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History Matching to Determine the Retardation of PCE in Ground Water
Author(s) -
Rogers L.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
groundwater
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.84
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1745-6584
pISSN - 0017-467X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-6584.1992.tb00811.x
Subject(s) - groundwater , matching (statistics) , advection , environmental remediation , range (aeronautics) , retardation factor , environmental science , dispersion (optics) , sorption , contamination , chemistry , geotechnical engineering , geology , materials science , statistics , mathematics , thermodynamics , physics , ecology , column chromatography , organic chemistry , adsorption , biology , optics , composite material
Failure to incorporate retardation factors in solute transport predictions can lead to serious miscalculations of the degree of contamination and the time required for remediation. This study employs history matching, a vital component in the effort to calibrate models to specific field sites, to demonstrate the difficulties in matching historical well concentrations to a single retardation factor or source function. A 2‐D hybrid finite‐element/finite‐difference, advection‐dispersion code with retardation was used to match simulated perchloroethylene (PCE, also known as tetrachloroethylene) concentrations against observed concentrations in monitor wells at a well‐characterized Superfund site. The transport model yielded reasonable matches for retardation factors between 1 and 3. This was in comparison to the 6 to 22 range of retardation factors based on laboratory batch sorption experiments and the 1 to 5 range based on field measurements of soil and associated well‐water pore fluid. Simulation results demonstrated that for this site, retardation factors greater than or equal to 6 would imply releases of PCE prior to dates compatible with historical records. History matching can constrain the reasonable range of parameters necessary to model contaminants in ground water.