Premium
Efficiency of air inlet wells in vapor extraction systems
Author(s) -
Ross Benjamin,
Lu Ning
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/93wr02902
Subject(s) - soil vapor extraction , inlet , extraction (chemistry) , superposition principle , environmental science , petroleum engineering , flow (mathematics) , environmental engineering , contamination , mechanics , chemistry , chromatography , geology , engineering , mechanical engineering , ecology , physics , quantum mechanics , biology , environmental remediation
Vapor extraction is often used to remove volatile organic chemicals from unsaturated soils. Air inlet wells, which are left open to atmospheric pressure, are commonly installed around the extraction well to accelerate the removal of volatile contaminants. We employ the method of images in radial coordinates and the principle of superposition to develop an analytical solution for calculating the amount of air drawn in by inlet wells evenly spaced around an extraction well. Field tests of proposed vapor extraction systems can be compared with this solution to help evaluate whether gas flow will permeate the entire soil or will be concentrated in localized channels.