direction.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document