Investigating the potential for long-term permeable reactive barrier (PRB) monitoring from the electrical signatures associated with the reduction in reactive iron performance

The objective of this project is to quantify the ability of the electrical induced polarization (IP) method to noninvasively monitor the reduction in reactive iron performance that is known to reduce the effectiveness of the permeable reactive barrier (PRB) with time. The primary scientific goals include: (A) fundamental laboratory studies to evaluate the sensitivity of the IP method to: Fe0 total surface area Fe0 surface chemistry physical/chemical changes to the Fe0 surface resulting from oxidation and precipitation; (B) monitoring of the electrical tomographic response of the Kansas City PRB over a three-year period and assessment, via correlation with aqueous geochemical data and extracted iron cores, of whether electrical signatures associated with reduced PRB performance are resolvable in field studies; (C) optimization of a three-dimensional tomographic imaging algorithm for application to highly conductive, high electrical contrast environments as represented by a PRB