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LNAPL Thickness in Monitoring Wells Considering Hysteresis and Entrapment
Author(s) -
Marinelli Fred,
Durnford Deanna S.
Publication year - 1996
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.1745-6584.1996.tb02021.x
Subject(s) - saturation (graph theory) , water table , hydrostatic equilibrium , hysteresis , geology , geotechnical engineering , petroleum engineering , porous medium , soil science , porosity , groundwater , mechanics , mathematics , physics , combinatorics , quantum mechanics
Case histories of LNAPL contaminated sites indicate that LNAPL thicknesses in monitoring wells exhibit certain characteristic behaviors when related to water‐table fluctuations. This paper investigates these behaviors using established theories for fluid saturataions in three‐phase (air‐LNAPL‐water) porous media systems. A semianalytical model is developed to predict the LNAPL thickness in a monitoring well considering the effects of saturation hysteresis and air/LNAPL entrapment. Given the total LNAPL volume in the soil profile and the historical sequence of water‐table elevations, the model predicts LNAPL thicknesses, based on the assumption of a succession of hydrostatic pressure distributions. For example simulations, the model indicates that the LNAPL thickness in a monitoring well can exhibit complex behaviors that are strongly dependent on the previous saturation history. While many of these predicted behaviors are consistent with field observations, some are not. This suggests that certain aspects of current theories pertaining to three‐phase fluid saturations warrant further technical evaluation.