Estimation of Conservative Contaminant Travel Time through Vadose Zone Based on Transient and Steady Flow Approaches

Estimation of contaminant travel time through the vadose zone is needed for assessing groundwater vulnerability to pollution, planning monitoring and remediation activities or predicting the effect of land use change or climate change on groundwater quality. The travel time can be obtained from numerical simulations of transient flow and transport in the unsaturated soil profile, which typically require a large amount of data and considerable computational effort. Alternatively, one can use simpler analytical methods based on the assumptions of steady water flow and purely advective transport. In this study, we compared travel times obtained with transient and steady-state approaches for several scenarios. Transient simulations were carried out using the HYDRUS-1D computer program for two types of homogeneous soil profiles (sand and clay loam), two types of land cover (bare soil and grass) and two values of dispersion constant. It was shown that the presence of root zone and the dispersion constant significantly affect the results. We also computed the travel times using six simplified methods proposed in the literature. None of these methods was in good agreement with transient simulations for all scenarios and the discrepancies were particularly large for the case of clay loam with grass cover.

Airborne Measurement in the Ash Plume from Mount Sakurajima: Analysis of Gravitational Effects on Dispersion and Fallout

Volcanic ash concentrations in the plume from Sakurajima volcano in Japan are observed from airplanes equipped with optical particle counters and GPS tracking devices. The volcano emits several puffs a day. The puffs are also recorded by the Sakurajima Volcanological Observatory. High concentrations are observed in the puffs and fallout driven by vertical air current, called streak fallout. Puffs dispersion is analyzed by the classical diffusion-advection method and a new gravitational dispersion method. The fluid mechanic of the gravitational dispersion, streak fallout, and classical diffusion-advection theory is described in three separate appendices together with methods to find the time gravitational dispersion constant and the diffusion coefficient from satellite photos. The diffusion-advection equation may be used to scale volcanic eruptions so the same eruption plumes can be scaled to constant flux and wind conditions or two eruptions can be scaled to each other. The dispersion analyses show that dispersion of volcanic plumes does not follow either theories completely. It is most likely diffusion in the interface of the plume and the ambient air, together with gravitational flattening of the plumes core. This means larger boundary concentration gradients and smaller diffusion coefficients than state of the art methods can predict.

Determination of the Optical Constants of Gallium Oxide Films

Transmission spectrum and reflectance spectrum have long been used to characterize gap semiconductor. Transmission spectrum can be measured very directly, but the influence of substrate absorption is often unavoidable. However, when using the reflectance spectrum measurement, the absorption of thin film, substrate absorption, and coherent interference will make the reflectance spectrum much more complicated. In this paper, Considering the absorption of thin film, substrate absorption, and coherent interference, we use the envelope curves algorithm to achieve the calculation formula of refractive index deduced from the reflectance spectrum. Through the analysis of the reflectance spectrum of Ga2O3film, we achieved thickness of the film, refractive index, extinction and absorption coefficient and dispersion constant.

Experimental Determination of the Effect of Disjoining Pressure on Shear in the Contact Line Region of a Moving Evaporating Thin Film

The thickness and curvature profiles in the contact line region of a moving evaporating thin liquid film of pentane on a quartz substrate were measured for the thickness region, δ<2.5 μm. The critical region, δ<0.1 μm, was emphasized. The profiles were obtained using image-analyzing interferometry and an improved data analysis procedure. The precursor adsorbed film, the thickness, the curvature, and interfacial slope (variation of the local “apparent contact angle”) profiles were consistent with previous models based on interfacial concepts. Isothermal equilibrium conditions were used to verify the accuracy of the procedures and to evaluate the retarded dispersion constant in situ. The profiles give fundamental insight into the phenomena of phase change, pressure gradient, fluid flow, spreading, shear stress, and the physics of interfacial phenomena in the contact line region. The experimental results demonstrate explicitly, for the first time with microscopic detail, that the disjoining pressure controls fluid flow within an evaporating completely wetting thin curved film.

Quantitation of Regional Cerebral Blood Flow with 15O-Butanol and Positron Emission Tomography in Humans

We describe the implementation and validation of a combined dynamic–autoradiographic approach for measuring the regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) with 15O-butanol. From arterial blood data sampled at a rate of 1 s and list mode data of the cerebral radioactivity accumulated over 100 s, the time shift between blood and tissue curves, the dispersion constant DC, the partition coefficient p, and the CBF were estimated by least squares fitting. Using the fit results, a pixel-by-pixel parametrization of rCBF was computed for a single 40-s (autoradiographic) 15O-butanol uptake image. The mean global CBF found in 27 healthy subjects was 49 ± 8 ml 100 g−1 min−1. Gray and white matter rCBF were 83 ± 20 and 16 ± 3 ml 100 g−1 min−1, respectively, with a corresponding partition coefficient p of 0.77 ± 0.18 and 0.77 ± 0.29 ml/g in both compartments. The quantitative images resulted in a significantly higher gray matter rCBF than the autoradiographic images.

Mathematical analysis of perifusion data: models predicting elution concentration

System models are constructed and analyzed for combined convective flow and for dispersion in distorting concentrations of a chemical signal as it passes through a packed column. We derive general analytical solutions for these models. The results have applications to analyses such as in biological experiments involving hormonal stimulation of perifused cells, elution chromatography, adsorption columns, and studies of groundwater flow. The models reveal that the column distorts an incoming signal (such as a change in solute concentration in the flowing liquid) at the inlet. This distortion is greatest at low values of the Peclet number of the flow and is small at larger values. We explore the effects of the approximations inherent in the mathematical models of the system. Specification of the boundary conditions of the problem are shown to be particularly important. With the use of incorrect models, it is possible to obtain accurate interpolations to data obtained from perfusion experiments. However, the parameters derived (in particular the dispersion constant and the peak concentration of a solute concentration pulse) may be considerably in error. This may lead to errors when these parameter estimates are used to predict results in other experimental situations.

Estimation of the Migration Parameters for the Boom Clay Formation by Percolation Experiments on Undisturbed Clay Cores

ABSTRACTThe safety assessment of the repository for high level radioactive waste in the Boom clay formation requires reliable data for the migration parameters. The experimental set-up and the interpretation method is briefly described for percolation experiments on undisturbed clay cores drilled from the formation and results are reported. The undisturbed clay cores are drilled perpendicular and parallel to the stratification of the formation to study the isotropy of the formation. To represent the real situation as close as possible, in-situ interstitial clay pore water is used as percolating liquid.Parameter values determined in the percolation experiments are presented for bromine, iodine and tritiated water. Darcy velocity and effective stress are used as variables. Anisotropy of the formation is demonstrated for the hydraulic conductivity, but is found to be trivial for the dispersion parameters. A general relation between the apparent dispersion constant, the diffusion accessible porosity and the Darcy velocity is also given.