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Modeling Contaminant Transport in Fine Sands: Three-Dimensional Sandbox Experiments and Numerical Simulation

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Abstract

Transverse dispersion has been studied in the literature less than longitudinal dispersion, especially in porous media with fine and very fine sand. In this research, an experimental and numerical procedure is introduced to accurately determine dispersivity coefficients. Accordingly, three-dimensional tracer experiments (transient and steady state) are conducted in a relatively large sandbox (158 cm × 160 cm in plane and height of 70 cm), filled with a fine sand soil (D50 = 0.17 mm). The effects of different hydraulic heads and several injection concentrations are considered in the experiments. The transverse and longitudinal dispersivity are determined accurately by fitting numerical simulations to the steady-state and transient sandbox experiments, respectively. According to the results, the transverse dispersivity ranges between 0.0025 and 0.06 cm, while the longitudinal dispersivity varies from 0.15 to 0.75 cm. In addition, the ratio of transverse dispersivity to longitudinal dispersivity varies between 0.017 and 0.1, based on hydraulic gradients and solute concentrations. It was observed that the transverse and longitudinal dispersivity coefficients increase as the hydraulic gradient rises. Finally, the sensitivity analysis results show that the simulated depth–concentration curves at the steady-state condition remain approximately constant with the reasonable variations in the longitudinal dispersivity coefficient, the hydraulic conductivity, and the porosity.

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Abbreviations

α L :

Longitudinal dispersivity coefficient

α T :

Transverse dispersivity in both horizontal and vertical directions

α HT :

Horizontal transverse dispersivity

α VT :

Vertical transverse dispersivity

k :

Hydraulic conductivity

n :

Porosity

EC:

Electric conductivity

L :

Length of aquifer

W :

Width of aquifer

h u :

Upstream hydraulic head

hd :

Downstream hydraulic head

Q :

Discharge rate

ρ b :

Bulk density

C, C 0 :

Solute concentration, initial solute concentration

k d :

Adsorption coefficient

D m :

Molecular diffusion

D i :

Dispersion in direction i

V i :

Apparent velocity in direction i

ρ , ρ 0 :

Saline and freshwater density

t :

Time

D :

Dispersion coefficient

G s :

Specific gravity

C exp :

Saline concentration in column test

C ana :

Saline concentration from analytical solution in column test

N :

Number of data for error calculation

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Shiraz University of Technology.

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Correspondence to Ali Akbar Hekmatzadeh.

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Ahmadizadeh, A., Hekmatzadeh, A.A., Tabatabaie Shourijeh , P. et al. Modeling Contaminant Transport in Fine Sands: Three-Dimensional Sandbox Experiments and Numerical Simulation. Iran J Sci Technol Trans Civ Eng 46, 2377–2392 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40996-021-00661-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40996-021-00661-4

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