EMSP Progress Report: Physics of DNAPL Migration and Remediation in the Presence of Heterogeneities

We are in the process of conducting well-controlled laboratory experiments to better understand the physics of DNAPL migration and remediation in the presence of heterogeneities. These experiments are being used to develop and test an upscaled percolation model, a new approach for modeling DNAPL migration. In addition, numerical simulators under current use in evaluating remediation techniques will be compared against our remediation experiments. We are making use of our unique experimental capabilities in the Subsurface Flow and Transport Processes Laboratory at Sandia to conduct controlled, systematic, repeatable experiments that first consider the physics of DNAPL migration in initially water-saturated, heterogeneous porous media and then evaluate the efficacy of a suite of promising remediation techniques for remediating DNAPLs from heterogeneous aquifers. The results of the migration experiments are being used to test and continue development of new modeling approaches based on upscaled percolation theory developed by us. The remediation experiments include visual and quantitative measures of each remediation technique’s performance. The results of the remediation experiments will be used to test, for the first time, within heterogeneous media, the quantitative performance of remediation design codes (two-phase flow codes that incorporate compositional models).