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Flow Calculations for Household Effluent Disposal in Elevated Sand Mounds
Author(s) -
Mott T. D.,
Fritton D. D.,
Petersen G. W.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
journal of environmental quality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.888
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1537-2537
pISSN - 0047-2425
DOI - 10.2134/jeq1981.00472425001000030011x
Subject(s) - effluent , infiltration (hvac) , flow (mathematics) , groundwater , groundwater flow , environmental science , geotechnical engineering , limiting , environmental engineering , hydrology (agriculture) , geology , aquifer , engineering , materials science , mechanics , mechanical engineering , composite material , physics
Elevated sand mound disposal systems that are used in Pennsylvania for disposal of household effluents are frequently malfunctioning. A method of evaluating the ability of a soil to transmit effluent from an elevated sand mound to a ground‐water system was developed by separating the effluent flow into horizontal and vertical components. In all cases, it was assumed that effluent was not limited by infiltration at the sand‐soil surface or by the ability of the groundwater system to accept the effluent. Horizontal flow was calculated using Darcy's law written in cylindrical coordinates. Vertical flow was calculated assuming that a single, slowly permeable layer of known thickness limited flow. It was concluded that lateral flow alone cannot remove household effluents fast enough for the typical Pennsylvania design. On the other hand, the vertical‐flow component alone can account for the design flow when the flow‐limiting layer is not too thick.