Simulation Analysis of NAPLs Movement in the Subsurface Environment

Non aqueous phase liquids (NAPLs) pollution are worldwide problems at present. NAPLs which enter the underground through spills or leaks may cause long lasting soil and groundwater contamination problems. Groundwater can be contaminated by non aqueous phase contaminants that are less dense (LNAPL) or denser (DNAPL) than water. The movement of both types of NAPLs will be influenced by the hydrogeological conditions, such as groundwater level, hydraulic conductivity, and porosity etc., however, LNAPL pollutants tend to concentrate at the water table while DNAPL may migrate further down. Understanding the underground migration mechanisms of NAPLs is of primary importance in pollution prediction and site remediation. Several laboratory simulations for NAPLs’ underground movements in porous media have been done in the past (A.S.Abdul et al., 1988, 1989; C.Tang et al., 1995). In this paper, we try to use STOMP (Subsurface Transport Over Multiple Phases) code to simulate the underground migration of NAPLs. The main purposes are: (1). to understand NAPLs’ underground migration mechanisms; (2). to analyze the sensitivities of model parameters, such as hydraulic conductivity, porosity, etc., and to know what are the most sensitive and important parameters in the model application; and (3). to study NAPLs movements in different hydrogeological conditions. The simulations include: Through the computer simulation, we have found that hydraulic conductivity and porosity are very sensitive in the model simulation, small changes of these parameters will cause big difference of the results, therefore, it is essential to accurately determine these parameters for high quality model simulation; The movements of NAPLs in different geological formation are quite different, two different geological media ( clayey sand and sand ) have been chosen in this paper to simulate NAPLs movement with different combinations ( i.e., moving from clayey sand to sand, and from sand to clayey sand ), the results have been analyzed and discussed; Finally, the influence of groundwater level variation to NAPLs (LNAPL and DNAPL) movement has been simulated by using pumping and injecting wells in the model. The results are compared with laboratory simulations conducted by C.Tang et al.. These results may helpful to understand the behavior of NAPLs during the remediation, such as pumping and treat, and air sparging. It is also important to the design of the remediation plans.