Approaching a universal scaling relationship between fracture stiffness and fluid flow

Science.gov (United States)

Pyrak-Nolte, Laura J.; Nolte, David D.

2016-02-01

A goal of subsurface geophysical monitoring is the detection and characterization of fracture alterations that affect the hydraulic integrity of a site. Achievement of this goal requires a link between the mechanical and hydraulic properties of a fracture. Here we present a scaling relationship between fluid flow and fracture-specific stiffness that approaches universality. Fracture-specific stiffness is a mechanical property dependent on fracture geometry that can be monitored remotely using seismic techniques. A Monte Carlo numerical approach demonstrates that a scaling relationship exists between flow and stiffness for fractures with strongly correlated aperture distributions, and continues to hold for fractures deformed by applied stress and by chemical erosion as well. This new scaling relationship provides a foundation for simulating changes in fracture behaviour as a function of stress or depth in the Earth and will aid risk assessment of the hydraulic integrity of subsurface sites.

Paracetamol removal in subsurface flow constructed wetlands

Science.gov (United States)

Ranieri, Ezio; Verlicchi, Paola; Young, Thomas M.

2011-07-01

SummaryIn this study two pilot scale Horizontal Subsurface Flow Constructed Wetlands (HSFCWs) near Lecce, Italy, planted with different macrophytes ( Phragmites australis and Typha latifolia) and an unplanted control were assessed for their effectiveness in removing paracetamol. Residence time distributions (RTDs) for the two beds indicated that the Typha bed was characterized by a void volume fraction (porosity) of 0.16 and exhibited more ideal plug flow behavior (Pe = 29.7) than the Phragmites bed (Pe = 26.7), which had similar porosity. The measured hydraulic residence times in the planted beds were 35.8 and 36.7 h when the flow was equal to 1 m 3/d. The Phragmites bed exhibited a range of paracetamol removals from 51.7% for a Hydraulic Loading Rate (HLR) of 240 mm/d to 87% with 120 mm/d HLR and 99.9% with 30 mm/d. The Typha bed showed a similar behavior with percentages of removal slightly lower, ranging from 46.7% (HLR of 240 mm/d) to >99.9% (hydraulic loading rate of 30 mm/d). At the same HLR values the unplanted bed removed between 51.3% and 97.6% of the paracetamol. In all three treatments the paracetamol removal was higher with flow of 1 m 3/d and an area of approx. 7.5 m 2 (half bed) than in the case of flow equal to 0.5 m 3/d with a surface treatment of approx. 3.75 m 2. A first order model for paracetamol removal was evaluated and half lives of 5.16 to 10.2 h were obtained.

Surface-subsurface flow modeling: an example of large-scale research at the new NEON user facility

Science.gov (United States)

Powell, H.; McKnight, D. M.

2009-12-01

Climate change is predicted to alter surface-subsurface interactions in freshwater ecosystems. These interactions are hypothesized to control nutrient release at diel and seasonal time scales, which may then exert control over epilithic algal growth rates. The mechanisms underlying shifts in complex physical-chemical-biological patterns can be elucidated by long-term observations at sites that span hydrologic and climate gradients across the continent. Development of the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) will provide researchers the opportunity to investigate continental-scale patterns by combining investigator-driven measurements with Observatory data. NEON is a national-scale research platform for analyzing and understanding the impacts of climate change, land-use change, and invasive species on ecology. NEON features sensor networks and experiments, linked by advanced cyberinfrastructure to record and archive ecological data for at least 30 years. NEON partitions the United States into 20 ecoclimatic domains. Each domain hosts one fully instrumented Core Aquatic site in a wildland area and one Relocatable site, which aims to capture ecologically significant gradients (e.g. landuse, nitrogen deposition, urbanization). In the current definition of NEON there are 36 Aquatic sites: 30 streams/rivers and 6 ponds/lakes. Each site includes automated, in-situ sensors for groundwater elevation and temperature; stream flow (discharge and stage); pond water elevation; atmospheric chemistry (Tair, barometric pressure, PAR, radiation); and surface water chemistry (DO, Twater, conductivity, pH, turbidity, cDOM, nutrients). Groundwater and surface water sites shall be regularly sampled for selected chemical and isotopic parameters. The hydrologic and geochemical monitoring design provides basic information on water and chemical fluxes in streams and ponds and between groundwater and surface water, which is intended to support investigator-driven modeling studies

Channel water balance and exchange with subsurface flow along a mountain headwater stream in Montana, United States

Science.gov (United States)

R.A. Payn; M.N. Gooseff; B.L. McGlynn; K.E. Bencala; S.M. Wondzell

2009-01-01

Channel water balances of contiguous reaches along streams represent a poorly understood scale of stream-subsurface interaction. We measured reach water balances along a headwater stream in Montana, United States, during summer base flow recessions. Reach water balances were estimated from series of tracer tests in 13 consecutive reaches delineated evenly along a 2.6-...

Characterisation of microbial biocoenosis in vertical subsurface flow constructed wetlands

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tietz, Alexandra; Kirschner, Alexander; Langergraber, Guenter; Sleytr, Kirsten; Haberl, Raimund

2007-01-01

In this study a quantitative description of the microbial biocoenosis in subsurface vertical flow constructed wetlands fed with municipal wastewater was carried out. Three different methods (substrate induced respiration, ATP measurement and fumigation-extraction) were applied to measure the microbial biomass at different depths of planted and unplanted systems. Additionally, bacterial biomass was determined by epifluorescence microscopy and productivity was measured via 14 C leucine incorporation into bacterial biomass. All methods showed that > 50% of microbial biomass and bacterial activity could be found in the first cm and about 95% in the first 10 cm of the filter layer. Bacterial biomass in the first 10 cm of the filter body accounted only for 16-19% of the total microbial biomass. Whether fungi or methodical uncertainties are mainly responsible for the difference between microbial and bacterial biomass remains to be examined. A comparison between the purification performance of planted and unplanted pilot-scale subsurface vertical flow constructed wetlands (PSCWs) showed no significant difference with the exception of the reduction of enterococci. The microbial biomass in all depths of the filter body was also not different in planted and unplanted systems. Compared with data from soils the microbial biomass in the PSCWs was high, although the specific surface area of the used sandy filter material available for biofilm growth was lower, especially in the beginning of the set-up of the PSCWs, due to missing clay and silt fraction

Horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands for mitigation of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The feasibility of using constructed wetlands (CWs) for the mitigation of pesticide runoff has been studied in the last decade. However, a lack of related data was verified when subsurface flow constructed wetlands (SSF CWs) are considered for this purpose. In the present work, SSF CWs were submitted to continuous ...

FACT (Version 2.0) - Subsurface Flow and Contaminant Transport Documentation and User's Guide

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aleman, S.E.

2000-05-05

This report documents a finite element code designed to model subsurface flow and contaminant transport, named FACT. FACT is a transient three-dimensional, finite element code designed to simulate isothermal groundwater flow, moisture movement, and solute transport in variably saturated and fully saturated subsurface porous media.

Adaptive Multiscale Finite Element Method for Subsurface Flow Simulation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Van Esch, J.M.

2010-01-01

Natural geological formations generally show multiscale structural and functional heterogeneity evolving over many orders of magnitude in space and time. In subsurface hydrological simulations the geological model focuses on the structural hierarchy of physical sub units and the flow model addresses

Simulating subsurface flow and transport on ultrascale computers using PFLOTRAN

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mills, Richard Tran; Lu, Chuan; Lichtner, Peter C; Hammond, Glenn E

2007-01-01

We describe PFLOTRAN, a recently developed code for modeling multi-phase, multi-component subsurface flow and reactive transport using massively parallel computers. PFLOTRAN is built on top of PETSc, the Portable, Extensible Toolkit for Scientific Computation. Leveraging PETSc has allowed us to develop-with a relatively modest investment in development effort-a code that exhibits excellent performance on the largest-scale supercomputers. Very significant enhancements to the code are planned during our SciDAC-2 project. Here we describe the current state of the code, present an example of its use on Jaguar, the Cray XT3/4 system at Oak Ridge National Laboratory consisting of 11706 dual-core Opteron processor nodes, and briefly outline our future plans for the code

Simulating subsurface flow and transport on ultrascale computers using PFLOTRAN

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mills, Richard Tran [Computational Earth Sciences Group, Computer Science and Mathematics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6015 (United States); Lu, Chuan [Hydrology, Geochemistry, and Geology Group, Earth and Environmental Sciences Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545 (United States); Lichtner, Peter C [Hydrology, Geochemistry, and Geology Group, Earth and Environmental Sciences Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545 (United States); Hammond, Glenn E [Hydrology Group, Environmental Technology Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352 (United States)

2007-07-15

We describe PFLOTRAN, a recently developed code for modeling multi-phase, multi-component subsurface flow and reactive transport using massively parallel computers. PFLOTRAN is built on top of PETSc, the Portable, Extensible Toolkit for Scientific Computation. Leveraging PETSc has allowed us to develop-with a relatively modest investment in development effort-a code that exhibits excellent performance on the largest-scale supercomputers. Very significant enhancements to the code are planned during our SciDAC-2 project. Here we describe the current state of the code, present an example of its use on Jaguar, the Cray XT3/4 system at Oak Ridge National Laboratory consisting of 11706 dual-core Opteron processor nodes, and briefly outline our future plans for the code.

Controlling Subsurface Fractures and Fluid Flow: A Basic Research Agenda

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pyrak-Nolte, Laura J [Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States); DePaolo, Donald J. [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Pietraß, Tanja [USDOE Office of Science, Washington, DC (United States)

2015-05-22

From beneath the surface of the earth, we currently obtain about 80-percent of the energy our nation consumes each year. In the future we have the potential to generate billions of watts of electrical power from clean, green, geothermal energy sources. Our planet’s subsurface can also serve as a reservoir for storing energy produced from intermittent sources such as wind and solar, and it could provide safe, long-term storage of excess carbon dioxide, energy waste products and other hazardous materials. However, it is impossible to underestimate the complexities of the subsurface world. These complexities challenge our ability to acquire the scientific knowledge needed for the efficient and safe exploitation of its resources. To more effectively harness subsurface resources while mitigating the impacts of developing and using these resources, the U.S. Department of Energy established SubTER – the Subsurface Technology and Engineering RD&D Crosscut team. This DOE multi-office team engaged scientists and engineers from the national laboratories to assess and make recommendations for improving energy-related subsurface engineering. The SubTER team produced a plan with the overall objective of “adaptive control of subsurface fractures and fluid flow.”This plan revolved around four core technological pillars—Intelligent Wellbore Systems that sustain the integrity of the wellbore environment; Subsurface Stress and Induced Seismicity programs that guide and optimize sustainable energy strategies while reducing the risks associated with subsurface injections; Permeability Manipulation studies that improve methods of enhancing, impeding and eliminating fluid flow; and New Subsurface Signals that transform our ability to see into and characterize subsurface systems. The SubTER team developed an extensive R&D plan for advancing technologies within these four core pillars and also identified several areas where new technologies would require additional basic research

Mechanistic assessment of hillslope transpiration controls of diel subsurface flow: a steady-state irrigation approach

Science.gov (United States)

H.R. Barnard; C.B. Graham; W.J. van Verseveld; J.R. Brooks; B.J. Bond; J.J. McDonnell

2010-01-01

Mechanistic assessment of how transpiration influences subsurface flow is necessary to advance understanding of catchment hydrology. We conducted a 24-day, steady-state irrigation experiment to quantify the relationships among soil moisture, transpiration and hillslope subsurface flow. Our objectives were to: (1) examine the time lag between maximum transpiration and...

Subsurface Flow and Contaminant Transport Documentation and User's Guide

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aleman, S.E.

1999-07-28

This report documents a finite element code designed to model subsurface flow and contaminant transport, named FACT. FACT is a transient three-dimensional, finite element code designed to simulate isothermal groundwater flow, moisture movement, and solute transport in variably saturated and fully saturated subsurface porous media. The code is designed specifically to handle complex multi-layer and/or heterogeneous aquifer systems in an efficient manner and accommodates a wide range of boundary conditions. Additionally, 1-D and 2-D (in Cartesian coordinates) problems are handled in FACT by simply limiting the number of elements in a particular direction(s) to one. The governing equations in FACT are formulated only in Cartesian coordinates.

Modeling subsurface stormflow initiation in low-relief landscapes

Science.gov (United States)

Hopp, Luisa; Vaché, Kellie B.; Rhett Jackson, C.; McDonnell, Jeffrey J.

2015-04-01

Shallow lateral subsurface flow as a runoff generating mechanism at the hillslope scale has mostly been studied in steeper terrain with typical hillside angles of 10 - 45 degrees. These studies have shown that subsurface stormflow is often initiated at the interface between a permeable upper soil layer and a lower conductivity impeding layer, e.g. a B horizon or bedrock. Many studies have identified thresholds of event size and soil moisture states that need to be exceeded before subsurface stormflow is initiated. However, subsurface stormflow generation on low-relief hillslopes has been much less studied. Here we present a modeling study that investigates the initiation of subsurface stormflow on low-relief hillslopes in the Upper Coastal Plain of South Carolina, USA. Hillslopes in this region typically have slope angles of 2-5 degrees. Topsoils are sandy, underlain by a low-conductivity sandy clay loam Bt horizon. Subsurface stormflow has only been intercepted occasionally in a 120 m long trench, and often subsurface flow was not well correlated with stream signals, suggesting a disconnect between subsurface flow on the hillslopes and stream flow. We therefore used a hydrologic model to better understand which conditions promote the initiation of subsurface flow in this landscape, addressing following questions: Is there a threshold event size and soil moisture state for producing lateral subsurface flow? What role does the spatial pattern of depth to the impeding clay layer play for subsurface stormflow dynamics? We reproduced a section of a hillslope, for which high-resolution topographic data and depth to clay measurements were available, in the hydrologic model HYDRUS-3D. Soil hydraulic parameters were based on experimentally-derived data. The threshold analysis was first performed using hourly climate data records for 2009-2010 from the study site to drive the simulation. For this period also trench measurements of subsurface flow were available. In addition

Subsurface Flow Modeling in Single and Dual Continuum Anisotropic Porous Media using the Multipoint Flux Approximation Method

KAUST Repository

Negara, Ardiansyah

2015-05-01

Anisotropy of hydraulic properties of the subsurface geologic formations is an essential feature that has been established as a consequence of the different geologic processes that undergo during the longer geologic time scale. With respect to subsurface reservoirs, in many cases, anisotropy plays significant role in dictating the direction of flow that becomes no longer dependent only on driving forces like the pressure gradient and gravity but also on the principal directions of anisotropy. Therefore, there has been a great deal of motivation to consider anisotropy into the subsurface flow and transport models. In this dissertation, we present subsurface flow modeling in single and dual continuum anisotropic porous media, which include the single-phase groundwater flow coupled with the solute transport in anisotropic porous media, the two-phase flow with gravity effect in anisotropic porous media, and the natural gas flow in anisotropic shale reservoirs. We have employed the multipoint flux approximation (MPFA) method to handle anisotropy in the flow model. The MPFA method is designed to provide correct discretization of the flow equations for general orientation of the principal directions of the permeability tensor. The implementation of MPFA method is combined with the experimenting pressure field approach, a newly developed technique that enables the solution of the global problem breaks down into the solution of multitude of local problems. The numerical results of the study demonstrate the significant effects of anisotropy of the subsurface formations. For the single-phase groundwater flow coupled with the solute transport modeling in anisotropic porous media, the results shows the strong impact of anisotropy on the pressure field and the migration of the solute concentration. For the two-phase flow modeling with gravity effect in anisotropic porous media, it is observed that the buoyancy-driven flow, which emerges due to the density differences between the

Effectiveness of vegetation on phosphorus removal from reclaimed water by a subsurface flow wetland in a coastal area

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Baoqing Shan; Liang Ao; Chunming Hu; Jiayu Song

2011-01-01

This work was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness and influence factors of vegetation on phosphorus (P) removal from reclaimed water in constructed wetlands.Comparisons were conducted between one pilot scale subsurface flow wetland (P-SSFW) and two demonstration subsurface flow wetlands,which were series-wound and named as first subsurface flow wetland (F-SSFW),and second subsurface flow wetland (S-SSFW),respectively.The three wetlands had the same vegetation and substrate,but different pH values,total dissolved solids (TDS) and P loads.Results showed that the P content in the vegetation shoots of the F-SSFW was 2.16 mg/g,while 2.31 mg/g in the S-SSFW and 2.69 mg/g in the P-SSFW.These differences were likely caused by the higher pH and TDS in the reclaimed water.The P content also differed among the tissues of the plant,which were 5.94-6.44 mg/g,2.20-2.77 mg/g,1.31-1.46mg/g and 1.53-1.88 mg/g in the flowers,leaves,stems,and roots,respectively.The greatest discrepancy was observed in the leaves,indicating that the environment of the wetlands had the greatest influence on the leaves.When the total phosphorus (TP) load was lower,the proportion of P removed by vegetation assimilation was 16.17% in the P-SSFW,12.90% in the F-SSFW and 13.29% in the S-SSFW.However,the relative removal efficiency by vegetation among the three wetlands did not vary greatly from that observed in other studies.Moreover,the influence of pH,TDS and TP load was not as great as the influence of the vegetation species,type of substrate,influent style or climate.

Subsurface temperatures and surface heat flow in the Michigan Basin and their relationships to regional subsurface fluid movement

Science.gov (United States)

Vugrinovich, R.

1989-01-01

Linear regression of 405 bottomhole temperature (BHT) measurements vs. associated depths from Michigan's Lower Peninsula results in the following equation relating BHT and depth: BHT(??C) = 14.5 + 0.0192 ?? depth(m) Temperature residuals, defined as (BHT measured)-(BHT calculated), were determined for each of the 405 BHT's. Areas of positive temperature residuals correspond to areas of regional groundwater discharge (determined from maps of equipotential surface) while areas of negative temperature residuals correspond to areas of regional groundwater recharge. These relationships are observed in the principal aquifers in rocks of Devonian and Ordovician age and in a portion of the principal aquifer in rocks of Silurian age. There is a similar correspondence between high surface heat flow (determined using the silica geothermometer) and regional groundwater discharge areas and low surface heat flow and regional groundwater recharge areas. Post-Jurassic depositional and tectonic histories suggest that the observed coupling of subsurface temperature and groundwater flow systems may have persisted since Jurassic time. Thus the higher subsurface palaeotemperatures (and palaeogeothermal gradients) indicated by recent studies most likely pre-date the Jurassic. ?? 1989.

Comparison of simple, small, full-scale sewage treatment systems in Brazil: UASB-maturation ponds-coarse filter; UASB-horizontal subsurface-flow wetland; vertical-flow wetland (first stage of French system).

Science.gov (United States)

von Sperling, M

2015-01-01

This paper presents a comparison between three simple sewage treatment lines involving natural processes: (a) upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor-three maturation ponds in series-coarse rock filter; (b) UASB reactor-horizontal subsurface-flow constructed wetland; and (c) vertical-flow constructed wetlands treating raw sewage (first stage of the French system). The evaluation was based on several years of practical experience with three small full-scale plants receiving the same influent wastewater (population equivalents of 220, 60 and 100 inhabitants) in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The comparison included interpretation of concentrations and removal efficiencies based on monitoring data (organic matter, solids, nitrogen, phosphorus, coliforms and helminth eggs), together with an evaluation of practical aspects, such as land and volume requirements, sludge production and handling, plant management, clogging and others. Based on an integrated evaluation of all aspects involved, it is worth emphasizing that each system has its own specificities, and no generalization can be made on the best option. The overall conclusion is that the three lines are suitable for sewage treatment in small communities in warm-climate regions.

Data inversion in coupled subsurface flow and geomechanics models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Iglesias, Marco A; McLaughlin, Dennis

2012-01-01

We present an inverse modeling approach to estimate petrophysical and elastic properties of the subsurface. The aim is to use the fully coupled geomechanics-flow model of Girault et al (2011 Math. Models Methods Appl. Sci. 21 169–213) to jointly invert surface deformation and pressure data from wells. We use a functional-analytic framework to construct a forward operator (parameter-to-output map) that arises from the geomechanics-flow model of Girault et al. Then, we follow a deterministic approach to pose the inverse problem of finding parameter estimates from measurements of the output of the forward operator. We prove that this inverse problem is ill-posed in the sense of stability. The inverse problem is then regularized with the implementation of the Newton-conjugate gradient (CG) algorithm of Hanke (1997 Numer. Funct. Anal. Optim. 18 18–971). For a consistent application of the Newton-CG scheme, we establish the differentiability of the forward map and characterize the adjoint of its linearization. We provide assumptions under which the theory of Hanke ensures convergence and regularizing properties of the Newton-CG scheme. These properties are verified in our numerical experiments. In addition, our synthetic experiments display the capabilities of the proposed inverse approach to estimate parameters of the subsurface by means of data inversion. In particular, the added value of measurements of surface deformation in the estimation of absolute permeability is quantified with respect to the standard history matching approach of inverting production data with flow models. The proposed methodology can be potentially used to invert satellite geodetic data (e.g. InSAR and GPS) in combination with production data for optimal monitoring and characterization of the subsurface. (paper)

Nested sampling algorithm for subsurface flow model selection, uncertainty quantification, and nonlinear calibration

KAUST Repository

Elsheikh, A. H.

2013-12-01

Calibration of subsurface flow models is an essential step for managing ground water aquifers, designing of contaminant remediation plans, and maximizing recovery from hydrocarbon reservoirs. We investigate an efficient sampling algorithm known as nested sampling (NS), which can simultaneously sample the posterior distribution for uncertainty quantification, and estimate the Bayesian evidence for model selection. Model selection statistics, such as the Bayesian evidence, are needed to choose or assign different weights to different models of different levels of complexities. In this work, we report the first successful application of nested sampling for calibration of several nonlinear subsurface flow problems. The estimated Bayesian evidence by the NS algorithm is used to weight different parameterizations of the subsurface flow models (prior model selection). The results of the numerical evaluation implicitly enforced Occam\\'s razor where simpler models with fewer number of parameters are favored over complex models. The proper level of model complexity was automatically determined based on the information content of the calibration data and the data mismatch of the calibrated model.

Removal of nutrients from septic tank effluent with baffle subsurface-flow constructed wetlands

Science.gov (United States)

Lihu Cui; Ying Ouyang; Weizhi Yang; Zhujian Huang; Qiaoling Xu; Guangwei Yu

2015-01-01

Three new baffle flow constructed wetlands (CWs), namely the baffle horizontal flow CW (Z1), baffle vertical flow CW (Z2) and baffle hybrid flow CW (Z3), along with one traditional horizontal subsurface flow CW (Z4) were designed to test the removal efficiency of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) from the septic tank effluent under varying hydraulic retention times (HRTs...

Subsurface flow pathway dynamics in the active layer of coupled permafrost-hydrogeological systems under seasonal and annual temperature variability.

Science.gov (United States)

Frampton, Andrew

2017-04-01

There is a need for improved understanding of the mechanisms controlling subsurface solute transport in the active layer in order to better understand permafrost-hydrological-carbon feedbacks, in particular with regards to how dissolved carbon is transported in coupled surface and subsurface terrestrial arctic water systems under climate change. Studying solute transport in arctic systems is also relevant in the context of anthropogenic pollution which may increase due to increased activity in cold region environments. In this contribution subsurface solute transport subject to ground surface warming causing permafrost thaw and active layer change is studied using a physically based model of coupled cryotic and hydrogeological flow processes combined with a particle tracking method. Changes in subsurface water flows and solute transport travel times are analysed for different modelled geological configurations during a 100-year warming period. Results show that for all simulated cases, the minimum and mean travel times increase non-linearly with warming irrespective of geological configuration and heterogeneity structure. The timing of the start of increase in travel time depends on heterogeneity structure, combined with the rate of permafrost degradation that also depends on material thermal and hydrogeological properties. These travel time changes are shown to depend on combined warming effects of increase in pathway length due to deepening of the active layer, reduced transport velocities due to a shift from horizontal saturated groundwater flow near the surface to vertical water percolation deeper into the subsurface, and pathway length increase and temporary immobilization caused by cryosuction-induced seasonal freeze cycles. The impact these change mechanisms have on solute and dissolved substance transport is further analysed by integrating pathway analysis with a Lagrangian approach, incorporating considerations for both dissolved organic and inorganic

Modeling field scale unsaturated flow and transport processes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gelhar, L.W.; Celia, M.A.; McLaughlin, D.

1994-08-01

The scales of concern in subsurface transport of contaminants from low-level radioactive waste disposal facilities are in the range of 1 to 1,000 m. Natural geologic materials generally show very substantial spatial variability in hydraulic properties over this range of scales. Such heterogeneity can significantly influence the migration of contaminants. It is also envisioned that complex earth structures will be constructed to isolate the waste and minimize infiltration of water into the facility. The flow of water and gases through such facilities must also be a concern. A stochastic theory describing unsaturated flow and contamination transport in naturally heterogeneous soils has been enhanced by adopting a more realistic characterization of soil variability. The enhanced theory is used to predict field-scale effective properties and variances of tension and moisture content. Applications illustrate the important effects of small-scale heterogeneity on large-scale anisotropy and hysteresis and demonstrate the feasibility of simulating two-dimensional flow systems at time and space scales of interest in radioactive waste disposal investigations. Numerical algorithms for predicting field scale unsaturated flow and contaminant transport have been improved by requiring them to respect fundamental physical principles such as mass conservation. These algorithms are able to provide realistic simulations of systems with very dry initial conditions and high degrees of heterogeneity. Numerical simulation of the movement of water and air in unsaturated soils has demonstrated the importance of air pathways for contaminant transport. The stochastic flow and transport theory has been used to develop a systematic approach to performance assessment and site characterization. Hypothesis-testing techniques have been used to determine whether model predictions are consistent with observed data

The Influence of Plant Root Systems on Subsurface Flow: Implications for Slope Stability

Science.gov (United States)

Although research has explained how plant roots mechanically stabilize soils, in this article we explore how root systems create networks of preferential flow and thus influence water pressures in soils to trigger landslides. Root systems may alter subsurface flow: Hydrological m...

Bacterial carbon utilization in vertical subsurface flow constructed wetlands.

Science.gov (United States)

Tietz, Alexandra; Langergraber, Günter; Watzinger, Andrea; Haberl, Raimund; Kirschner, Alexander K T

2008-03-01

Subsurface vertical flow constructed wetlands with intermittent loading are considered as state of the art and can comply with stringent effluent requirements. It is usually assumed that microbial activity in the filter body of constructed wetlands, responsible for the removal of carbon and nitrogen, relies mainly on bacterially mediated transformations. However, little quantitative information is available on the distribution of bacterial biomass and production in the "black-box" constructed wetland. The spatial distribution of bacterial carbon utilization, based on bacterial (14)C-leucine incorporation measurements, was investigated for the filter body of planted and unplanted indoor pilot-scale constructed wetlands, as well as for a planted outdoor constructed wetland. A simple mass-balance approach was applied to explain the bacterially catalysed organic matter degradation in this system by comparing estimated bacterial carbon utilization rates with simultaneously measured carbon reduction values. The pilot-scale constructed wetlands proved to be a suitable model system for investigating microbial carbon utilization in constructed wetlands. Under an ideal operating mode, the bulk of bacterial productivity occurred within the first 10cm of the filter body. Plants seemed to have no significant influence on productivity and biomass of bacteria, as well as on wastewater total organic carbon removal.

Relationship Between Storm Hydrograph Components and Subsurface Flow Processes in a Hilly Headwater Basin, Toyota, Japan

Science.gov (United States)

Tsujimura, M.; Asai, K.; Takei, R.

2001-05-01

Temporal and spatial distribution of tracer elements and subsurface flow processes were investigated to study relationship between storm hydrograph components and behavior of subsurface water in a headwater catchment of Toyota Hill, Aichi prefecture, central Japan. The catchment has an area of 0.857 ha with an altitude of 60 to 100 m, and is underlain by granite. The soil depth revealed by sounding test ranges from 0.5 to 4.0 m. Rain, stream, soil and ground waters were sampled once in a week, and the stream water was sampled at 5 to 60 minute intervals during rainstorms. The pressure head of subsurface water was monitored using tensiometers and piezometers nests, and the stream flow was monitored using V-notch weir. The stable isotopic ratios of deuterium and oxygen 18 and inorganic ion concentrations were determined on all water samples. The oxygen 18 isotopic ratio in stream water decreased with rainfall during the rainstorms. The ratio of event water component to the total runoff water at the peak discharge ranged from 16 to 92 %, and the event water ratio correlated with the peak discharge rate and rainfall intensity. The tesiometric data showed that the shallow subsurface water with low isotopic ratios at the lower slope discharged directly to the stream during the heavy rainstorms. The shallow subsurface flow at the lower slope and overland flow on the raiparian zone contributed much to the stream water chemistry during heavy rainstorms.

3-D numerical investigation of subsurface flow in anisotropic porous media using multipoint flux approximation method

KAUST Repository

Negara, Ardiansyah

2013-01-01

Anisotropy of hydraulic properties of subsurface geologic formations is an essential feature that has been established as a consequence of the different geologic processes that they undergo during the longer geologic time scale. With respect to petroleum reservoirs, in many cases, anisotropy plays significant role in dictating the direction of flow that becomes no longer dependent only on the pressure gradient direction but also on the principal directions of anisotropy. Furthermore, in complex systems involving the flow of multiphase fluids in which the gravity and the capillarity play an important role, anisotropy can also have important influences. Therefore, there has been great deal of motivation to consider anisotropy when solving the governing conservation laws numerically. Unfortunately, the two-point flux approximation of finite difference approach is not capable of handling full tensor permeability fields. Lately, however, it has been possible to adapt the multipoint flux approximation that can handle anisotropy to the framework of finite difference schemes. In multipoint flux approximation method, the stencil of approximation is more involved, i.e., it requires the involvement of 9-point stencil for the 2-D model and 27-point stencil for the 3-D model. This is apparently challenging and cumbersome when making the global system of equations. In this work, we apply the equation-type approach, which is the experimenting pressure field approach that enables the solution of the global problem breaks into the solution of multitude of local problems that significantly reduce the complexity without affecting the accuracy of numerical solution. This approach also leads in reducing the computational cost during the simulation. We have applied this technique to a variety of anisotropy scenarios of 3-D subsurface flow problems and the numerical results demonstrate that the experimenting pressure field technique fits very well with the multipoint flux approximation

On the inclusion of the interfacial area between phases in the physical and mathematical description of subsurface multiphase flow. 1998 annual progress report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gray, W.G.; Soll, W.E.; Tompson, A.

1998-01-01

'Improved capabilities for modeling multiphase flow in the subsurface requires that several aspects of the system which impact the flow and transport processes be more properly accounted for. A distinguishing feature of multiphase flow in comparison to single phase flow is the existence of interfaces between fluids. At the microscopic (pore) scale, these interfaces are known to influence system behavior by supporting non-zero stresses such that the pressures in adjacent phases are not equal. In problems of interphase transport at the macroscopic (core) scale, knowledge of the total amount of interfacial area in the system provides a clue to the effectiveness of the communication between phases. Although interfacial processes are central to multiphase flow physics, their treatment in traditional porous-media theories has been implicit rather than explicit; and no attempts have been made to systematically account for the evolution of the interfacial area in dynamic systems or to include the dependence of constitutive functions, such as capillary pressure, on the interfacial area. This project implements a three-pronged approach to assessing the importance of various features of multiphase flow to its description. The research contributes to the improved understanding and precise physical description of multiphase subsurface flow by combining: (1) theoretical derivation of equations, (2) lattice Boltzmann modeling of hydrodynamics to identify characteristics and parameters, and (3) solution of the field-scale equations using a discrete numerical method to assess the advantages and disadvantages of the complete theory. This approach includes both fundamental scientific inquiry and a path for inclusion of the scientific results obtained in a technical tool that will improve assessment capabilities for multiphase flow situations that have arisen due to the introduction of organic materials in the natural environment. This report summarizes work after 1.5 years of a 3

Impact of Subsurface Heterogeneities on nano-Scale Zero Valent Iron Transport

Science.gov (United States)

Krol, M. M.; Sleep, B. E.; O'Carroll, D. M.

2011-12-01

Nano-scale zero valent iron (nZVI) has been applied as a remediation technology at sites contaminated with chlorinated compounds and heavy metals. Although laboratory studies have demonstrated high reactivity for the degradation of target contaminants, the success of nZVI in the field has been limited due to poor subsurface mobility. When injected into the subsurface, nZVI tends to aggregate and be retained by subsurface soils. As such nZVI suspensions need to be stabilized for increased mobility. However, even with stabilization, soil heterogeneities can still lead to non-uniform nZVI transport, resulting in poor distribution and consequently decreased degradation of target compounds. Understanding how nZVI transport can be affected by subsurface heterogeneities can aid in improving the technology. This can be done with the use of a numerical model which can simulate nZVI transport. In this study CompSim, a finite difference groundwater model, is used to simulate the movement of nZVI in a two-dimensional domain. CompSim has been shown in previous studies to accurately predict nZVI movement in the subsurface, and is used in this study to examine the impact of soil heterogeneity on nZVI transport. This work also explores the impact of different viscosities of the injected nZVI suspensions (corresponding to different stabilizing polymers) and injection rates on nZVI mobility. Analysis metrics include travel time, travel distance, and average nZVI concentrations. Improving our understanding of the influence of soil heterogeneity on nZVI transport will lead to improved field scale implementation and, potentially, to more effective remediation of contaminated sites.

Application of in situ vitrification in the soil subsurface: Engineering-scale testing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Luey, J.; Seiler, D.K.

1995-03-01

Engineering-scale testing to evaluate the initiation and propagation of the in situ vitrification (ISV) process in the soil subsurface has been completed. Application of ISV in the soil subsurface both increases the applicable treatment depth (beyond a demonstrated 5 m) and allows treatment of local contamination, such as liquid seepage trenches (found on many US Department of Energy sites) that were designed to remove contamination at the bottom of the trench. The following observations and conclusions resulted from the test data: the ISV process can be initiated in the soil subsurface and propagated in both vertical directions, with the downward direction providing greater ease of operation; energy efficiency to process a kilogram of soil was 20% better than for an ISV melt initiated at the soil surface, increased efficiency was attributed to insulation from the soil overburden; the feasibility of initiating the process with a planar starter path was confirmed, thus increasing the number of options for initiating the process in the field; soil subsidence was pronounced and requires attention before field demonstration of subsurface ISV. Further field work at pilot-scale is recommended for this new ISV application. The key step will be the placement of starter material at depth to initiate the process

Evaluation of SCS-CN method using a fully distributed physically based coupled surface-subsurface flow model

Science.gov (United States)

Shokri, Ali

2017-04-01

The hydrological cycle contains a wide range of linked surface and subsurface flow processes. In spite of natural connections between surface water and groundwater, historically, these processes have been studied separately. The current trend in hydrological distributed physically based model development is to combine distributed surface water models with distributed subsurface flow models. This combination results in a better estimation of the temporal and spatial variability of the interaction between surface and subsurface flow. On the other hand, simple lumped models such as the Soil Conservation Service Curve Number (SCS-CN) are still quite common because of their simplicity. In spite of the popularity of the SCS-CN method, there have always been concerns about the ambiguity of the SCS-CN method in explaining physical mechanism of rainfall-runoff processes. The aim of this study is to minimize these ambiguity by establishing a method to find an equivalence of the SCS-CN solution to the DrainFlow model, which is a fully distributed physically based coupled surface-subsurface flow model. In this paper, two hypothetical v-catchment tests are designed and the direct runoff from a storm event are calculated by both SCS-CN and DrainFlow models. To find a comparable solution to runoff prediction through the SCS-CN and DrainFlow, the variance between runoff predictions by the two models are minimized by changing Curve Number (CN) and initial abstraction (Ia) values. Results of this study have led to a set of lumped model parameters (CN and Ia) for each catchment that is comparable to a set of physically based parameters including hydraulic conductivity, Manning roughness coefficient, ground surface slope, and specific storage. Considering the lack of physical interpretation in CN and Ia is often argued as a weakness of SCS-CN method, the novel method in this paper gives a physical explanation to CN and Ia.

Nested sampling algorithm for subsurface flow model selection, uncertainty quantification, and nonlinear calibration

KAUST Repository

Elsheikh, A. H.; Wheeler, M. F.; Hoteit, Ibrahim

2013-01-01

Calibration of subsurface flow models is an essential step for managing ground water aquifers, designing of contaminant remediation plans, and maximizing recovery from hydrocarbon reservoirs. We investigate an efficient sampling algorithm known

Flow and transport processes in a macroporous subsurface-drained glacial till soil

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Villholth, Karen G.; Jensen, Karsten Høgh

1998-01-01

disturbance and compaction of the soil surface. Hypothetically introducing fully surface-connected macropores into the calibrated model resulted in a 22% increase in the loss of solute to the drain, indicating the significance of the hydraulic conditions at the soil surface and the model specification thereof......The experimental results from a field-scale tracer experiment in a subsurface-drained glacial till soil were analyzed by the application of a single/dual porosity model (MACRO), optionally accounting for concurrent and interacting flow and transport in the bulk soil porosity as well...... concentration. The exchange was overpredicted and too rapid when the soil aggregate size (distance between macropores) obtained from an image analysis of soil cores was used in the model. On this basis, the model assumption of instant equilibration of the solute across the matrix porosity, disregarding small...

Discrete Fracture Network Modeling and Simulation of Subsurface Transport for the Topopah Springs and Lava Flow Aquifers at Pahute Mesa, FY 15 Progress Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Makedonska, Nataliia [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Kwicklis, Edward Michael [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Birdsell, Kay Hanson [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Harrod, Jeremy Ashcraft [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Karra, Satish [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

2016-10-18

This progress report for fiscal year 2015 (FY15) describes the development of discrete fracture network (DFN) models for Pahute Mesa. DFN models will be used to upscale parameters for simulations of subsurface flow and transport in fractured media in Pahute Mesa. The research focuses on modeling of groundwater flow and contaminant transport using DFNs generated according to fracture characteristics observed in the Topopah Spring Aquifer (TSA) and the Lava Flow Aquifer (LFA). This work will improve the representation of radionuclide transport processes in large-scale, regulatory-focused models with a view to reduce pessimistic bounding approximations and provide more realistic contaminant boundary calculations that can be used to describe the future extent of contaminated groundwater. Our goal is to refine a modeling approach that can translate parameters to larger-scale models that account for local-scale flow and transport processes, which tend to attenuate migration.

Use of soil moisture dynamics and patterns at different spatio-temporal scales for the investigation of subsurface flow processes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. Blume

2009-07-01

Full Text Available Spatial patterns as well as temporal dynamics of soil moisture have a major influence on runoff generation. The investigation of these dynamics and patterns can thus yield valuable information on hydrological processes, especially in data scarce or previously ungauged catchments. The combination of spatially scarce but temporally high resolution soil moisture profiles with episodic and thus temporally scarce moisture profiles at additional locations provides information on spatial as well as temporal patterns of soil moisture at the hillslope transect scale. This approach is better suited to difficult terrain (dense forest, steep slopes than geophysical techniques and at the same time less cost-intensive than a high resolution grid of continuously measuring sensors. Rainfall simulation experiments with dye tracers while continuously monitoring soil moisture response allows for visualization of flow processes in the unsaturated zone at these locations. Data was analyzed at different spacio-temporal scales using various graphical methods, such as space-time colour maps (for the event and plot scale and binary indicator maps (for the long-term and hillslope scale. Annual dynamics of soil moisture and decimeter-scale variability were also investigated. The proposed approach proved to be successful in the investigation of flow processes in the unsaturated zone and showed the importance of preferential flow in the Malalcahuello Catchment, a data-scarce catchment in the Andes of Southern Chile. Fast response times of stream flow indicate that preferential flow observed at the plot scale might also be of importance at the hillslope or catchment scale. Flow patterns were highly variable in space but persistent in time. The most likely explanation for preferential flow in this catchment is a combination of hydrophobicity, small scale heterogeneity in rainfall due to redistribution in the canopy and strong gradients in unsaturated conductivities leading to

Approaches to large scale unsaturated flow in heterogeneous, stratified, and fractured geologic media

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ababou, R.

1991-08-01

This report develops a broad review and assessment of quantitative modeling approaches and data requirements for large-scale subsurface flow in radioactive waste geologic repository. The data review includes discussions of controlled field experiments, existing contamination sites, and site-specific hydrogeologic conditions at Yucca Mountain. Local-scale constitutive models for the unsaturated hydrodynamic properties of geologic media are analyzed, with particular emphasis on the effect of structural characteristics of the medium. The report further reviews and analyzes large-scale hydrogeologic spatial variability from aquifer data, unsaturated soil data, and fracture network data gathered from the literature. Finally, various modeling strategies toward large-scale flow simulations are assessed, including direct high-resolution simulation, and coarse-scale simulation based on auxiliary hydrodynamic models such as single equivalent continuum and dual-porosity continuum. The roles of anisotropy, fracturing, and broad-band spatial variability are emphasized. 252 refs

Design configurations affecting flow pattern and solids accumulation in horizontal free water and subsurface flow constructed wetlands.

Science.gov (United States)

Pedescoll, A; Sidrach-Cardona, R; Sánchez, J C; Carretero, J; Garfi, M; Bécares, E

2013-03-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of different horizontal constructed wetland (CW) design parameters on solids distribution, loss of hydraulic conductivity over time and hydraulic behaviour, in order to assess clogging processes in wetlands. For this purpose, an experimental plant with eight CWs was built at mesocosm scale. Each CW presented a different design characteristic, and the most common CW configurations were all represented: free water surface flow (FWS) with different effluent pipe locations, FWS with floating macrophytes and subsurface flow (SSF), and the presence of plants and specific species (Typha angustifolia and Phragmites australis) was also considered. The loss of the hydraulic conductivity of gravel was greatly influenced by the presence of plants and organic load (representing a loss of 20% and c.a. 10% in planted wetlands and an overloaded system, respectively). Cattail seems to have a greater effect on the development of clogging since its below-ground biomass weighed twice as much as that of common reed. Hydraulic behaviour was greatly influenced by the presence of a gravel matrix and the outlet pipe position. In strict SSF CW, the water was forced to cross the gravel and tended to flow diagonally from the top inlet to the bottom outlet (where the inlet and outlet pipes were located). However, when FWS was considered, water preferentially flowed above the gravel, thus losing half the effective volume of the system. Only the presence of plants seemed to help the water flow partially within the gravel matrix. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Subsurface Science Program Bibliography, 1985--1992

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1992-08-01

The Subsurface Science Program sponsors long-term basic research on (1) the fundamental physical, chemical, and biological mechanisms that control the reactivity, mobilization, stability, and transport of chemical mixtures in subsoils and ground water; (2) hydrogeology, including the hydraulic, microbiological, and geochemical properties of the vadose and saturated zones that control contaminant mobility and stability, including predictive modeling of coupled hydraulic-geochemical-microbial processes; and (3) the microbiology of deep sediments and ground water. TWs research, focused as it is on the natural subsurface environments that are most significantly affected by the more than 40 years of waste generation and disposal at DOE sites, is making important contributions to cleanup of DOE sites. Past DOE waste-disposal practices have resulted in subsurface contamination at DOE sites by unique combinations of radioactive materials and organic and inorganic chemicals (including heavy metals), which make site cleanup particularly difficult. The long- term (10- to 30-year) goal of the Subsurface Science Program is to provide a foundation of fundamental knowledge that can be used to reduce environmental risks and to provide a sound scientific basis for cost-effective cleanup strategies. The Subsurface Science Program is organized into nine interdisciplinary subprograms, or areas of basic research emphasis. The subprograms currently cover the areas of Co-Contaminant Chemistry, Colloids/Biocolloids, Multiphase Fluid Flow, Biodegradation/ Microbial Physiology, Deep Microbiology, Coupled Processes, Field-Scale (Natural Heterogeneity and Scale), and Environmental Science Research Center

Beyond-laboratory-scale prediction for channeling flows through subsurface rock fractures with heterogeneous aperture distributions revealed by laboratory evaluation

Science.gov (United States)

Ishibashi, Takuya; Watanabe, Noriaki; Hirano, Nobuo; Okamoto, Atsushi; Tsuchiya, Noriyoshi

2015-01-01

The present study evaluates aperture distributions and fluid flow characteristics for variously sized laboratory-scale granite fractures under confining stress. As a significant result of the laboratory investigation, the contact area in fracture plane was found to be virtually independent of scale. By combining this characteristic with the self-affine fractal nature of fracture surfaces, a novel method for predicting fracture aperture distributions beyond laboratory scale is developed. Validity of this method is revealed through reproduction of the results of laboratory investigation and the maximum aperture-fracture length relations, which are reported in the literature, for natural fractures. The present study finally predicts conceivable scale dependencies of fluid flows through joints (fractures without shear displacement) and faults (fractures with shear displacement). Both joint and fault aperture distributions are characterized by a scale-independent contact area, a scale-dependent geometric mean, and a scale-independent geometric standard deviation of aperture. The contact areas for joints and faults are approximately 60% and 40%. Changes in the geometric means of joint and fault apertures (µm), em, joint and em, fault, with fracture length (m), l, are approximated by em, joint = 1 × 102 l0.1 and em, fault = 1 × 103 l0.7, whereas the geometric standard deviations of both joint and fault apertures are approximately 3. Fluid flows through both joints and faults are characterized by formations of preferential flow paths (i.e., channeling flows) with scale-independent flow areas of approximately 10%, whereas the joint and fault permeabilities (m2), kjoint and kfault, are scale dependent and are approximated as kjoint = 1 × 10-12 l0.2 and kfault = 1 × 10-8 l1.1.

Snowmelt-induced subsurface and overland flows in a hillslope in Noname Watershed, Laramie River Basin, Wyoming

Science.gov (United States)

Rogers, T.; Ohara, N.

2015-12-01

Only few field observations have been implemented using surface and sub-surface trenches to investigate snowmelt-induced hillslope runoffs in mountainous regions. Hillslope trenches may be one of the most direct ways to measure subsurface and overland flow during winter and spring seasons. In July 2014, a 10 meter long trench was constructed with hand tools through glacial till on a south facing hillslope in the Noname Watershed, Medicine Bow National Forest, Wyoming, where heavy equipment and motorized vehicles were restricted. This trench measures subsurface and overland flow for a 610 square meters catchment which has an average slope of 25 degrees. This water-collecting trench is equipped with 4 soil-moisture and temperature sensors to detect the presence of unsaturated flow. Field observations from the trench showed that diurnal oscillation of snowmelt seemed to control the overland flow between the snow and soil surface. The water inputs to the hillslope, including rainfall, evaporation, and snowmelt rates, were estimated from the energy balance computations using the observed meteorological data at the site. Using the water input data, the lateral flow component through the deeper soil or weathered bedrock layer was also quantified by the mass balance in the catchment. This study provides one of key field activities for Wyoming Center for Environmental Hydrology and Geophysics (WyCEHG) project.

Textural evidence for jamming and dewatering of a sub-surface, fluid-saturated granular flow

Science.gov (United States)

Sherry, T. J.; Rowe, C. D.; Kirkpatrick, J. D.; Brodsky, E. E.

2011-12-01

Sand injectites are spectacular examples of large-scale granular flows involving migration of hundreds of cubic meters of sand slurry over hundreds of meters to kilometers in the sub-surface. By studying the macro- and microstructural textures of a kilometer-scale sand injectite, we interpret the fluid flow regimes during emplacement and define the timing of formation of specific textures in the injected material. Fluidized sand sourced from the Santa Margarita Fm., was injected upward into the Santa Cruz Mudstone, Santa Cruz County, California. The sand injectite exposed at Yellow Bank Beach records emplacement of both hydrocarbon and aqueous sand slurries. Elongate, angular mudstone clasts were ripped from the wall rock during sand migration, providing evidence for high velocity, turbid flow. However, clast long axis orientations are consistently sub-horizontal suggesting the slurry transitioned to a laminar flow as the flow velocity decreased in the sill-like intrusion. Millimeter to centimeter scale laminations are ubiquitous throughout the sand body and are locally parallel to the mudstone clast long axes. The laminations are distinct in exposure because alternating layers are preferentially cemented with limonite sourced from later groundwater infiltration. Quantitative microstructural analyses show that the laminations are defined by subtle oscillations in grain alignment between limonite and non-limonite stained layers. Grain packing, size and shape distributions do not vary. The presence of limonite in alternating layers results from differential infiltration of groundwater, indicating permeability changes between the layers despite minimal grain scale differences. Convolute dewatering structures deform the laminations. Dolomite-cemented sand, a signature of hydrocarbon saturation, forms irregular bodies that cross-cut the laminations and dewatering structures. Laminations are not formed in the dolomite-cemented sand. The relative viscosity difference

Improving National Water Modeling: An Intercomparison of two High-Resolution, Continental Scale Models, CONUS-ParFlow and the National Water Model

Science.gov (United States)

Tijerina, D.; Gochis, D.; Condon, L. E.; Maxwell, R. M.

2017-12-01

Development of integrated hydrology modeling systems that couple atmospheric, land surface, and subsurface flow is growing trend in hydrologic modeling. Using an integrated modeling framework, subsurface hydrologic processes, such as lateral flow and soil moisture redistribution, are represented in a single cohesive framework with surface processes like overland flow and evapotranspiration. There is a need for these more intricate models in comprehensive hydrologic forecasting and water management over large spatial areas, specifically the Continental US (CONUS). Currently, two high-resolution, coupled hydrologic modeling applications have been developed for this domain: CONUS-ParFlow built using the integrated hydrologic model ParFlow and the National Water Model that uses the NCAR Weather Research and Forecasting hydrological extension package (WRF-Hydro). Both ParFlow and WRF-Hydro include land surface models, overland flow, and take advantage of parallelization and high-performance computing (HPC) capabilities; however, they have different approaches to overland subsurface flow and groundwater-surface water interactions. Accurately representing large domains remains a challenge considering the difficult task of representing complex hydrologic processes, computational expense, and extensive data needs; both models have accomplished this, but have differences in approach and continue to be difficult to validate. A further exploration of effective methodology to accurately represent large-scale hydrology with integrated models is needed to advance this growing field. Here we compare the outputs of CONUS-ParFlow and the National Water Model to each other and with observations to study the performance of hyper-resolution models over large domains. Models were compared over a range of scales for major watersheds within the CONUS with a specific focus on the Mississippi, Ohio, and Colorado River basins. We use a novel set of approaches and analysis for this comparison

Use of Large-Scale Multi-Configuration EMI Measurements to Characterize Subsurface Structures of the Vadose Zone.

Science.gov (United States)

Huisman, J. A.; Brogi, C.; Pätzold, S.; Weihermueller, L.; von Hebel, C.; Van Der Kruk, J.; Vereecken, H.

2017-12-01

Subsurface structures of the vadose zone can play a key role in crop yield potential, especially during water stress periods. Geophysical techniques like electromagnetic induction EMI can provide information about dominant shallow subsurface features. However, previous studies with EMI have typically not reached beyond the field scale. We used high-resolution large-scale multi-configuration EMI measurements to characterize patterns of soil structural organization (layering and texture) and their impact on crop productivity at the km2 scale. We collected EMI data on an agricultural area of 1 km2 (102 ha) near Selhausen (NRW, Germany). The area consists of 51 agricultural fields cropped in rotation. Therefore, measurements were collected between April and December 2016, preferably within few days after the harvest. EMI data were automatically filtered, temperature corrected, and interpolated onto a common grid of 1 m resolution. Inspecting the ECa maps, we identified three main sub-areas with different subsurface heterogeneity. We also identified small-scale geomorphological structures as well as anthropogenic activities such as soil management and buried drainage networks. To identify areas with similar subsurface structures, we applied image classification techniques. We fused ECa maps obtained with different coil distances in a multiband image and applied supervised and unsupervised classification methodologies. Both showed good results in reconstructing observed patterns in plant productivity and the subsurface structures associated with them. However, the supervised methodology proved more efficient in classifying the whole study area. In a second step, we selected hundred locations within the study area and obtained a soil profile description with type, depth, and thickness of the soil horizons. Using this ground truth data it was possible to assign a typical soil profile to each of the main classes obtained from the classification. The proposed methodology was

Effects of Surface and Subsurface Bed Material Composition on Gravel Transport and Flow Competence Relations—Possibilities for Prediction

Science.gov (United States)

Bunte, K.; Abt, S. R.; Swingle, K. W.; Cenderelli, D. A.; Gaeuman, D. A.

2014-12-01

Bedload transport and flow competence relations are difficult to predict in coarse-bedded steep streams where widely differing sediment supply, bed stability, and complex flow hydraulics greatly affect amounts and sizes of transported gravel particles. This study explains how properties of bed material surface and subsurface size distributions are directly related to gravel transport and may be used for prediction of gravel transport and flow competence relations. Gravel transport, flow competence, and bed material size were measured in step-pool and plane-bed streams. Power functions were fitted to gravel transport QB=aQb and flow competence Dmax=cQd relations; Q is water discharge. Frequency distributions of surface FDsurf and subsurface FDsub bed material were likewise described by power functions FDsurf=hD j and FDsub=kDm fitted over six 0.5-phi size classes within 4 to 22.4 mm. Those gravel sizes are typically mobile even in moderate floods. Study results show that steeper subsurface bed material size distributions lead to steeper gravel transport and flow competence relations, whereas larger amounts of sediment contained in those 6 size bedmaterial classes (larger h and k) flatten the relations. Similarly, steeper surface size distributions decrease the coefficients of the gravel transport and flow competence relations, whereas larger amounts of sediment within the six bed material classes increase the intercepts of gravel transport and flow competence relations. Those relations are likely causative in streams where bedload stems almost entirely from the channel bed as opposed to direct (unworked) contributions from hillslopes and tributaries. The exponent of the subsurface bed material distribution m predicted the gravel transport exponent b with r2 near 0.7 and flow competence exponent d with r2 near 0.5. The intercept of bed surface distributions h increased the intercept a of gravel transport and c of the flow competence relations with r2 near 0.6.

An iterative stochastic ensemble method for parameter estimation of subsurface flow models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Elsheikh, Ahmed H.; Wheeler, Mary F.; Hoteit, Ibrahim

2013-01-01

Parameter estimation for subsurface flow models is an essential step for maximizing the value of numerical simulations for future prediction and the development of effective control strategies. We propose the iterative stochastic ensemble method (ISEM) as a general method for parameter estimation based on stochastic estimation of gradients using an ensemble of directional derivatives. ISEM eliminates the need for adjoint coding and deals with the numerical simulator as a blackbox. The proposed method employs directional derivatives within a Gauss–Newton iteration. The update equation in ISEM resembles the update step in ensemble Kalman filter, however the inverse of the output covariance matrix in ISEM is regularized using standard truncated singular value decomposition or Tikhonov regularization. We also investigate the performance of a set of shrinkage based covariance estimators within ISEM. The proposed method is successfully applied on several nonlinear parameter estimation problems for subsurface flow models. The efficiency of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated by the small size of utilized ensembles and in terms of error convergence rates

An iterative stochastic ensemble method for parameter estimation of subsurface flow models

KAUST Repository

Elsheikh, Ahmed H.

2013-06-01

Parameter estimation for subsurface flow models is an essential step for maximizing the value of numerical simulations for future prediction and the development of effective control strategies. We propose the iterative stochastic ensemble method (ISEM) as a general method for parameter estimation based on stochastic estimation of gradients using an ensemble of directional derivatives. ISEM eliminates the need for adjoint coding and deals with the numerical simulator as a blackbox. The proposed method employs directional derivatives within a Gauss-Newton iteration. The update equation in ISEM resembles the update step in ensemble Kalman filter, however the inverse of the output covariance matrix in ISEM is regularized using standard truncated singular value decomposition or Tikhonov regularization. We also investigate the performance of a set of shrinkage based covariance estimators within ISEM. The proposed method is successfully applied on several nonlinear parameter estimation problems for subsurface flow models. The efficiency of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated by the small size of utilized ensembles and in terms of error convergence rates. © 2013 Elsevier Inc.

A locally conservative stabilized continuous Galerkin finite element method for two-phase flow in poroelastic subsurfaces

Science.gov (United States)

Deng, Q.; Ginting, V.; McCaskill, B.; Torsu, P.

2017-10-01

We study the application of a stabilized continuous Galerkin finite element method (CGFEM) in the simulation of multiphase flow in poroelastic subsurfaces. The system involves a nonlinear coupling between the fluid pressure, subsurface's deformation, and the fluid phase saturation, and as such, we represent this coupling through an iterative procedure. Spatial discretization of the poroelastic system employs the standard linear finite element in combination with a numerical diffusion term to maintain stability of the algebraic system. Furthermore, direct calculation of the normal velocities from pressure and deformation does not entail a locally conservative field. To alleviate this drawback, we propose an element based post-processing technique through which local conservation can be established. The performance of the method is validated through several examples illustrating the convergence of the method, the effectivity of the stabilization term, and the ability to achieve locally conservative normal velocities. Finally, the efficacy of the method is demonstrated through simulations of realistic multiphase flow in poroelastic subsurfaces.

300 Area Integrated Field-Scale Subsurface Research Challenge (IFRC) Field Site Management Plan

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Freshley, Mark D.

2008-12-31

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has established the 300 Area Integrated Field-Scale Subsurface Research Challenge (300 Area IFRC) on the Hanford Site in southeastern Washington State for the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER) within the Office of Science. The project is funded by the Environmental Remediation Sciences Division (ERSD). The purpose of the project is to conduct research at the 300 IFRC to investigate multi-scale mass transfer processes associated with a subsurface uranium plume impacting both the vadose zone and groundwater. The management approach for the 300 Area IFRC requires that a Field Site Management Plan be developed. This is an update of the plan to reflect the installation of the well network and other changes.

Vertical Subsurface Flow Mixing and Horizontal Anisotropy in Coarse Fluvial Aquifers: Structural Aspects

Science.gov (United States)

Huggenberger, P.; Huber, E.

2014-12-01

Detailed descriptions of the subsurface heterogeneities in coarse fluvial aquifer gravel often lack in concepts to distinguish between the essence and the noise of a permeability structure and the ability to extrapolate site specific hydraulic information at the tens to several hundred meters scale. At this scale the heterogeneity strongly influences the anisotropies of the flow field and the mixing processes in groundwater. However, in many hydrogeological models the complexity of natural systems is oversimplified. Understanding the link between the dynamics of the surface processes of braided-river systems and the resulting subsurface sedimentary structures is the key to characterizing the complexity of horizontal and vertical mixing processes in groundwater. From the different depositional elements of coarse braided-river systems, the largest permeability contrasts can be observed in the scour-fills. Other elements (e.g. different types of gravel sheets) show much smaller variabilities and could be considered as a kind of matrix. Field experiments on the river Tagliamento (Northeast Italy) based on morphological observation and ground-penetrating radar (GPR) surveys, as well as outcrop analyses of gravel pit exposures (Switzerland) allowed us to define the shape, sizes, spatial distribution and preservation potential of scour-fills. In vertical sections (e.g. 2D GPR data, vertical outcrop), the spatial density of remnant erosional bounding surfaces of scours is an indicator for the dynamics of the braided-river system (lateral mobility of the active floodplain, rate of sediment net deposition and spatial distribution of the confluence scours). In case of combined low aggradation rate and low lateral mobility the deposits may be dominated by a complex overprinting of scour-fills. The delineation of the erosional bounding surfaces, that are coherent over the survey area, is based on the identification of angular discontinuities of the reflectors. Fence diagrams

Iterative approach to modeling subsurface stormflow based on nonlinear, hillslope-scale physics

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Spaaks, J.H.; Bouten, W.; McDonnell, J.J.

2009-01-01

Soil water transport in small, humid, upland catchments is often dominated by subsurface stormflow. Recent studies of this process suggest that at the plot scale, generation of transient saturation may be governed by threshold behavior, and that transient saturation is a prerequisite for lateral

Oak Ridge Integrated Field-Scale Research Challenge ERKP686: Multi-scale Investigations on the Rates and Mechanisms of Targeted Immobilization and Natural Attenuation of Metal, Radionuclide and Co-Contaminants in the Subsurface (project overview)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Phil Jardine; Dave Watson; Susan Hubbard; Ken Williams; J. Chen

2007-01-01

Historical disposal of wastes from the operation of three industrial plant sites on the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) has created extensive areas of subsurface inorganic, organic, and radioactive contamination (thousands of unlined trenches, pits, ponds). These wastes have resulted in approximately 1,500 acres of contaminated groundwater on the ORR. Much of the original contamination is now present as secondary sources within the soil-rock matrix outside of the original disposal sites. The secondary source areas are extensive and encompass regions on the watershed scale (tens of km). A significant limitation in assessing remediation needs of the secondary contaminant sources is the lack of information on the rates and mechanisms of coupled hydrological, geochemical, and microbial processes that control contaminant migration. Contaminant fluxes emanating from the secondary sources are often so high as to prevent complete attenuation of the groundwater plumes. Interventions such as source actions may be a prerequisite for effective and rapid natural attenuation (source actions such as: reduction of the soluble contaminant concentration at the source or controlling the flux from the source to groundwater by decreasing recharge). The goals are to advance the understanding and predictive capability of coupled hydrological, geochemical, and microbiological processes that control in situ transport, remediation and natural attenuation of metals, radionuclides, and co-contaminants (i.e. U, Tc, NO 3 ) across multiple scales ranging from molecular to watershed levels. Provide multi-process, multi-scale predictive monitoring and modeling tools that can be used at sites throughout the DOE complex to: (1) inform and improve the technical basis for decision making, and (2) assess which sites are amenable to natural attenuation and which would benefit from source zone remedial intervention. The objectives are: (1) quantify recharge and other hydraulic drivers for groundwater flow

Subsurface geology, geochemistry, and water flow at a Rock Characterisation Facility (RCF) at Longlands Farm. Proof of evidence

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haszeldine, R.S.

1996-01-01

Proof of Evidence is given by an expert witness on behalf of Greenpeace Ltd as part of their submission to a Planning Inquiry in 1995 hearing the application of UK Nirex Ltd for permission to construct an underground Rock Characterisation Facility (RCF) at a site near Sellafield. The RCF is part of an investigation by Nirex into a suitable site for the disposal of radioactive waste. The evidence covers: a description of the general physical geology of the site; the contrast between Nirex's approach to this site investigation and those of hydrocarbon exploration; the possibility of tectonic movements in the region which are likely to affect subsurface water flows within the repository lifetime and could produce additional permeable water flow pathways through the RCF; an interpretation of Nirex data which indicates that the RCF site is on an axis of maximum flow in the subsurface; regional permeability between boreholes in the underlying fractured rock; recharge of subsurface waters during glaciation; doubts about the age-dating of subsurface water; the complex and sensitive hydrogeological setting of the site in which water flow directions are upwards and could be rapid; expert dissent relating to Nirex's assessment of regional geochemical processes affecting radionuclide release; disagreement in Nirex's assessment of the present groundwater chemistry which may influence the durability of a repository. The construction of the RCF could actually impede the resolution of some of these issues and it is concluded that, although the principle of a rock laboratory might be supported, the Nirex approach is fundamentally flawed. (18 figures; 20 references). (UK)

Subsurface lateral flow from hillslope and its contribution to nitrate loading in streams through an agricultural catchment during subtropical rainstorm events

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B. Zhang

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Subsurface lateral flow from agricultural hillslopes is often overlooked compared with overland flow and tile drain flow, partly due to the difficulties in monitoring and quantifying. The objectives of this study were to examine how subsurface lateral flow generated through soil pedons from cropped hillslopes and to quantify its contribution to nitrate loading in the streams through an agricultural catchment in the subtropical region of China. Profiles of soil water potential along hillslopes and stream hydro-chemographs in a trenched stream below a cropped hillslope and at the catchment outlet were simultaneously recorded during two rainstorm events. The dynamics of soil water potential showed positive matrix soil water potential over impermeable soil layer at 0.6 to 1.50 m depths during and after the storms, indicating soil water saturation and drainage processes along the hillslopes irrespective of land uses. The hydro-chemographs in the streams, one trenched below a cropped hillslope and one at the catchment outlet, showed that the concentrations of particulate nitrogen and phosphorus corresponded well to stream flow during the storm, while the nitrate concentration increased on the recession limbs of the hydrographs after the end of the storm. All the synchronous data revealed that nitrate was delivered from the cropped hillslope through subsurface lateral flow to the streams during and after the end of the rainstorms. A chemical mixing model based on electricity conductivity (EC and H⁺ concentration was successfully established, particularly for the trenched stream. The results showed that the subsurface lateral flow accounted for 29% to 45% of total stream flow in the trenched stream, responsible for 86% of total NO₃⁻-N loss (or 26% of total N loss, and for 5.7% to 7.3% of total stream flow at the catchment outlet, responsible for about 69% of total NO₃⁻-N loss (or 28% of total N

Modeling of Aircraft Deicing Fluid Induced Biochemical Oxygen Demand in Subsurface-Flow Constructed Treatment Wetlands

Science.gov (United States)

2009-03-01

Jukka A. Rintala, Christof Holliger, and Alla N. Nozhevnikova. “Evaluation of Kinetic Coefficients Using Intergrated Monod and Haldane Models for...Rousseau, Diederik P. L., Peter A Vanrolleghem, and Niels De Pauw. “Model-Based Design of Horizontal Subsurface Flow constructed Treatment

Performance assessment and microbial diversity of two pilot scale multi-stage sub-surface flow constructed wetland systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Babatunde, A O; Miranda-CasoLuengo, Raul; Imtiaz, Mehreen; Zhao, Y Q; Meijer, Wim G

2016-08-01

This study assessed the performance and diversity of microbial communities in multi-stage sub-surface flow constructed wetland systems (CWs). Our aim was to assess the impact of configuration on treatment performance and microbial diversity in the systems. Results indicate that at loading rates up to 100gBOD5/(m(2)·day), similar treatment performances can be achieved using either a 3 or 4 stage configuration. In the case of phosphorus (P), the impact of configuration was less obvious and a minimum of 80% P removal can be expected for loadings up to 10gP/(m(2)·day) based on the performance results obtained within the first 16months of operation. Microbial analysis showed an increased bacterial diversity in stage four compared to the first stage. These results indicate that the design and configuration of multi-stage constructed wetland systems may have an impact on the treatment performance and the composition of the microbial community in the systems, and such knowledge can be used to improve their design and performance. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.

On the Representation of the Porosity-Pressure Relationship in General Subsurface Flow Codes

Science.gov (United States)

Birdsell, Daniel T.; Karra, Satish; Rajaram, Harihar

2018-02-01

The governing equations for subsurface flow codes in a deformable porous media are derived from the balance of fluid mass and Darcy's equation. One class of these codes, which we call general subsurface flow codes (GSFs), allow for more general constitutive relations for material properties such as porosity, permeability and density. Examples of GSFs include PFLOTRAN, FEHM, TOUGH2, STOMP, and some reservoir simulators such as BOAST. Depending on the constitutive relations used in GSFs, an inconsistency arises between the standard groundwater flow equation and the governing equation of GSFs, and we clarify that the reason for this inconsistency is because the Darcy's equation used in the GSFs should account for the velocity of fluid with respect to solid. Due to lack of awareness of this inconsistency, users of the GSFs tend to use a porosity-pressure relationship that comes from the standard groundwater flow equation and assumes that the relative velocity is already accounted for. For the Theis problem, we show that using this traditional relationship in the GSFs leads to significantly large errors. We propose an alternate porosity-pressure relationship that is consistent with the derivation of the governing equations in the GSFs where the solid velocity is not tracked, and show that, with this relationship, the results are more accurate for the Theis problem. The purpose of this note is to make the users and developers of these GSFs aware of this inconsistency and to advocate that the alternate porosity model derived here should be incorporated in GSFs.

An open, object-based modeling approach for simulating subsurface heterogeneity

Science.gov (United States)

Bennett, J.; Ross, M.; Haslauer, C. P.; Cirpka, O. A.

2017-12-01

Characterization of subsurface heterogeneity with respect to hydraulic and geochemical properties is critical in hydrogeology as their spatial distribution controls groundwater flow and solute transport. Many approaches of characterizing subsurface heterogeneity do not account for well-established geological concepts about the deposition of the aquifer materials; those that do (i.e. process-based methods) often require forcing parameters that are difficult to derive from site observations. We have developed a new method for simulating subsurface heterogeneity that honors concepts of sequence stratigraphy, resolves fine-scale heterogeneity and anisotropy of distributed parameters, and resembles observed sedimentary deposits. The method implements a multi-scale hierarchical facies modeling framework based on architectural element analysis, with larger features composed of smaller sub-units. The Hydrogeological Virtual Reality simulator (HYVR) simulates distributed parameter models using an object-based approach. Input parameters are derived from observations of stratigraphic morphology in sequence type-sections. Simulation outputs can be used for generic simulations of groundwater flow and solute transport, and for the generation of three-dimensional training images needed in applications of multiple-point geostatistics. The HYVR algorithm is flexible and easy to customize. The algorithm was written in the open-source programming language Python, and is intended to form a code base for hydrogeological researchers, as well as a platform that can be further developed to suit investigators' individual needs. This presentation will encompass the conceptual background and computational methods of the HYVR algorithm, the derivation of input parameters from site characterization, and the results of groundwater flow and solute transport simulations in different depositional settings.

On the Representation of Aquifer Compressibility in General Subsurface Flow Codes: How an Alternate Definition of Aquifer Compressibility Matches Results from the Groundwater Flow Equation

Science.gov (United States)

Birdsell, D.; Karra, S.; Rajaram, H.

2017-12-01

The governing equations for subsurface flow codes in deformable porous media are derived from the fluid mass balance equation. One class of these codes, which we call general subsurface flow (GSF) codes, does not explicitly track the motion of the solid porous media but does accept general constitutive relations for porosity, density, and fluid flux. Examples of GSF codes include PFLOTRAN, FEHM, STOMP, and TOUGH2. Meanwhile, analytical and numerical solutions based on the groundwater flow equation have assumed forms for porosity, density, and fluid flux. We review the derivation of the groundwater flow equation, which uses the form of Darcy's equation that accounts for the velocity of fluids with respect to solids and defines the soil matrix compressibility accordingly. We then show how GSF codes have a different governing equation if they use the form of Darcy's equation that is written only in terms of fluid velocity. The difference is seen in the porosity change, which is part of the specific storage term in the groundwater flow equation. We propose an alternative definition of soil matrix compressibility to correct for the untracked solid velocity. Simulation results show significantly less error for our new compressibility definition than the traditional compressibility when compared to analytical solutions from the groundwater literature. For example, the error in one calculation for a pumped sandstone aquifer goes from 940 to <70 Pa when the new compressibility is used. Code users and developers need to be aware of assumptions in the governing equations and constitutive relations in subsurface flow codes, and our newly-proposed compressibility function should be incorporated into GSF codes.

Nitrogen patterns in subsurface waters of the Yzeron stream: effect of combined sewer overflows and subsurface-surface water mixing.

Science.gov (United States)

Aucour, A M; Bariac, T; Breil, P; Namour, P; Schmitt, L; Gnouma, R; Zuddas, P

2013-01-01

Urbanization subjects streams to increased nitrogen loads. Therefore studying nitrogen forms at the interface between urban stream and groundwater is important for water resource management. In this study we report results on water δ(18)O and nitrogen forms in subsurface waters of a stream (Yzeron, France). The sites studied were located upstream and downstream of combined sewer overflows (CSO) in a rural area and a periurban area, respectively. Water δ(18)O allowed us to follow the mixing of subsurface water with surface water. Dissolved organic nitrogen and organic carbon of fine sediment increased by 20-30% between rural and periurban subsurface waters in the cold season, under high flow. The highest nitrate levels were observed in rural subsurface waters in the cold season. The lowest nitrate levels were found in periurban subsurface waters in the warm season, under low flow. They corresponded to slow exchange of subsurface waters with channel water. Thus reduced exchange between surface and subsurface waters and organic-matter-rich input seemed to favor nitrate reduction in the downstream, periurban, subsurface waters impacted by CSO.

High pressure-elevated temperature x-ray micro-computed tomography for subsurface applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Iglauer, Stefan; Lebedev, Maxim

2018-06-01

Physical, chemical and mechanical pore-scale (i.e. micrometer-scale) mechanisms in rock are of key importance in many, if not all, subsurface processes. These processes are highly relevant in various applications, e.g. hydrocarbon recovery, CO 2 geo-sequestration, geophysical exploration, water production, geothermal energy production, or the prediction of the location of valuable hydrothermal deposits. Typical examples are multi-phase flow (e.g. oil and water) displacements driven by buoyancy, viscous or capillary forces, mineral-fluid interactions (e.g. mineral dissolution and/or precipitation over geological times), geo-mechanical rock behaviour (e.g. rock compaction during diagenesis) or fines migration during water production, which can dramatically reduce reservoir permeability (and thus reservoir performance). All above examples are 3D processes, and 2D experiments (as traditionally done for micro-scale investigations) will thus only provide qualitative information; for instance the percolation threshold is much lower in 3D than in 2D. However, with the advent of x-ray micro-computed tomography (μCT) - which is now routinely used - this limitation has been overcome, and such pore-scale processes can be observed in 3D at micrometer-scale. A serious complication is, however, the fact that in the subsurface high pressures and elevated temperatures (HPET) prevail, due to the hydrostatic and geothermal gradients imposed upon it. Such HPET-reservoir conditions significantly change the above mentioned physical and chemical processes, e.g. gas density is much higher at high pressure, which strongly affects buoyancy and wettability and thus gas distributions in the subsurface; or chemical reactions are significantly accelerated at increased temperature, strongly affecting fluid-rock interactions and thus diagenesis and deposition of valuable minerals. It is thus necessary to apply HPET conditions to the aforementioned μCT experiments, to be able to mimic subsurface

DIVERGENT HORIZONTAL SUB-SURFACE FLOWS WITHIN ACTIVE REGION 11158

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jain, Kiran; Tripathy, S. C.; Hill, F., E-mail: kjain@nso.edu, E-mail: stripathy@nso.edu, E-mail: fhill@nso.edu [National Solar Observatory, 950 N Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719 (United States)

2015-07-20

We measure the horizontal subsurface flow in a fast emerging active region (AR; NOAA 11158) using the ring-diagram technique and the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager high spatial resolution Dopplergrams. This AR had a complex magnetic structure and displayed significant changes in morphology during its disk passage. Over a period of six days from 2011 February 11 to 16, the temporal variation in the magnitude of the total velocity is found to follow the trend of magnetic field strength. We further analyze regions of individual magnetic polarity within AR 11158 and find that the horizontal velocity components in these sub-regions have significant variation with time and depth. The leading and trailing polarity regions move faster than the mixed-polarity region. Furthermore, both zonal and meridional components have opposite signs for trailing and leading polarity regions at all depths showing divergent flows within the AR. We also find a sharp decrease in the magnitude of total horizontal velocity in deeper layers around major flares. It is suggested that the re-organization of magnetic fields during flares, combined with the sunspot rotation, decreases the magnitude of horizontal flows or that the flow kinetic energy has been converted into the energy released by flares. After the decline in flare activity and sunspot rotation, the flows tend to follow the pattern of magnetic activity. We also observe less variation in the velocity components near the surface but these tend to increase with depth, further demonstrating that the deeper layers are more affected by the topology of ARs.

Design of combination biofilter and subsurface constructed wetland-multilayer filtration with vertical flow type using Vetiveria zizanioides (akar wangi)

Science.gov (United States)

Astuti, A. D.; Lindu, M.; Yanidar, R.; Faruq, M.

2018-01-01

As environmental regulation has become stricter in recent years, there is an increasing concern about the issue of wastewater treatment in urban areas. Senior High School as center of student activity has a potential source to generated domestic wastewater from toilet, bathroom and canteen. Canteen wastewater contains high-organic content that to be treated before discharged. Based on previous research the subsurface constructed wetland-multilayer filtration with vertical flow is an attractive alternative to provide efficient treatment of canteen wastewater. The effluent concentration complied with regulation according to [9]. Due to limited land, addition of preliminary treatment such as the presence of biofilter was found to improve the performance. The aim of this study was to design combination biofilter and subsurface constructed wetland-multilayer filtration with vertical flow type using vetiveria zizanioides (akar wangi) treating canteen wastewater. Vetiveria zizanioides (akar wangi) is used because from previous research, subsurface constructed wetland-multilayer filtration (SCW-MLF) with vertical flow type using vetiveria zizanioides (akar wangi) can be an alternative canteen wastewater treatment that is uncomplicated in technology, low cost in operational and have a beautiful landscape view, besides no odors or insects were presented during the operation.

Dual states estimation of a subsurface flow-transport coupled model using ensemble Kalman filtering

KAUST Repository

El Gharamti, Mohamad

2013-10-01

Modeling the spread of subsurface contaminants requires coupling a groundwater flow model with a contaminant transport model. Such coupling may provide accurate estimates of future subsurface hydrologic states if essential flow and contaminant data are assimilated in the model. Assuming perfect flow, an ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) can be used for direct data assimilation into the transport model. This is, however, a crude assumption as flow models can be subject to many sources of uncertainty. If the flow is not accurately simulated, contaminant predictions will likely be inaccurate even after successive Kalman updates of the contaminant model with the data. The problem is better handled when both flow and contaminant states are concurrently estimated using the traditional joint state augmentation approach. In this paper, we introduce a dual estimation strategy for data assimilation into a one-way coupled system by treating the flow and the contaminant models separately while intertwining a pair of distinct EnKFs, one for each model. The presented strategy only deals with the estimation of state variables but it can also be used for state and parameter estimation problems. This EnKF-based dual state-state estimation procedure presents a number of novel features: (i) it allows for simultaneous estimation of both flow and contaminant states in parallel; (ii) it provides a time consistent sequential updating scheme between the two models (first flow, then transport); (iii) it simplifies the implementation of the filtering system; and (iv) it yields more stable and accurate solutions than does the standard joint approach. We conducted synthetic numerical experiments based on various time stepping and observation strategies to evaluate the dual EnKF approach and compare its performance with the joint state augmentation approach. Experimental results show that on average, the dual strategy could reduce the estimation error of the coupled states by 15% compared with the

Treatment of landfill leachate using an aerated, horizontal subsurface-flow constructed wetland.

Science.gov (United States)

Nivala, J; Hoos, M B; Cross, C; Wallace, S; Parkin, G

2007-07-15

A pilot-scale subsurface-flow constructed wetland was installed at the Jones County Municipal Landfill, near Anamosa, Iowa, in August 1999 to demonstrate the use of constructed wetlands as a viable low-cost treatment option for leachate generated at small landfills. The system was equipped with a patented wetland aeration process to aid in removal of organic matter and ammonia nitrogen. The high iron content of the leachate caused the aeration system to cease 2 years into operation. Upon the installation of a pretreatment chamber for iron removal and a new aeration system, treatment efficiencies dramatically improved. Seasonal performance with and without aeration is reported for 5-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD(5)), chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonia nitrogen (NH(4)-N), and nitrate nitrogen (NO(3)-N). Since winter air temperatures in Iowa can be very cold, a layer of mulch insulation was installed on top of the wetland bed to keep the system from freezing. When the insulation layer was properly maintained (either through sufficient litterfall or replenishing the mulch layer), the wetland sustained air temperatures of as low as -26 degrees C without freezing problems.

Large temporal scale and capacity subsurface bulk energy storage with CO2

Science.gov (United States)

Saar, M. O.; Fleming, M. R.; Adams, B. M.; Ogland-Hand, J.; Nelson, E. S.; Randolph, J.; Sioshansi, R.; Kuehn, T. H.; Buscheck, T. A.; Bielicki, J. M.

2017-12-01

Decarbonizing energy systems by increasing the penetration of variable renewable energy (VRE) technologies requires efficient and short- to long-term energy storage. Very large amounts of energy can be stored in the subsurface as heat and/or pressure energy in order to provide both short- and long-term (seasonal) storage, depending on the implementation. This energy storage approach can be quite efficient, especially where geothermal energy is naturally added to the system. Here, we present subsurface heat and/or pressure energy storage with supercritical carbon dioxide (CO2) and discuss the system's efficiency, deployment options, as well as its advantages and disadvantages, compared to several other energy storage options. CO2-based subsurface bulk energy storage has the potential to be particularly efficient and large-scale, both temporally (i.e., seasonal) and spatially. The latter refers to the amount of energy that can be stored underground, using CO2, at a geologically conducive location, potentially enabling storing excess power from a substantial portion of the power grid. The implication is that it would be possible to employ centralized energy storage for (a substantial part of) the power grid, where the geology enables CO2-based bulk subsurface energy storage, whereas the VRE technologies (solar, wind) are located on that same power grid, where (solar, wind) conditions are ideal. However, this may require reinforcing the power grid's transmission lines in certain parts of the grid to enable high-load power transmission from/to a few locations.

Paleomagnetic correlation of surface and subsurface basaltic lava flows and flow groups in the southern part of the Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho, with paleomagnetic data tables for drill cores

Science.gov (United States)

Champion, Duane E.; Hodges, Mary K.V.; Davis, Linda C.; Lanphere, Marvin A.

2011-01-01

Paleomagnetic inclination and polarity studies have been conducted on thousands of subcore samples from 51 coreholes located at and near the Idaho National Laboratory. These studies are used to paleomagnetically characterize and correlate successive stratigraphic intervals in each corehole to similar depth intervals in adjacent coreholes. Paleomagnetic results from 83 surface paleomagnetic sites, within and near the INL, are used to correlate these buried lava flow groups to basaltic shield volcanoes still exposed on the surface of the eastern Snake River Plain. Sample handling and demagnetization protocols are described as well as the paleomagnetic data averaging process. Paleomagnetic inclination comparisons between coreholes located only kilometers apart show comparable stratigraphic successions of mean inclination values over tens of meters of depth. At greater distance between coreholes, comparable correlation of mean inclination values is less consistent because flow groups may be missing or additional flow groups may be present and found at different depth intervals. Two shallow intersecting cross-sections, A-A- and B-B- (oriented southwest-northeast and northwest-southeast, respectively), drawn through southwest Idaho National Laboratory coreholes show the corehole to corehole or surface to corehole correlations derived from the paleomagnetic inclination data. From stratigraphic top to bottom, key results included the (1) Quaking Aspen Butte flow group, which erupted from Quaking Aspen Butte southwest of the Idaho National Laboratory, flowed northeast, and has been found in the subsurface in corehole USGS 132; (2) Vent 5206 flow group, which erupted near the southwestern border of the Idaho National Laboratory, flowed north and east, and has been found in the subsurface in coreholes USGS 132, USGS 129, USGS 131, USGS 127, USGS 130, USGS 128, and STF-AQ-01; and (3) Mid Butte flow group, which erupted north of U.S. Highway 20, flowed northwest, and has been

Advanced core-analyses for subsurface characterization

Science.gov (United States)

Pini, R.

2017-12-01

The heterogeneity of geological formations varies over a wide range of length scales and represents a major challenge for predicting the movement of fluids in the subsurface. Although they are inherently limited in the accessible length-scale, laboratory measurements on reservoir core samples still represent the only way to make direct observations on key transport properties. Yet, properties derived on these samples are of limited use and should be regarded as sample-specific (or `pseudos'), if the presence of sub-core scale heterogeneities is not accounted for in data processing and interpretation. The advent of imaging technology has significantly reshaped the landscape of so-called Special Core Analysis (SCAL) by providing unprecedented insight on rock structure and processes down to the scale of a single pore throat (i.e. the scale at which all reservoir processes operate). Accordingly, improved laboratory workflows are needed that make use of such wealth of information by e.g., referring to the internal structure of the sample and in-situ observations, to obtain accurate parameterisation of both rock- and flow-properties that can be used to populate numerical models. We report here on the development of such workflow for the study of solute mixing and dispersion during single- and multi-phase flows in heterogeneous porous systems through a unique combination of two complementary imaging techniques, namely X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET). The experimental protocol is applied to both synthetic and natural porous media, and it integrates (i) macroscopic observations (tracer effluent curves), (ii) sub-core scale parameterisation of rock heterogeneities (e.g., porosity, permeability and capillary pressure), and direct 3D observation of (iii) fluid saturation distribution and (iv) the dynamic spreading of the solute plumes. Suitable mathematical models are applied to reproduce experimental observations, including both 1D and 3D

Pharmaceutical removal in tropical subsurface flow constructed wetlands at varying hydraulic loading rates.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Dong Qing; Gersberg, Richard M; Hua, Tao; Zhu, Junfei; Tuan, Nguyen Anh; Tan, Soon Keat

2012-04-01

Determining the fate of emerging organic contaminants in an aquatic ecosystem is important for developing constructed wetlands (CWs) treatment technology. Experiments were carried out in subsurface flow CWs in Singapore to evaluate the fate and transport of eight pharmaceutical compounds. The CW system included three parallel horizontal subsurface flow CWs and three parallel unplanted beds fed continuously with synthetic wastewater at different hydraulic retention times (HRTs). The findings of the tests at 2-6 d HRTs showed that the pharmaceuticals could be categorized as (i) efficiently removed compounds with removal higher than 85% (ketoprofen and salicylic acid); (ii) moderately removed compounds with removal efficiencies between 50% and 85% (naproxen, ibuprofen and caffeine); and (iii) poorly removed compounds with efficiency rate lower than 50% (carbamazepine, diclofenac, and clofibric acid). Except for carbamazepine and salicylic acid, removal efficiencies of the selected pharmaceuticals showed significant (pcaffeine, ketoprofen and clofibric acid were found to follow first order decay kinetics with decay constants higher in the planted beds than the unplanted beds. Correlations between pharmaceutical removal efficiencies and log K(ow) were not significant (p>0.05), implying that their removal is not well related to the compound's hydrophobicity. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hybrid numerical methods for multiscale simulations of subsurface biogeochemical processes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Scheibe, T D; Tartakovsky, A M; Tartakovsky, D M; Redden, G D; Meakin, P

2007-01-01

Many subsurface flow and transport problems of importance today involve coupled non-linear flow, transport, and reaction in media exhibiting complex heterogeneity. In particular, problems involving biological mediation of reactions fall into this class of problems. Recent experimental research has revealed important details about the physical, chemical, and biological mechanisms involved in these processes at a variety of scales ranging from molecular to laboratory scales. However, it has not been practical or possible to translate detailed knowledge at small scales into reliable predictions of field-scale phenomena important for environmental management applications. A large assortment of numerical simulation tools have been developed, each with its own characteristic scale. Important examples include 1. molecular simulations (e.g., molecular dynamics); 2. simulation of microbial processes at the cell level (e.g., cellular automata or particle individual-based models); 3. pore-scale simulations (e.g., lattice-Boltzmann, pore network models, and discrete particle methods such as smoothed particle hydrodynamics); and 4. macroscopic continuum-scale simulations (e.g., traditional partial differential equations solved by finite difference or finite element methods). While many problems can be effectively addressed by one of these models at a single scale, some problems may require explicit integration of models across multiple scales. We are developing a hybrid multi-scale subsurface reactive transport modeling framework that integrates models with diverse representations of physics, chemistry and biology at different scales (sub-pore, pore and continuum). The modeling framework is being designed to take advantage of advanced computational technologies including parallel code components using the Common Component Architecture, parallel solvers, gridding, data and workflow management, and visualization. This paper describes the specific methods/codes being used at each

Investigations of subsurface flow constructed wetlands and associated geomaterial resources in the Akumal and Reforma regions, Quintana Roo, Mexico

Science.gov (United States)

Krekeler, Mark P. S.; Probst, Pete; Samsonov, Misha; Tselepis, Cynthia M.; Bates, William; Kearns, Lance E.; Maynard, J. Barry

2007-12-01

Subsurface flow constructed wetlands in the village of Akumal, Quintana Roo, Mexico were surveyed to determine the general status of the wetland systems and provide baseline information for long term monitoring and further study. Twenty subsurface flow wetlands were surveyed and common problems observed in the systems were overloading, poor plant cover, odor, and no secondary containment. Bulk mineral composition of aggregate from two subsurface flow constructed wetlands was determined to consist solely of calcite using bulk powder X-ray diffraction. Some soil structure is developed in the aggregate and aggregate levels in wetlands drop at an estimated rate between 3 and 10 cm/year for overloaded wetlands owing to dissolution. Mineral composition from fresh aggregate samples commonly is a mixture of calcite and aragonite. Trace amounts of Pb, Zn, Co, and Cr were observed in fresh aggregate. Coefficients of permeability ( k) varied from 0.006 to 0.027 cm/s with an average values being 0.016 cm/s. Grain size analysis of fresh aggregate samples indicates there are unimodal and multimodal size distributions in the samples with modes in the coarse and fine sand being common. Investigations of other geologic media from the Reforma region indicate that a dolomite with minor amounts of Fe-oxide and palygorskite is abundant and may be a better aggregate source that the current materials used. A Ca-montmorillonite bed was identified in the Reforma region as well and this unit is suitable to serve as a clay liner to prevent leaks for new and existing wetland systems. These newly discovered geologic resources should aid in the improvement of subsurface flow constructed wetlands in the region. Although problems do exist in these wetlands with respect to design, these systems represent a successful implementation of constructed wetlands at a community level in developing regions.

Geoelectrical monitoring of simulated subsurface leakage to support high-hazard nuclear decommissioning at the Sellafield Site, UK

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kuras, Oliver, E-mail: oku@bgs.ac.uk [British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG (United Kingdom); Wilkinson, Paul B.; Meldrum, Philip I.; Oxby, Lucy S. [British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG (United Kingdom); Uhlemann, Sebastian [British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG (United Kingdom); ETH-Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Institute of Geophysics, Sonneggstr. 5, 8092 Zurich (Switzerland); Chambers, Jonathan E. [British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG (United Kingdom); Binley, Andrew [Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YQ (United Kingdom); Graham, James [National Nuclear Laboratory, Central Laboratory, Sellafield, Seascale, Cumbria CA20 1PG (United Kingdom); Smith, Nicholas T. [National Nuclear Laboratory, Central Laboratory, Sellafield, Seascale, Cumbria CA20 1PG (United Kingdom); School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, Williamson Building, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL (United Kingdom); Atherton, Nick [Sellafield Ltd, Albion Square, Swingpump Lane, Whitehaven CA28 7NE (United Kingdom)

2016-10-01

A full-scale field experiment applying 4D (3D time-lapse) cross-borehole Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) to the monitoring of simulated subsurface leakage was undertaken at a legacy nuclear waste silo at the Sellafield Site, UK. The experiment constituted the first application of geoelectrical monitoring in support of decommissioning work at a UK nuclear licensed site. Images of resistivity changes occurring since a baseline date prior to the simulated leaks revealed likely preferential pathways of silo liquor simulant flow in the vadose zone and upper groundwater system. Geophysical evidence was found to be compatible with historic contamination detected in permeable facies in sediment cores retrieved from the ERT boreholes. Results indicate that laterally discontinuous till units forming localized hydraulic barriers substantially affect flow patterns and contaminant transport in the shallow subsurface at Sellafield. We conclude that only geophysical imaging of the kind presented here has the potential to provide the detailed spatial and temporal information at the (sub-)meter scale needed to reduce the uncertainty in models of subsurface processes at nuclear sites. - Graphical abstract: 3D fractional resistivity change (resistivity change Δρ divided by baseline resistivity ρ{sub 0}) image showing results of Stage 1 silo liquor simulant injection. The black line delineates the preferential flow path; green cylinders show regions of historic contamination found in sediment cores from ERT boreholes. - Highlights: • 4D geoelectrical monitoring at Sellafield detected and tracked simulated silo leaks. • ERT revealed likely pathways of silo liquor simulant flow in the subsurface. • The method can reduce uncertainty in subsurface process models at nuclear sites. • Has been applied in this form at a UK nuclear licensed site for the first time • Study demonstrates value of 4D geophysics for nuclear decommissioning.

Removal of nutrients from septic tank effluent with baffle subsurface-flow constructed wetlands.

Science.gov (United States)

Cui, Lihua; Ouyang, Ying; Yang, Weizhi; Huang, Zhujian; Xu, Qiaoling; Yu, Guangwei

2015-04-15

Three new baffle flow constructed wetlands (CWs), namely the baffle horizontal flow CW (Z1), baffle vertical flow CW (Z2) and baffle hybrid flow CW (Z3), along with one traditional horizontal subsurface flow CW (Z4) were designed to test the removal efficiency of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) from the septic tank effluent under varying hydraulic retention times (HRTs). Results showed that the optimal HRT was two days for maximal removal of N and P from the septic tank effluent among the four CWs. At this HRT, the Z1, Z2, Z3 and Z4 CWs removed, respectively, 49.93, 58.50, 46.01 and 44.44% of TN as well as 87.82, 93.23, 95.97 and 91.30% of TP. Our study further revealed that the Z3 CW was the best design for overall removal of N and P from the septic tank effluent due to its hybrid flow directions with better oxygen supply inside the CW system. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Quantifying Km-scale Hydrological Exchange Flows under Dynamic Flows and Their Influences on River Corridor Biogeochemistry

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, X.; Song, X.; Shuai, P.; Hammond, G. E.; Ren, H.; Zachara, J. M.

2017-12-01

Hydrologic exchange flows (HEFs) in rivers play vital roles in watershed ecological and biogeochemical functions due to their strong capacity to attenuate contaminants and process significant quantities of carbon and nutrients. While most of existing HEF studies focus on headwater systems with the assumption of steady-state flow, there is lack of understanding of large-scale HEFs in high-order regulated rivers that experience high-frequency stage fluctuations. The large variability of HEFs is a result of interactions between spatial heterogeneity in hydrogeologic properties and temporal variation in river discharge induced by natural or anthropogenic perturbations. Our 9-year spatially distributed dataset (water elevation, specific conductance, and temperature) combined with mechanistic hydrobiogeochemical simulations have revealed complex spatial and temporal dynamics in km-scale HEFs and their significant impacts on contaminant plume mobility and hyporheic biogeochemical processes along the Hanford Reach. Extended multidirectional flow behaviors of unconfined, river corridor groundwater were observed hundreds of meters inland from the river shore resulting from discharge-dependent HEFs. An appropriately sized modeling domain to capture the impact of regional groundwater flow as well as knowledge of subsurface structures controlling intra-aquifer hydrologic connectivity were essential to realistically model transient storage in this large-scale river corridor. This work showed that both river water and mobile groundwater contaminants could serve as effective tracers of HEFs, thus providing valuable information for evaluating and validating the HEF models. Multimodal residence time distributions with long tails were resulted from the mixture of long and short exchange pathways, which consequently impact the carbon and nutrient cycling within the river corridor. Improved understanding of HEFs using integrated observational and modeling approaches sheds light on

Geophysical characterization of subsurface barriers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Borns, D.J.

1995-08-01

An option for controlling contaminant migration from plumes and buried waste sites is to construct a subsurface barrier of a low-permeability material. The successful application of subsurface barriers requires processes to verify the emplacement and effectiveness of barrier and to monitor the performance of a barrier after emplacement. Non destructive and remote sensing techniques, such as geophysical methods, are possible technologies to address these needs. The changes in mechanical, hydrologic and chemical properties associated with the emplacement of an engineered barrier will affect geophysical properties such a seismic velocity, electrical conductivity, and dielectric constant. Also, the barrier, once emplaced and interacting with the in situ geologic system, may affect the paths along which electrical current flows in the subsurface. These changes in properties and processes facilitate the detection and monitoring of the barrier. The approaches to characterizing and monitoring engineered barriers can be divided between (1) methods that directly image the barrier using the contrasts in physical properties between the barrier and the host soil or rock and (2) methods that reflect flow processes around or through the barrier. For example, seismic methods that delineate the changes in density and stiffness associated with the barrier represents a direct imaging method. Electrical self potential methods and flow probes based on heat flow methods represent techniques that can delineate the flow path or flow processes around and through a barrier

Effect of physico-chemical pretreatment on the removal efficiency of horizontal subsurface-flow constructed wetlands

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Caselles-Osorio, Aracelly [Environmental Engineering Division, Hydraulics, Coastal and Environmental Engineering Department, Technical University of Catalonia, c/Jordi Girona 1-3, Modul D-1, 08034 Barcelona (Spain); Department of Biology, Atlantic University, Km 7 Higway Old Colombia Port, Barranquilla (Colombia); Garcia, Joan [Environmental Engineering Division, Hydraulics, Coastal and Environmental Engineering Department, Technical University of Catalonia, c/Jordi Girona 1-3, Modul D-1, 08034 Barcelona (Spain)]. E-mail: joan.garcia@upc.edu

2007-03-15

In this study, we tested the effect of a physico-chemical pretreatment on contaminant removal efficiency in two experimental horizontal subsurface-flow constructed wetlands (SSF CWs). One SSF CW was fed with settled urban wastewater, whereas the other with the same wastewater after it had undergone a physico-chemical pretreatment. The SSF CWs were operated with three different hydraulic retention times. During the experiments the effluent concentrations of COD, ammonia N and sulfate were very similar, and, therefore, the physico-chemical pretreatment did not improve the quality of the effluents. COD removal efficiency (as percentage or mass surface removal rate) was slightly greater in the SSF CW fed with pretreated wastewater. Ammonia N removal efficiency was, in general, similar in both SSF CWs and very high (80-90%). At the end of the experiments it was observed that in the SSF CW fed with settled wastewater the hydraulic conductivity decreased by a 20%. - A physico-chemical pretreatment may help to reduce the risk of clogging of subsurface-flow constructed wetlands.

Effect of physico-chemical pretreatment on the removal efficiency of horizontal subsurface-flow constructed wetlands

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Caselles-Osorio, Aracelly; Garcia, Joan

2007-01-01

In this study, we tested the effect of a physico-chemical pretreatment on contaminant removal efficiency in two experimental horizontal subsurface-flow constructed wetlands (SSF CWs). One SSF CW was fed with settled urban wastewater, whereas the other with the same wastewater after it had undergone a physico-chemical pretreatment. The SSF CWs were operated with three different hydraulic retention times. During the experiments the effluent concentrations of COD, ammonia N and sulfate were very similar, and, therefore, the physico-chemical pretreatment did not improve the quality of the effluents. COD removal efficiency (as percentage or mass surface removal rate) was slightly greater in the SSF CW fed with pretreated wastewater. Ammonia N removal efficiency was, in general, similar in both SSF CWs and very high (80-90%). At the end of the experiments it was observed that in the SSF CW fed with settled wastewater the hydraulic conductivity decreased by a 20%. - A physico-chemical pretreatment may help to reduce the risk of clogging of subsurface-flow constructed wetlands

Identification of flow paths and quantification of return flow volumes and timing at field scale

Science.gov (United States)

Claes, N.; Paige, G. B.; Parsekian, A.

2017-12-01

Flood irrigation, which constitutes a large part of agricultural water use, accounts for a significant amount of the water that is diverted from western streams. Return flow, the portion of the water applied to irrigated areas that returns to the stream, is important for maintaining base flows in streams and ecological function of riparian zones and wetlands hydrologically linked with streams. Prediction of timing and volumes of return flow during and after flood irrigation pose a challenge due to the heterogeneity of pedogenic and soil physical factors that influence vadose zone processes. In this study, we quantify volumes of return flow and potential pathways in the subsurface through a vadose zone flow model that is informed by both hydrological and geophysical observations in a Bayesian setting. We couple a two-dimensional vadose zone flow model through a Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo approach with time lapse ERT, borehole NMR datasets that are collected during and after flood irrigation experiments, and soil physical lab analysis. The combination of both synthetic models and field observations leads to flow path identification and allows for quantification of volumes and timing and associated uncertainties of subsurface return that stems from flood irrigation. The quantification of the impact of soil heterogeneity enables us to translate these results to other sites and predict return flow under different soil physical settings. This is key when managing irrigation water resources and predictions of outcomes of different scenarios have to be evaluated.

A trench study to assess transfer of pesticides in subsurface lateral flow for a soil with contrasting texture on a sloping vineyard in Beaujolais.

Science.gov (United States)

Peyrard, X; Liger, L; Guillemain, C; Gouy, V

2016-01-01

Subsurface lateral flow in both texture-contrast soils and catchments with shallow bedrock is suspected to be a non-point source of contamination of watercourses by pesticides used in agriculture. As a case study, the north of the Beaujolais region (eastern France) provides a favorable environment for such contamination due to its agro-pedo-climatic conditions. Environments seen in the Beaujolais region include intense viticulture, permeable and shallow soils, steep hillslopes, and storms that occur during the periods of pesticide application. Watercourse contamination by pesticides has been widely observed in this region, and offsite pesticide transport by subsurface lateral flow is suspected to be involved in diffuse and chronic presence of pesticides in surface water. In order to confirm and quantify the potential role of such processes in pesticide transfer, an automated trench system has been designed. The trench was set up on a steep farmed hillslope in a texture-contrast soil. It was equipped with a tipping bucket flow meter and an automatic sampler to monitor pesticide concentrations in lateral flow at fine resolution, by means of a flow-dependent sampling strategy. Four pesticides currently used in vine growing were studied to provide a range of mobility properties: one insecticide (chlorpyrifos-methyl) and three fungicides (spiroxamine, tebuconazole, and dimethomorph). With this system, it was possible to study pesticide concentration dynamics in the subsurface lateral flow, generated by substantial rainfall events following pesticide applications. The experimental design ascertained to be a suitable method in which to monitor subsurface lateral flow and related transfer of pesticides.

Effect of design and operational conditions on the performance of subsurface flow treatment wetlands: Emerging organic contaminants as indicators.

Science.gov (United States)

Kahl, Stefanie; Nivala, Jaime; van Afferden, Manfred; Müller, Roland A; Reemtsma, Thorsten

2017-11-15

Six pilot-scale subsurface flow treatment wetlands loaded with primary treated municipal wastewater were monitored over one year for classical wastewater parameters and a set of emerging organic compounds (EOCs) serving as process indicators for biodegradation: caffeine, ibuprofen, naproxen, benzotriazole, diclofenac, acesulfame, and carbamazepine. The wetland technologies investigated included conventional horizontal flow, unsaturated vertical flow (single and two-stage), horizontal flow with aeration, vertical flow with aeration, and reciprocating. Treatment efficiency for classical wastewater parameters and EOCs generally increased with increasing design complexity and dissolved oxygen concentrations. The two aerated wetlands and the two-stage vertical flow system showed the highest EOC removal, and the best performance in warm season and most robust performance in the cold season. These three systems performed better than the adjacent conventional WWTP with respect to EOC removal. Acesulfame was observed to be removed (>90%) by intensified wetland systems and with use of a tertiary treatment sand filter during the warm season. Elevated temperature and high oxygen content (aerobic conditions) proved beneficial for EOC removal. For EOCs of moderate to low biodegradability, the co-occurrence of aerobic conditions and low content of readily available carbon appears essential for efficient removal. Such conditions occurred in the aerated systems and with use of a tertiary treatment sand filter. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Statistical Analysis of Nitrogen in the Soil of Constructed Wetland with Horizontal Sub-Surface Flow

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jakubaszek Anita

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The removal of nitrogen compounds in constructed wetlands depends on various physical, chemical and biomechanical factors as well as on conditions of the environment. The paper presents the results of a statistical analysis of the depositing of nitrogen at HSSF (horizontal subsurface flow construcred wetland. The results of the substrate showed that the highest contents of nitrogen existed in the surface soil layer up to 20 cm of the depth. Nitrogen accumulation decreased in the deposit with depth, and in the direction of the wastewater flow.

HIGH-RESOLUTION HELIOSEISMIC IMAGING OF SUBSURFACE STRUCTURES AND FLOWS OF A SOLAR ACTIVE REGION OBSERVED BY HINODE

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhao Junwei; Kosovichev, Alexander G.; Sekii, Takashi

2010-01-01

We analyze a solar active region observed by the Hinode Ca II H line using the time-distance helioseismology technique, and infer wave-speed perturbation structures and flow fields beneath the active region with a high spatial resolution. The general subsurface wave-speed structure is similar to the previous results obtained from Solar and Heliospheric Observatory/Michelson Doppler Imager observations. The general subsurface flow structure is also similar, and the downward flows beneath the sunspot and the mass circulations around the sunspot are clearly resolved. Below the sunspot, some organized divergent flow cells are observed, and these structures may indicate the existence of mesoscale convective motions. Near the light bridge inside the sunspot, hotter plasma is found beneath, and flows divergent from this area are observed. The Hinode data also allow us to investigate potential uncertainties caused by the use of phase-speed filter for short travel distances. Comparing the measurements with and without the phase-speed filtering, we find out that inside the sunspot, mean acoustic travel times are in basic agreement, but the values are underestimated by a factor of 20%-40% inside the sunspot umbra for measurements with the filtering. The initial acoustic tomography results from Hinode show a great potential of using high-resolution observations for probing the internal structure and dynamics of sunspots.

3-D numerical investigation of subsurface flow in anisotropic porous media using multipoint flux approximation method

KAUST Repository

Negara, Ardiansyah; Salama, Amgad; Sun, Shuyu

2013-01-01

Anisotropy of hydraulic properties of subsurface geologic formations is an essential feature that has been established as a consequence of the different geologic processes that they undergo during the longer geologic time scale. With respect

Transient flow between aquifers and surface water: analytically derived field-scale hydraulic heads and fluxes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. H. de Rooij

2012-03-01

Full Text Available The increasing importance of catchment-scale and basin-scale models of the hydrological cycle makes it desirable to have a simple, yet physically realistic model for lateral subsurface water flow. As a first building block towards such a model, analytical solutions are presented for horizontal groundwater flow to surface waters held at prescribed water levels for aquifers with parallel and radial flow. The solutions are valid for a wide array of initial and boundary conditions and additions or withdrawals of water, and can handle discharge into as well as lateral infiltration from the surface water. Expressions for the average hydraulic head, the flux to or from the surface water, and the aquifer-scale hydraulic conductivity are developed to provide output at the scale of the modelled system rather than just point-scale values. The upscaled conductivity is time-variant. It does not depend on the magnitude of the flux but is determined by medium properties as well as the external forcings that drive the flow. For the systems studied, with lateral travel distances not exceeding 10 m, the circular aquifers respond very differently from the infinite-strip aquifers. The modelled fluxes are sensitive to the magnitude of the storage coefficient. For phreatic aquifers a value of 0.2 is argued to be representative, but considerable variations are likely. The effect of varying distributions over the day of recharge damps out rapidly; a soil water model that can provide accurate daily totals is preferable over a less accurate model hat correctly estimates the timing of recharge peaks.

Understanding leachate flow in municipal solid waste landfills by combining time-lapse ERT and subsurface flow modelling - Part II: Constraint methodology of hydrodynamic models.

Science.gov (United States)

Audebert, M; Oxarango, L; Duquennoi, C; Touze-Foltz, N; Forquet, N; Clément, R

2016-09-01

Leachate recirculation is a key process in the operation of municipal solid waste landfills as bioreactors. To ensure optimal water content distribution, bioreactor operators need tools to design leachate injection systems. Prediction of leachate flow by subsurface flow modelling could provide useful information for the design of such systems. However, hydrodynamic models require additional data to constrain them and to assess hydrodynamic parameters. Electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) is a suitable method to study leachate infiltration at the landfill scale. It can provide spatially distributed information which is useful for constraining hydrodynamic models. However, this geophysical method does not allow ERT users to directly measure water content in waste. The MICS (multiple inversions and clustering strategy) methodology was proposed to delineate the infiltration area precisely during time-lapse ERT survey in order to avoid the use of empirical petrophysical relationships, which are not adapted to a heterogeneous medium such as waste. The infiltration shapes and hydrodynamic information extracted with MICS were used to constrain hydrodynamic models in assessing parameters. The constraint methodology developed in this paper was tested on two hydrodynamic models: an equilibrium model where, flow within the waste medium is estimated using a single continuum approach and a non-equilibrium model where flow is estimated using a dual continuum approach. The latter represents leachate flows into fractures. Finally, this methodology provides insight to identify the advantages and limitations of hydrodynamic models. Furthermore, we suggest an explanation for the large volume detected by MICS when a small volume of leachate is injected. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Representing macropore flow at the catchment scale: a comparative modeling study

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, D.; Li, H. Y.; Tian, F.; Leung, L. R.

2017-12-01

Macropore flow is an important hydrological process that generally enhances the soil infiltration capacity and velocity of subsurface water. Up till now, macropore flow is mostly simulated with high-resolution models. One possible drawback of this modeling approach is the difficulty to effectively represent the overall typology and connectivity of the macropore networks. We hypothesize that modeling macropore flow directly at the catchment scale may be complementary to the existing modeling strategy and offer some new insights. Tsinghua Representative Elementary Watershed model (THREW model) is a semi-distributed hydrology model, where the fundamental building blocks are representative elementary watersheds (REW) linked by the river channel network. In THREW, all the hydrological processes are described with constitutive relationships established directly at the REW level, i.e., catchment scale. In this study, the constitutive relationship of macropore flow drainage is established as part of THREW. The enhanced THREW model is then applied at two catchments with deep soils but distinct climates, the humid Asu catchment in the Amazon River basin, and the arid Wei catchment in the Yellow River basin. The Asu catchment has an area of 12.43km2 with mean annual precipitation of 2442mm. The larger Wei catchment has an area of 24800km2 but with mean annual precipitation of only 512mm. The rainfall-runoff processes are simulated at a hourly time step from 2002 to 2005 in the Asu catchment and from 2001 to 2012 in the Wei catchment. The role of macropore flow on the catchment hydrology will be analyzed comparatively over the Asu and Wei catchments against the observed streamflow, evapotranspiration and other auxiliary data.

Subsurface Controls on Stream Intermittency in a Semi-Arid Landscape

Science.gov (United States)

Dohman, J.; Godsey, S.; Thackray, G. D.; Hale, R. L.; Wright, K.; Martinez, D.

2017-12-01

Intermittent streams currently constitute 30% to greater than 50% of the global river network. In addition, the number of intermittent streams is expected to increase due to changes in land use and climate. These streams provide important ecosystem services, such as water for irrigation, increased biodiversity, and high rates of nutrient cycling. Many hydrological studies have focused on mapping current intermittent flow regimes or evaluating long-term flow records, but very few have investigated the underlying causes of stream intermittency. The disconnection and reconnection of surface flow reflects the capacity of the subsurface to accommodate flow, so characterizing subsurface flow is key to understanding stream drying. We assess how subsurface flow paths control local surface flows during low-flow periods, including intermittency. Water table dynamics were monitored in an intermittent reach of Gibson Jack Creek in southeastern Idaho. Four transects were delineated with a groundwater well located in the hillslope, riparian zone, and in the stream, for a total of 12 groundwater wells. The presence or absence of surface flow was determined by frequent visual observations as well as in situ loggers every 30m along the 200m study reach. The rate of surface water drying was measured in conjunction with temperature, precipitation, subsurface hydraulic conductivity, hillslope-riparian-stream connectivity and subsurface travel time. Initial results during an unusually wet year suggest different responses in reaches that were previously observed to occasionally cease flowing. Flows in the intermittent reaches had less coherent and lower amplitude diel variations during base flow periods than reaches that had never been observed to dry out. Our findings will help contribute to our understanding of mechanisms driving expansion and contraction cycles in intermittent streams, increase our ability to predict how land use and climate change will affect flow regimes, and

TOUGH2Biot - A simulator for coupled thermal-hydrodynamic-mechanical processes in subsurface flow systems: Application to CO2 geological storage and geothermal development

Science.gov (United States)

Lei, Hongwu; Xu, Tianfu; Jin, Guangrong

2015-04-01

Coupled thermal-hydrodynamic-mechanical processes have become increasingly important in studying the issues affecting subsurface flow systems, such as CO2 sequestration in deep saline aquifers and geothermal development. In this study, a mechanical module based on the extended Biot consolidation model was developed and incorporated into the well-established thermal-hydrodynamic simulator TOUGH2, resulting in an integrated numerical THM simulation program TOUGH2Biot. A finite element method was employed to discretize space for rock mechanical calculation and the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion was used to determine if the rock undergoes shear-slip failure. Mechanics is partly coupled with the thermal-hydrodynamic processes and gives feedback to flow through stress-dependent porosity and permeability. TOUGH2Biot was verified against analytical solutions for the 1D Terzaghi consolidation and cooling-induced subsidence. TOUGH2Biot was applied to evaluate the thermal, hydrodynamic, and mechanical responses of CO2 geological sequestration at the Ordos CCS Demonstration Project, China and geothermal exploitation at the Geysers geothermal field, California. The results demonstrate that TOUGH2Biot is capable of analyzing change in pressure and temperature, displacement, stress, and potential shear-slip failure caused by large scale underground man-made activity in subsurface flow systems. TOUGH2Biot can also be easily extended for complex coupled process problems in fractured media and be conveniently updated to parallel versions on different platforms to take advantage of high-performance computing.

Numerical Investigation of Multiple-, Interacting-Scale Variable-Density Ground Water Flow Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Cosler, D.; Ibaraki, M.

2004-12-01

The goal of our study is to elucidate the nonlinear processes that are important for multiple-, interacting-scale flow and solute transport in subsurface environments. In particular, we are focusing on the influence of small-scale instability development on variable-density ground water flow behavior in large-scale systems. Convective mixing caused by these instabilities may mix the fluids to a greater extent than would be the case with classical, Fickian dispersion. Most current numerical schemes for interpreting field-scale variable-density flow systems do not explicitly account for the complexities caused by small-scale instabilities and treat such processes as "lumped" Fickian dispersive mixing. Such approaches may greatly underestimate the mixing behavior and misrepresent the overall large-scale flow field dynamics. The specific objectives of our study are: (i) to develop an adaptive (spatial and temporal scales) three-dimensional numerical model that is fully capable of simulating field-scale variable-density flow systems with fine resolution (~1 cm); and (ii) to evaluate the importance of scale-dependent process interactions by performing a series of simulations on different problem scales ranging from laboratory experiments to field settings, including an aquifer storage and freshwater recovery (ASR) system similar to those planned for the Florida Everglades and in-situ contaminant remediation systems. We are examining (1) methods to create instabilities in field-scale systems, (2) porous media heterogeneity effects, and (3) the relation between heterogeneity characteristics (e.g., permeability variance and correlation length scales) and the mixing scales that develop for varying degrees of unstable stratification. Applications of our work include the design of new water supply and conservation measures (e.g., ASR systems), assessment of saltwater intrusion problems in coastal aquifers, and the design of in-situ remediation systems for aquifer restoration

Geoelectrical monitoring of simulated subsurface leakage to support high-hazard nuclear decommissioning at the Sellafield Site, UK.

Science.gov (United States)

Kuras, Oliver; Wilkinson, Paul B; Meldrum, Philip I; Oxby, Lucy S; Uhlemann, Sebastian; Chambers, Jonathan E; Binley, Andrew; Graham, James; Smith, Nicholas T; Atherton, Nick

2016-10-01

A full-scale field experiment applying 4D (3D time-lapse) cross-borehole Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) to the monitoring of simulated subsurface leakage was undertaken at a legacy nuclear waste silo at the Sellafield Site, UK. The experiment constituted the first application of geoelectrical monitoring in support of decommissioning work at a UK nuclear licensed site. Images of resistivity changes occurring since a baseline date prior to the simulated leaks revealed likely preferential pathways of silo liquor simulant flow in the vadose zone and upper groundwater system. Geophysical evidence was found to be compatible with historic contamination detected in permeable facies in sediment cores retrieved from the ERT boreholes. Results indicate that laterally discontinuous till units forming localized hydraulic barriers substantially affect flow patterns and contaminant transport in the shallow subsurface at Sellafield. We conclude that only geophysical imaging of the kind presented here has the potential to provide the detailed spatial and temporal information at the (sub-)meter scale needed to reduce the uncertainty in models of subsurface processes at nuclear sites. Copyright © 2016 British Geological Survey, NERC. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Subsurface Flow Modeling in Single and Dual Continuum Anisotropic Porous Media using the Multipoint Flux Approximation Method

KAUST Repository

Negara, Ardiansyah

2015-01-01

Anisotropy of hydraulic properties of the subsurface geologic formations is an essential feature that has been established as a consequence of the different geologic processes that undergo during the longer geologic time scale. With respect

An investigation of the effect of pore scale flow on average geochemical reaction rates using direct numerical simulation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Molins, Sergi [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Earth Sciences Division; Trebotich, David [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Computational Research Division; Steefel, Carl I. [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Earth Sciences Division; Shen, Chaopeng [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Computational Research Division

2012-03-30

The scale-dependence of geochemical reaction rates hinders their use in continuum scale models intended for the interpretation and prediction of chemical fate and transport in subsurface environments such as those considered for geologic sequestration of CO₂. Processes that take place at the pore scale, especially those involving mass transport limitations to reactive surfaces, may contribute to the discrepancy commonly observed between laboratory-determined and continuum-scale or field rates. In this study we investigate the dependence of mineral dissolution rates on the pore structure of the porous media by means of pore scale modeling of flow and multicomponent reactive transport. The pore scale model is composed of high-performance simulation tools and algorithms for incompressible flow and conservative transport combined with a general-purpose multicomponent geochemical reaction code. The model performs direct numerical simulation of reactive transport based on an operator-splitting approach to coupling transport and reactions. The approach is validated with a Poiseuille flow single-pore experiment and verified with an equivalent 1-D continuum-scale model of a capillary tube packed with calcite spheres. Using the case of calcite dissolution as an example, the high-resolution model is used to demonstrate that nonuniformity in the flow field at the pore scale has the effect of decreasing the overall reactivity of the system, even when systems with identical reactive surface area are considered. In conclusion, the effect becomes more pronounced as the heterogeneity of the reactive grain packing increases, particularly where the flow slows sufficiently such that the solution approaches equilibrium locally and the average rate becomes transport-limited.

Flow and Transport in Complex Microporous Carbonates as a Consequence of Separation of Scales

Science.gov (United States)

Bijeljic, B.; Raeini, A. Q.; Lin, Q.; Blunt, M. J.

2017-12-01

Some of the most important examples of flow and transport in complex pore structures are found in subsurface applications such as contaminant hydrology, carbon storage and enhanced oil recovery. Carbonate rock structures contain most of the world's oil reserves, considerable amount of water reserves, and potentially hold a storage capacity for carbon dioxide. However, this type of pore space is difficult to represent due to complexities associated with a wide range of pore sizes and variation in connectivity which poses a considerable challenge for quantitative predictions of transport across multiple scales.A new concept unifying X-ray tomography experiment and direct numerical simulation has been developed that relies on full description flow and solute transport at the pore scale. Differential imaging method (Lin et al. 2016) provides rich information in microporous space, while advective and diffusive mass transport are simulated on micro-CT images of pore-space: Navier-Stokes equations are solved for flow in the image voxels comprising the pore space, streamline-based simulation is used to account for advection, and diffusion is superimposed by random walk.Quantitative validation has been done on analytical solutions for diffusion and by comparing the model predictions versus the experimental NMR measurements in the dual porosity beadpack. Furthermore, we discriminate signatures of multi-scale transport behaviour for a range of carbonate rock (Figure 1), dependent on the heterogeneity of the inter- and intra-grain pore space, heterogeneity in the flow field, and the mass transfer characteristics of the porous media. Finally, we demonstrate the predictive capabilities of the model through an analysis that includes a number of probability density functions flow and transport (PDFs) measures of non-Fickian transport on the micro-CT i935mages. In complex porous media separation of scales exists, leading to flow and transport signatures that need to be described by

Efficiency of a Horizontal Sub-Surface Flow Constructed Wetland Treatment System in an Arid Area

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abeer Albalawneh

2016-02-01

Full Text Available The main objective of this study was to evaluate the performance and treatment efficiency of the Horizontal Sub-Surface Flow Constructed Wetland treatment system (HSF-CW in an arid climate. Seventeen sub-surface, horizontal-flow HSF-CW units have been operated for approximately three years to improve the quality of partially-treated municipal wastewater. The studied design parameters included two sizes of volcanic tuff media (i.e., fine or coarse, two different bed dimensions (i.e., long and short, and three plantation types (i.e., reed, kenaf, or no vegetation as a control. The effluent Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD5, Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD, Total Suspended Solid (TSS, and phosphorus from all of the treatments were significantly lower as compared to the influent and demonstrated a removal efficiency of 55%, 51%, 67%, and 55%, respectively. There were significant increases in Electrical Conductivity (EC, sulfate, and calcium in the effluent of most HSF-CWs due to evaporative concentration and mineral dissolution from the media. The study suggests that unplanted beds with either fine or coarse media are the most suitable combinations among all of the studied designs based on their treatment efficiency and less water loss in arid conditions.

Subsurface phosphorus transport through a no-till field in the semi arid Palouse region

Science.gov (United States)

Norby, J. C.; Brooks, E. S.; Strawn, D. G.

2017-12-01

Excess application of fertilizers containing nitrogen and phosphorus for farming use has led to ongoing water quality issues in the United States. When these nutrients leave agronomic systems, and enter water bodies in large quantities, algal bloom and eutrophication can occur. Extensive studies focusing on phosphorus as a pollutant from agronomic systems have been conducted in the many regions of the United States; however, there has been a lack of studies completed in the semiarid Palouse region of eastern Washington and western Idaho. The goal of this research study was to better understand how no-till farm management has altered soil P temporally and the current availability for off-site transport of P throughout an artificially drained catchment at the Cook Agronomy Farm in Pullman, WA. We also attempted to determine the processes responsible for subsurface flow of phosphorus, specifically through preferential flow pathways. Dissolved reactive P (DRP)concentrations of subsurface drainage from a artificial drain exceeded TMDL threshold concentrations during numerous seasonal high flow events over the two-year study time frame. Soil analyses show a highly variable distribution of water-extractable P across the sub-catchment area and initial results suggest a translocation of P species deeper into the soil profile after implementing no-till practices in 1998. We hypothesized that a greater network of macropores from lack of soil disturbance allow for preferential flow of nutrient-laden water deeper into the subsurface and to the artificial drain system. Simulated flow experiments on soil cores from the study site showed large-scale macropore development, extreme variability in soil conductivity, and high P adsorption potential for the soils, suggesting a disconnect between P movement through macropore soil and subsurface drainage water rich in DRP at the artificial drain line outlet.

Pore-scale studies of multiphase flow and reaction involving CO2 sequestration in geologic formations

Science.gov (United States)

Kang, Q.; Wang, M.; Lichtner, P. C.

2008-12-01

In geologic CO2 sequestration, pore-scale interfacial phenomena ultimately govern the key processes of fluid mobility, chemical transport, adsorption, and reaction. However, spatial heterogeneity at the pore scale cannot be resolved at the continuum scale, where averaging occurs over length scales much larger than typical pore sizes. Natural porous media, such as sedimentary rocks and other geological media encountered in subsurface formations, are inherently heterogeneous. This pore-scale heterogeneity can produce variabilities in flow, transport, and reaction processes that take place within a porous medium, and can result in spatial variations in fluid velocity, aqueous concentrations, and reaction rates. Consequently, the unresolved spatial heterogeneity at the pore scale may be important for reactive transport modeling at the larger scale. In addition, current continuum models of surface complexation reactions ignore a fundamental property of physical systems, namely conservation of charge. Therefore, to better understand multiphase flow and reaction involving CO2 sequestration in geologic formations, it is necessary to quantitatively investigate the influence of the pore-scale heterogeneity on the emergent behavior at the field scale. We have applied the lattice Boltzmann method to simulating the injection of CO2 saturated brine or supercritical CO2 into geological formations at the pore scale. Multiple pore-scale processes, including advection, diffusion, homogeneous reactions among multiple aqueous species, heterogeneous reactions between the aqueous solution and minerals, ion exchange and surface complexation, as well as changes in solid and pore geometry are all taken into account. The rich pore scale information will provide a basis for upscaling to the continuum scale.

Ammonia, phosphate, phenol, and copper(II) removal from aqueous solution by subsurface and surface flow constructed wetland.

Science.gov (United States)

Mojiri, Amin; Ahmad, Zakiah; Tajuddin, Ramlah Mohd; Arshad, Mohd Fadzil; Gholami, Ali

2017-07-01

Water pollution is a global problem. During current study, ammonia, phosphate, phenol, and copper(II) were removed from aqueous solution by subsurface and surface flow constructed wetland. In current investigation, distilled water was polluted with four contaminants including ammonia, phosphate, copper (Cu), and phenol. Response surface methodology and central composite design were applied to optimize pollutant removal during treatment by subsurface flow constructed wetland (SSFCW). Contact time (12 to 80 h) and initial pollutant concentration (20 to 85 mg/L) were selected as independent factors; some upper and lower ranges were also monitored for accuracy. In SSFCW, water hyacinth transplanted in two substrate layers, namely zeolite and cockle shell. SSFCW removed 87.7, 81.4, 74.7, and 54.9% of ammonia, phosphate, Cu, and phenol, respectively, at optimum contact time (64.5 h) and initial pollutant concentration (69.2 mg/L). Aqueous solution was moved to a surface flow constructed wetland (SFCW) after treating via SSFCW at optimum conditions. In SFCW, Typha was transplanted to a fixed powdered substrate layer, including bentonite, zeolite, and cockle shell. SFCW could develop performance of this combined system and could improve elimination efficacy of the four contaminants to 99.99%. So this combined CW showed a good performance in removing pollutants. Graphical abstract Wetlands arrangement for treating aqueous solution in current study.

Subsurface Ocean Tides in Enceladus and Other Icy Moons

Science.gov (United States)

Beuthe, M.

2016-12-01

Could tidal dissipation within Enceladus' subsurface ocean account for the observed heat flow? Earthlike models of dynamical tides give no definitive answer because they neglect the influence of the crust. I propose here the first model of dissipative tides in a subsurface ocean, by combining the Laplace Tidal Equations with the membrane approach. For the first time, it is possible to compute tidal dissipation rates within the crust, ocean, and mantle in one go. I show that oceanic dissipation is strongly reduced by the crustal constraint, and thus contributes little to Enceladus' present heat budget. Tidal resonances could have played a role in a forming or freezing ocean less than 100 meters deep. The model is general: it applies to all icy satellites with a thin crust and a shallow or stratified ocean. Scaling rules relate the resonances and dissipation rate of a subsurface ocean to the ones of a surface ocean. If the ocean has low viscosity, the westward obliquity tide does not move the crust. Therefore, crustal dissipation due to dynamical obliquity tides can differ from the static prediction by up to a factor of two.

Complex Systems Science for Subsurface Fate and Transport Report from the August 2009 Workshop

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

2010-03-01

The subsurface environment, which encompasses the vadose and saturated zones, is a heterogeneous, geologically complex domain. Believed to contain a large percentage of Earth's biomass in the form of microorganisms, the subsurface is a dynamic zone where important biogeochemical cycles work to sustain life. Actively linked to the atmosphere and biosphere through the hydrologic and carbon cycles, the subsurface serves as a storage location for much of Earth's fresh water. Coupled hydrological, microbiological, and geochemical processes occurring within the subsurface environment cause the local and regional natural chemical fluxes that govern water quality. These processes play a vital role in the formation of soil, economically important fossil fuels, mineral deposits, and other natural resources. Cleaning up Department of Energy (DOE) lands impacted by legacy wastes and using the subsurface for carbon sequestration or nuclear waste isolation require a firm understanding of these processes and the documented means to characterize the vertical and spatial distribution of subsurface properties directing water, nutrient, and contaminant flows. This information, along with credible, predictive models that integrate hydrological, microbiological, and geochemical knowledge over a range of scales, is needed to forecast the sustainability of subsurface water systems and to devise ways to manage and manipulate dynamic in situ processes for beneficial outcomes. Predictive models provide the context for knowledge integration. They are the primary tools for forecasting the evolving geochemistry or microbial ecology of groundwater under various scenarios and for assessing and optimizing the potential effectiveness of proposed approaches to carbon sequestration, waste isolation, or environmental remediation. An iterative approach of modeling and experimentation can reveal powerful insights into the behavior of subsurface systems. State-of-science understanding codified

Complex Systems Science for Subsurface Fate and Transport Report from the August 2009 Workshop

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2010-01-01

The subsurface environment, which encompasses the vadose and saturated zones, is a heterogeneous, geologically complex domain. Believed to contain a large percentage of Earth's biomass in the form of microorganisms, the subsurface is a dynamic zone where important biogeochemical cycles work to sustain life. Actively linked to the atmosphere and biosphere through the hydrologic and carbon cycles, the subsurface serves as a storage location for much of Earth's fresh water. Coupled hydrological, microbiological, and geochemical processes occurring within the subsurface environment cause the local and regional natural chemical fluxes that govern water quality. These processes play a vital role in the formation of soil, economically important fossil fuels, mineral deposits, and other natural resources. Cleaning up Department of Energy (DOE) lands impacted by legacy wastes and using the subsurface for carbon sequestration or nuclear waste isolation require a firm understanding of these processes and the documented means to characterize the vertical and spatial distribution of subsurface properties directing water, nutrient, and contaminant flows. This information, along with credible, predictive models that integrate hydrological, microbiological, and geochemical knowledge over a range of scales, is needed to forecast the sustainability of subsurface water systems and to devise ways to manage and manipulate dynamic in situ processes for beneficial outcomes. Predictive models provide the context for knowledge integration. They are the primary tools for forecasting the evolving geochemistry or microbial ecology of groundwater under various scenarios and for assessing and optimizing the potential effectiveness of proposed approaches to carbon sequestration, waste isolation, or environmental remediation. An iterative approach of modeling and experimentation can reveal powerful insights into the behavior of subsurface systems. State-of-science understanding codified in models

Influence of chlorothalonil on the removal of organic matter in horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands.

Science.gov (United States)

Casas-Zapata, Juan C; Ríos, Karina; Florville-Alejandre, Tomás R; Morató, Jordi; Peñuela, Gustavo

2013-01-01

This study investigates the effects of chlorothalonil (CLT) on chemical oxygen demand (COD) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in pilot-scale horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands (HSSFCW) planted with Phragmites australis. Physicochemical parameters of influent and effluent water samples, microbial population counting methods and statistical analysis were used to evaluate the influence of CLT on organic matter removal efficiency. The experiments were conducted on four planted replicate wetlands (HSSFCW-Pa) and one unplanted control wetland (HSSFCW-NPa). The wetlands exhibited high average organic matter removal efficiencies (HSSFCW-Pa: 80.6% DOC, 98.0% COD; HSSFCW-NPa: 93.2% DOC, 98.4% COD). The addition of CLT did not influence organic removal parameters. In all cases CLT concentrations in the effluent occurred in concentrations lower than the detection limit of the analytical method. Microbial population counts from HSSFCW-Pa showed significant correlations among different microbial groups and with different physicochemical variables. The apparent independence of organic matter removal and CLT inputs, along with the CLT depletion observed in effluent samples demonstrated that HSSFCW are a viable technology for the treatment of agricultural effluents contaminated with organo-chloride pesticides like CLT.

The Effects of Different Scales of Topographic Variation on Shallow Groundwater Flow in an Arctic Watershed

Science.gov (United States)

Nicholaides, K. D.; O'Connor, M.; Cardenas, M. B.; Neilson, B. T.; Kling, G. W.

2017-12-01

Arctic permafrost degradation is occurring as global temperatures increase. In addition, recent evidence shows the Arctic is shifting from a sink to a source of carbon to the atmosphere. However, the cause of this shift is unclear, as is the role of newly exposed organic soil carbon leaching into groundwater and transported to surface water. This soil carbon may be photo-oxidized to CO2 or microbially respired to CO2 and methane, adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. The fate of carbon in permafrost is largely governed by the length of time spent in transport and the surface or subsurface route it follows. However, groundwater flow regimes within shallow active layer aquifers overlying permafrost is poorly understood. We determined to what extent smaller scale topography influences groundwater flow and residence times in arctic tundra. The study focused on Imnavait Creek watershed, a 1st-order drainage on the Alaskan North Slope underlain by continuous permafrost. We used direct measurements of hydraulic conductivities and porosities over a range of depths as well as basin-scale topography to develop vertically-integrated groundwater flow models. By systematically decreasing the amount of topographic detail, we were able to compare the influence of more detailed topography on groundwater flow estimates. Scaling up this model will be a useful tool in understanding how larger basins in permafrost will respond to future climate change and their contributions to greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

The Effect of Subsurface Parameterizations on Modeled Flows in the Catchment Land Surface Model, Fortuna 2.5

Science.gov (United States)

Roningen, J. M.; Eylander, J. B.

2014-12-01

Groundwater use and management is subject to economic, legal, technical, and informational constraints and incentives at a variety of spatial and temporal scales. Planned and de facto management practices influenced by tax structures, legal frameworks, and agricultural and trade policies that vary at the country scale may have medium- and long-term effects on the ability of a region to support current and projected agricultural and industrial development. USACE is working to explore and develop global-scale, physically-based frameworks to serve as a baseline for hydrologic policy comparisons and consequence assessment, and such frameworks must include a reasonable representation of groundwater systems. To this end, we demonstrate the effects of different subsurface parameterizations, scaling, and meteorological forcings on surface and subsurface components of the Catchment Land Surface Model Fortuna v2.5 (Koster et al. 2000). We use the Land Information System 7 (Kumar et al. 2006) to process model runs using meteorological components of the Air Force Weather Agency's AGRMET forcing data from 2006 through 2011. Seasonal patterns and trends are examined in areas of the Upper Nile basin, northern China, and the Mississippi Valley. We also discuss the relevance of the model's representation of the catchment deficit with respect to local hydrogeologic structures.

Scenario simulation based assessment of subsurface energy storage

Science.gov (United States)

Beyer, C.; Bauer, S.; Dahmke, A.

2014-12-01

Energy production from renewable sources such as solar or wind power is characterized by temporally varying power supply. The politically intended transition towards renewable energies in Germany („Energiewende") hence requires the installation of energy storage technologies to compensate for the fluctuating production. In this context, subsurface energy storage represents a viable option due to large potential storage capacities and the wide prevalence of suited geological formations. Technologies for subsurface energy storage comprise cavern or deep porous media storage of synthetic hydrogen or methane from electrolysis and methanization, or compressed air, as well as heat storage in shallow or moderately deep porous formations. Pressure build-up, fluid displacement or temperature changes induced by such operations may affect local and regional groundwater flow, geomechanical behavior, groundwater geochemistry and microbiology. Moreover, subsurface energy storage may interact and possibly be in conflict with other "uses" like drinking water abstraction or ecological goods and functions. An utilization of the subsurface for energy storage therefore requires an adequate system and process understanding for the evaluation and assessment of possible impacts of specific storage operations on other types of subsurface use, the affected environment and protected entities. This contribution presents the framework of the ANGUS+ project, in which tools and methods are developed for these types of assessments. Synthetic but still realistic scenarios of geological energy storage are derived and parameterized for representative North German storage sites by data acquisition and evaluation, and experimental work. Coupled numerical hydraulic, thermal, mechanical and reactive transport (THMC) simulation tools are developed and applied to simulate the energy storage and subsurface usage scenarios, which are analyzed for an assessment and generalization of the imposed THMC

Flow variability and hillslope hydrology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Huff, D D; O' Neill, R V; Emanuel, W R; Elwood, J W; Newbold, J D

1982-01-01

Examination of spatial variability of streamflow in headwater areas can provide important insight about factors that influence hillslope hydrology. Detailed observations of variations in stream channel input, based on a tracer experiment, indicate that topography alone cannot explain flow variability. However, determination of changes in channel input on a small spatial scale can provide valuable clues to factors, such as structural geology that control subsurface flows.

Deep subsurface microbial processes

Science.gov (United States)

Lovley, D.R.; Chapelle, F.H.

1995-01-01

Information on the microbiology of the deep subsurface is necessary in order to understand the factors controlling the rate and extent of the microbially catalyzed redox reactions that influence the geophysical properties of these environments. Furthermore, there is an increasing threat that deep aquifers, an important drinking water resource, may be contaminated by man's activities, and there is a need to predict the extent to which microbial activity may remediate such contamination. Metabolically active microorganisms can be recovered from a diversity of deep subsurface environments. The available evidence suggests that these microorganisms are responsible for catalyzing the oxidation of organic matter coupled to a variety of electron acceptors just as microorganisms do in surface sediments, but at much slower rates. The technical difficulties in aseptically sampling deep subsurface sediments and the fact that microbial processes in laboratory incubations of deep subsurface material often do not mimic in situ processes frequently necessitate that microbial activity in the deep subsurface be inferred through nonmicrobiological analyses of ground water. These approaches include measurements of dissolved H2, which can predict the predominant microbially catalyzed redox reactions in aquifers, as well as geochemical and groundwater flow modeling, which can be used to estimate the rates of microbial processes. Microorganisms recovered from the deep subsurface have the potential to affect the fate of toxic organics and inorganic contaminants in groundwater. Microbial activity also greatly influences 1 the chemistry of many pristine groundwaters and contributes to such phenomena as porosity development in carbonate aquifers, accumulation of undesirably high concentrations of dissolved iron, and production of methane and hydrogen sulfide. Although the last decade has seen a dramatic increase in interest in deep subsurface microbiology, in comparison with the study of

Form and function in hillslope hydrology: in situ imaging and characterization of flow-relevant structures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Jackisch

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The study deals with the identification and characterization of rapid subsurface flow structures through pedo- and geo-physical measurements and irrigation experiments at the point, plot and hillslope scale. Our investigation of flow-relevant structures and hydrological responses refers to the general interplay of form and function, respectively. To obtain a holistic picture of the subsurface, a large set of different laboratory, exploratory and experimental methods was used at the different scales. For exploration these methods included drilled soil core profiles, in situ measurements of infiltration capacity and saturated hydraulic conductivity, and laboratory analyses of soil water retention and saturated hydraulic conductivity. The irrigation experiments at the plot scale were monitored through a combination of dye tracer, salt tracer, soil moisture dynamics, and 3-D time-lapse ground penetrating radar (GPR methods. At the hillslope scale the subsurface was explored by a 3-D GPR survey. A natural storm event and an irrigation experiment were monitored by a dense network of soil moisture observations and a cascade of 2-D time-lapse GPR trenches. We show that the shift between activated and non-activated state of the flow paths is needed to distinguish structures from overall heterogeneity. Pedo-physical analyses of point-scale samples are the basis for sub-scale structure inference. At the plot and hillslope scale 3-D and 2-D time-lapse GPR applications are successfully employed as non-invasive means to image subsurface response patterns and to identify flow-relevant paths. Tracer recovery and soil water responses from irrigation experiments deliver a consistent estimate of response velocities. The combined observation of form and function under active conditions provides the means to localize and characterize the structures (this study and the hydrological processes (companion study Angermann et al., 2017, this issue.

Form and function in hillslope hydrology: in situ imaging and characterization of flow-relevant structures

Science.gov (United States)

Jackisch, Conrad; Angermann, Lisa; Allroggen, Niklas; Sprenger, Matthias; Blume, Theresa; Tronicke, Jens; Zehe, Erwin

2017-07-01

The study deals with the identification and characterization of rapid subsurface flow structures through pedo- and geo-physical measurements and irrigation experiments at the point, plot and hillslope scale. Our investigation of flow-relevant structures and hydrological responses refers to the general interplay of form and function, respectively. To obtain a holistic picture of the subsurface, a large set of different laboratory, exploratory and experimental methods was used at the different scales. For exploration these methods included drilled soil core profiles, in situ measurements of infiltration capacity and saturated hydraulic conductivity, and laboratory analyses of soil water retention and saturated hydraulic conductivity. The irrigation experiments at the plot scale were monitored through a combination of dye tracer, salt tracer, soil moisture dynamics, and 3-D time-lapse ground penetrating radar (GPR) methods. At the hillslope scale the subsurface was explored by a 3-D GPR survey. A natural storm event and an irrigation experiment were monitored by a dense network of soil moisture observations and a cascade of 2-D time-lapse GPR trenches. We show that the shift between activated and non-activated state of the flow paths is needed to distinguish structures from overall heterogeneity. Pedo-physical analyses of point-scale samples are the basis for sub-scale structure inference. At the plot and hillslope scale 3-D and 2-D time-lapse GPR applications are successfully employed as non-invasive means to image subsurface response patterns and to identify flow-relevant paths. Tracer recovery and soil water responses from irrigation experiments deliver a consistent estimate of response velocities. The combined observation of form and function under active conditions provides the means to localize and characterize the structures (this study) and the hydrological processes (companion study Angermann et al., 2017, this issue).

Application of x-ray microtomography to environmental fluid flow problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wildenschild, D.; Culligan, K.A.; Christensen, B.S.B.

2005-01-01

Many environmental processes are controlled by the micro-scale interaction of water and air with the solid phase (soils, sediments, rock) in pore spaces within the subsurface. The distribution in time and space of fluids in pores ultimately controls subsurface flow and contaminant transport relevant to groundwater resource management, contaminant remediation, and agriculture. Many of these physical processes operative at the pore-scale cannot be directly investigated using conventional hydrologic techniques, however recent developments in synchrotron-based micro-imaging have made it possible to observe and quantify pore-scale processes non-invasively. Micron-scale resolution makes it possible to track fluid flow within individual pores and therefore facilitates previously unattainable measurements. We report on experiments performed at the GSECARS** (Advanced Photon Source) microtomography facility and have measured properties such as porosity, fluid saturation and distribution within the pore space, as well as interfacial characteristics of the fluids involved (air, water, contaminant). Different image processing techniques were applied following mathematical reconstruction to produce accurate measurements of the physical flow properties. These new micron-scale measurements make it possible to test existing and new theory, as well as emerging numerical modeling schemes aimed at the pore scale.

New argon-argon (40Ar/39Ar) radiometric age dates from selected subsurface basalt flows at the Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho

Science.gov (United States)

Hodges, Mary K. V.; Turrin, Brent D.; Champion, Duane E.; Swisher, Carl C.

2015-01-01

In 2011, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Energy, collected samples for 12 new argon-argon radiometric ages from eastern Snake River Plain olivine tholeiite basalt flows in the subsurface at the Idaho National Laboratory. The core samples were collected from flows that had previously published paleomagnetic data. Samples were sent to Rutgers University for argon-argon radiometric dating analyses.

Stochastic porous media modeling and high-resolution schemes for numerical simulation of subsurface immiscible fluid flow transport

Science.gov (United States)

Brantson, Eric Thompson; Ju, Binshan; Wu, Dan; Gyan, Patricia Semwaah

2018-04-01

This paper proposes stochastic petroleum porous media modeling for immiscible fluid flow simulation using Dykstra-Parson coefficient (V DP) and autocorrelation lengths to generate 2D stochastic permeability values which were also used to generate porosity fields through a linear interpolation technique based on Carman-Kozeny equation. The proposed method of permeability field generation in this study was compared to turning bands method (TBM) and uniform sampling randomization method (USRM). On the other hand, many studies have also reported that, upstream mobility weighting schemes, commonly used in conventional numerical reservoir simulators do not accurately capture immiscible displacement shocks and discontinuities through stochastically generated porous media. This can be attributed to high level of numerical smearing in first-order schemes, oftentimes misinterpreted as subsurface geological features. Therefore, this work employs high-resolution schemes of SUPERBEE flux limiter, weighted essentially non-oscillatory scheme (WENO), and monotone upstream-centered schemes for conservation laws (MUSCL) to accurately capture immiscible fluid flow transport in stochastic porous media. The high-order schemes results match well with Buckley Leverett (BL) analytical solution without any non-oscillatory solutions. The governing fluid flow equations were solved numerically using simultaneous solution (SS) technique, sequential solution (SEQ) technique and iterative implicit pressure and explicit saturation (IMPES) technique which produce acceptable numerical stability and convergence rate. A comparative and numerical examples study of flow transport through the proposed method, TBM and USRM permeability fields revealed detailed subsurface instabilities with their corresponding ultimate recovery factors. Also, the impact of autocorrelation lengths on immiscible fluid flow transport were analyzed and quantified. A finite number of lines used in the TBM resulted into visual

Linking Chaotic Advection with Subsurface Biogeochemical Processes

Science.gov (United States)

Mays, D. C.; Freedman, V. L.; White, S. K.; Fang, Y.; Neupauer, R.

2017-12-01

This work investigates the extent to which groundwater flow kinematics drive subsurface biogeochemical processes. In terms of groundwater flow kinematics, we consider chaotic advection, whose essential ingredient is stretching and folding of plumes. Chaotic advection is appealing within the context of groundwater remediation because it has been shown to optimize plume spreading in the laminar flows characteristic of aquifers. In terms of subsurface biogeochemical processes, we consider an existing model for microbially-mediated reduction of relatively mobile uranium(VI) to relatively immobile uranium(IV) following injection of acetate into a floodplain aquifer beneath a former uranium mill in Rifle, Colorado. This model has been implemented in the reactive transport code eSTOMP, the massively parallel version of STOMP (Subsurface Transport Over Multiple Phases). This presentation will report preliminary numerical simulations in which the hydraulic boundary conditions in the eSTOMP model are manipulated to simulate chaotic advection resulting from engineered injection and extraction of water through a manifold of wells surrounding the plume of injected acetate. This approach provides an avenue to simulate the impact of chaotic advection within the existing framework of the eSTOMP code.

Incorporating the Impacts of Small Scale Rock Heterogeneity into Models of Flow and Trapping in Target UK CO2 Storage Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Jackson, S. J.; Reynolds, C.; Krevor, S. C.

2017-12-01

Predictions of the flow behaviour and storage capacity of CO2 in subsurface reservoirs are dependent on accurate modelling of multiphase flow and trapping. A number of studies have shown that small scale rock heterogeneities have a significant impact on CO2flow propagating to larger scales. The need to simulate flow in heterogeneous reservoir systems has led to the development of numerical upscaling techniques which are widely used in industry. Less well understood, however, is the best approach for incorporating laboratory characterisations of small scale heterogeneities into models. At small scales, heterogeneity in the capillary pressure characteristic function becomes significant. We present a digital rock workflow that combines core flood experiments with numerical simulations to characterise sub-core scale capillary pressure heterogeneities within rock cores from several target UK storage reservoirs - the Bunter, Captain and Ormskirk sandstone formations. Measured intrinsic properties (permeability, capillary pressure, relative permeability) and 3D saturations maps from steady-state core flood experiments were the primary inputs to construct a 3D digital rock model in CMG IMEX. We used vertical end-point scaling to iteratively update the voxel by voxel capillary pressure curves from the average MICP curve; with each iteration more closely predicting the experimental saturations and pressure drops. Once characterised, the digital rock cores were used to predict equivalent flow functions, such as relative permeability and residual trapping, across the range of flow conditions estimated to prevail in the CO2 storage reservoirs. In the case of the Captain sandstone, rock cores were characterised across an entire 100m vertical transect of the reservoir. This allowed analysis of the upscaled impact of small scale heterogeneity on flow and trapping. Figure 1 shows the varying degree to which heterogeneity impacted flow depending on the capillary number in the

Feasibility of permeation grouting for constructing subsurface barriers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dwyer, B.P.

1994-04-01

Efforts are being made to devise technologies that provide interim containment of waste sites while final remediation alternatives are developed. Permeation grouting, a technique used extensively in the civil and mining engineering industry has been investigated as a method for emplacing a subsurface containment barrier beneath existing waste sites. Conceptually an underlying barrier is placed by injecting grout into the formation at less than fracturing pressure from a series of directionally drilled boreholes beneath the waste site. This study evaluated the penetration and performance characteristics in varying soil conditions of four different grout materials (two microfine cements, mineral wax, and sodium silicate) at a field scale. Field testing consisted of grout injection via sleeve (tube-a'-manchette) pipe into both vertical and horizontal borehole configurations at the Mixed Waste Landfill Integrated Demonstration site at Sandia National Laboratories. Prior to, during, and after grout injection non-intrusive geophysical techniques were used to map grout flow. Following the tests, the site was excavated to reveal details of the grout permeation, and grouted soil samples were cored for laboratory characterization. The non-intrusive and intrusive grout mapping showed preferential flow patterns, i.e., the grout tended to follow the path of least resistance. Preliminary testing indicates that permeation grouting is a feasible method for emplacing a low permeability subsurface barrier in the semi-arid unconsolidated alluvial soils common to the Southwest. Despite the success of this project, difficulties in predicting grout flow in heterogeneous soils and non-intrusive methods for imaging grout location and continuity are issues that need more attention

Ebullition, Plant-Mediated Transport, and Subsurface Horizontal Water Flow Dominate Methane Transport in an Arctic Sphagnum Bog

Science.gov (United States)

Wehr, R. A.; McCalley, C. K.; Logan, T. A.; Chanton, J.; Crill, P. M.; Rich, V. I.; Saleska, S. R.

2017-12-01

Emission of the greenhouse gas methane from wetlands is of prime concern in the prediction of climate change - especially emission associated with thawing permafrost, which may drive a positive feedback loop of emission and warming. In addition to the biochemistry of methane production and consumption, wetland methane emission depends critically on the transport mechanisms by which methane moves through and out of the ecosystem. We therefore developed a model of methane biochemistry and transport for a sphagnum bog representing an intermediate permafrost thaw stage in Stordalen Mire, Sweden. In order to simultaneously reproduce measured profiles of both the concentrations and isotopic compositions of both methane and carbon dioxide in the peat pore water (Fig. 1) - as well as the surface methane emission - it was necessary for the model to include ebullition, plant-mediated transport via aerenchyma, and subsurface horizontal water flow. Diffusion of gas through the pore water was relatively unimportant. As a result, 90% of the produced methane escaped the wetland rather than being consumed by methanotrophic organisms in the near-surface pore water. Our model provides a comprehensive picture of methane emission from this bog site by quantifying the vertical profiles of: acetoclastic methanogenesis, hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis, methane oxidation, aerobic respiration, ebullition, plant-mediated transport, subsurface horizontal water flow, and diffusion.

Subsurface thermal regime to delineate the paleo-groundwater flow system in an arid area, Al Kufra, Libya

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zenhom El-Said Salem

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to understand the groundwater flow system in Al Kufra basin, Libya, as a case study of arid areas using subsurface temperature. The temperature-depth profiles and water levels were measured in eight boreholes in the area. Well 6 is considered a recharge type profile with low geothermal gradient (0.0068 °C/m and an estimated paleo-temperature around 19.5 °C. The other profiles are of discharge type with higher geothermal gradient (0.0133 to 0.0166 °C/m. The constructed horizontal 2D distribution maps of the hydraulic heads and the subsurface temperature measurements reveal that the main recharge area is located to the south with low temperature while the main discharge area is located to the north with higher temperature. Vertical 2D distribution maps show that location of well 4 has low hydraulic heads and higher temperature indicating that the fault defined in the area may have affected the groundwater flow system. The estimated groundwater flux ranges from 0.001 to 0.1 mm/day for the recharge area and from −0.3 to −0.7 mm/day in average in the discharge area.

Transport of pesticides and artificial tracers in vertical-flow lab-scale wetlands

Science.gov (United States)

Durst, Romy; Imfeld, Gwenaël.; Lange, Jens

2013-01-01

Wetland systems can be hydrologically connected to a shallow aquifer and intercept upward flow of pesticide-contaminated water during groundwater discharge. However, pesticide transport and attenuation through wetland sediments (WSs) intercepting contaminated water is rarely evaluated quantitatively. The use of artificial tracers to evaluate pesticide transport and associated risks is a fairly new approach that requires evaluation and validation. Here we evaluate during 84 days the transport of two pesticides (i.e., isoproturon (IPU) and metalaxyl (MTX)) and three tracers (i.e., bromide (Br), uranine (UR), and sulforhodamine B (SRB)) in upward vertical-flow vegetated and nonvegetated lab-scale wetlands. The lab-scale wetlands were filled with outdoor WSs and were continuously supplied with tracers and the pesticide-contaminated water. The transport of IPU and UR was characterized by high solute recovery (approximately 80%) and low retardation compared to Br. The detection of desmethylisoproturon in the wetlands indicated IPU degradation. SRB showed larger retardation (>3) and lower recovery (approximately 60%) compared to Br, indicating that sorption controlled SRB transport. MTX was moderately retarded (approximately 1.5), and its load attenuation in the wetland reached 40%. In the vegetated wetland, preferential flow along the roots decreased interactions between solutes and sediments, resulting in larger pesticide and tracer recovery. Our results show that UR and IPU have similar transport characteristics under the tested subsurface-flow conditions, whereas SRB may serve as a proxy for less mobile and more persistent pesticides. Since UR and SRB are not significantly affected by degradation, their use as proxies for fast degrading pollutants may be limited. We anticipate our results to be a starting point for considering artificial tracers for investigating pesticide transport in environments at groundwater/surface-water interfaces.

Site-Scale Saturated Zone Flow Model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

G. Zyvoloski

2003-01-01

The purpose of this model report is to document the components of the site-scale saturated-zone flow model at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, in accordance with administrative procedure (AP)-SIII.lOQ, ''Models''. This report provides validation and confidence in the flow model that was developed for site recommendation (SR) and will be used to provide flow fields in support of the Total Systems Performance Assessment (TSPA) for the License Application. The output from this report provides the flow model used in the ''Site-Scale Saturated Zone Transport'', MDL-NBS-HS-000010 Rev 01 (BSC 2003 [162419]). The Site-Scale Saturated Zone Transport model then provides output to the SZ Transport Abstraction Model (BSC 2003 [164870]). In particular, the output from the SZ site-scale flow model is used to simulate the groundwater flow pathways and radionuclide transport to the accessible environment for use in the TSPA calculations. Since the development and calibration of the saturated-zone flow model, more data have been gathered for use in model validation and confidence building, including new water-level data from Nye County wells, single- and multiple-well hydraulic testing data, and new hydrochemistry data. In addition, a new hydrogeologic framework model (HFM), which incorporates Nye County wells lithology, also provides geologic data for corroboration and confidence in the flow model. The intended use of this work is to provide a flow model that generates flow fields to simulate radionuclide transport in saturated porous rock and alluvium under natural or forced gradient flow conditions. The flow model simulations are completed using the three-dimensional (3-D), finite-element, flow, heat, and transport computer code, FEHM Version (V) 2.20 (software tracking number (STN): 10086-2.20-00; LANL 2003 [161725]). Concurrently, process-level transport model and methodology for calculating radionuclide transport in the saturated zone at Yucca Mountain using FEHM V 2.20 are being

Storm event-scale nutrient attenuation in constructed wetlands experiencing a Mediterranean climate: A comparison of a surface flow and hybrid surface-subsurface flow system.

Science.gov (United States)

Adyel, Tanveer M; Oldham, Carolyn E; Hipsey, Matthew R

2017-11-15

Among different Water Sensitive Urban Design options, constructed wetlands (CWs) are used to protect and restore downstream water quality by attenuating nutrients generated by stormwater runoff. This research compared the nutrient attenuation ability during a diverse population of storm events of two CWs: (a) a hybrid CW with multiple alternating surface flow (SF) and laterite-based subsurface flow (SSF) compartments, and (b) a single stage SF CW. Within-storm variability, nutrient concentrations were assessed at 2 to 3-h intervals at both the main inlet and outlet of each CW. Dissolved oxygen concentrations of the surface waters were also monitored at 10-min intervals using high frequency in situ sensors. Nutrient loads into the CWs were observed to be higher when a high rainfall event occurred, particularly after longer antecedent dry conditions. Longer hydraulic retention times promoted higher attenuation at both sites. However, the relative extent of nutrient attenuation differed between the CW types; the mean total nitrogen (TN) attenuation in the hybrid and SF CW was 45 and 48%, respectively. The hybrid CW attenuated 67% total phosphorus (TP) loads on average, while the SF CW acted as a net TP source. Periodic storm events transitioned the lentic CW into a lotic CW and caused riparian zone saturation; it was therefore hypothesized that such saturation of organic matter rich-riparian zones led to release of TP in the system. The hybrid CW attenuated the released TP in the downstream laterite-based SSF compartments. Diel oxygen metabolism calculated before and after the storm events was found to be strongly correlated with water temperature, solar exposure and antecedent dry condition during the pre-storm conditions. Furthermore, the SF CW showed a significant relationship between overall nutrient load attenuation and the change in oxygen metabolism during the storm perturbation, suggesting oxygen variation could be a useful proxy indicator of CW function

Preferential flow from pore to landscape scales

Science.gov (United States)

Koestel, J. K.; Jarvis, N.; Larsbo, M.

2017-12-01

In this presentation, we give a brief personal overview of some recent progress in quantifying preferential flow in the vadose zone, based on our own work and those of other researchers. One key challenge is to bridge the gap between the scales at which preferential flow occurs (i.e. pore to Darcy scales) and the scales of interest for management (i.e. fields, catchments, regions). We present results of recent studies that exemplify the potential of 3-D non-invasive imaging techniques to visualize and quantify flow processes at the pore scale. These studies should lead to a better understanding of how the topology of macropore networks control key state variables like matric potential and thus the strength of preferential flow under variable initial and boundary conditions. Extrapolation of this process knowledge to larger scales will remain difficult, since measurement technologies to quantify macropore networks at these larger scales are lacking. Recent work suggests that the application of key concepts from percolation theory could be useful in this context. Investigation of the larger Darcy-scale heterogeneities that generate preferential flow patterns at the soil profile, hillslope and field scales has been facilitated by hydro-geophysical measurement techniques that produce highly spatially and temporally resolved data. At larger regional and global scales, improved methods of data-mining and analyses of large datasets (machine learning) may help to parameterize models as well as lead to new insights into the relationships between soil susceptibility to preferential flow and site attributes (climate, land uses, soil types).

DNA-labeled micro- and nanoparticles: a new approach to study contaminant transport in the subsurface

Science.gov (United States)

McNew, C.; Wang, C.; Kocis, T. N.; Murphy, N. P.; Dahlke, H. E.

2017-12-01

Though our understanding of contaminant behavior in the subsurface has improved, our ability to measure and predict complex contaminant transport pathways at hillslope to watershed scales is still lacking. By utilizing bio-molecular nanotechnology developed for nano-medicines and drug delivery, we are able to produce DNA-labeled micro- and nanoparticles for use in a myriad of environmental systems. Control of the fabrication procedure allows us to produce particles of custom size, charge, and surface functionality to mimic the transport properties of the particulate contaminant or colloid of interest. The use of custom sequenced DNA allows for the fabrication of an enormous number of unique particle labels (approximately 1.61 x 1060 unique sequences) and the ability to discern between varied spatial and temporal applications, or the transport effect of varied particle size, charge, or surface properties. To date, this technology has been utilized to study contaminant transport from lab to field scales, including surface and open channel flow applications, transport in porous media, soil retention, and even subglacial flow pathways. Here, we present the technology for production and detection of the DNA-labeled particles along with the results from a current hillslope study at the Sierra Foothills Research and Extension Center (SFREC). This field study utilizes spatial and temporal variations in DNA-labeled particle applications to identify subsurface pollutant transport pathways through the four distinct soil horizons present at the SFREC site. Results from this and previous studies highlight the tremendous potential of the DNA-labeled particle technology for studying contaminant transport through the subsurface.

Fate of heavy metals in vertical subsurface flow constructed wetlands treating secondary treated petroleum refinery wastewater in Kaduna, Nigeria.

Science.gov (United States)

Mustapha, Hassana Ibrahim; van Bruggen, J J A; Lens, P N L

2018-01-02

This study examined the performance of pilot-scale vertical subsurface flow constructed wetlands (VSF-CWs) planted with three indigenous plants, i.e. Typha latifolia, Cyperus alternifolius, and Cynodon dactylon, in removing heavy metals from secondary treated refinery wastewater under tropical conditions. The T. latifolia-planted VSF-CW had the best heavy metal removal performance, followed by the Cyperus alternifolius-planted VSF-CW and then the Cynodon dactylon-planted VSF-CW. The data indicated that Cu, Cr, Zn, Pb, Cd, and Fe were accumulated in the plants at all the three VSF-CWs. However, the accumulation of the heavy metals in the plants accounted for only a rather small fraction (0.09-16%) of the overall heavy metal removal by the wetlands. The plant roots accumulated the highest amount of heavy metals, followed by the leaves, and then the stem. Cr and Fe were mainly retained in the roots of T. latifolia, Cyperus alternifolius, and Cynodon dactylon (TF < 1), meaning that Cr and Fe were only partially transported to the leaves of these plants. This study showed that VSF-CWs planted with T. latifolia, Cyperus Alternifolius, and Cynodon dactylon can be used for the large-scale removal of heavy metals from secondary refinery wastewater.

Effect of flow on bacterial transport and biofilm formation in saturated porous media

Science.gov (United States)

Rusconi, R.

2016-12-01

Understanding the transport of bacteria in saturated porous media is crucial for many applications ranging from the management of pumping wells subject to bio-clogging to the design of new bioremediation schemes for subsurface contamination. However, little is known about the spatial distribution of bacteria at the pore scale, particularly when small-scale heterogeneities - always present even in seemingly homogeneous aquifers - lead to preferential pathways for groundwater flow. In particular, the coupling of flow and motility has recently been shown to strongly affect bacterial transport1, and this leads us to predict that subsurface flow may strongly affect the dispersal of bacteria and the formation of biofilms in saturated aquifers. I present here microfluidic experiments combined with numerical simulations to show how the topological features of the flow correlate with bacterial concentration and promote the attachment of bacteria to specific regions of the pore network, which will ultimately influence the formations of biofilms. These results highlight the intimate link between small-scale biological processes and transport in porous media.

GEOCHEMISTRY OF SUBSURFACE REACTIVE BARRIERS FOR REMEDIATION OF CONTAMINATED GROUND WATER

Science.gov (United States)

Reactive barriers that couple subsurface fluid flow with a passive chemical treatment zone are emerging, cost effective approaches for in-situ remediation of contaminated groundwater. Factors such as the build-up of surface precipitates, bio-fouling, and changes in subsurface tr...

Integrated surface-subsurface water flow modelling of the Laxemar area. Application of the hydrological model ECOFLOW

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sokrut, Nikolay; Werner, Kent; Holmen, Johan

2007-01-01

Since 2002, the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co (SKB) performs site investigations in the Simpevarp area, for the siting of a deep geological repository for spent nuclear fuel. The site descriptive modelling includes conceptual and quantitative modelling of surface-subsurface water interactions, which are key inputs to safety assessment and environmental impact assessment. Such modelling is important also for planning of continued site investigations. In this report, the distributed hydrological model ECOFLOW is applied to the Laxemar subarea to test the ability of the model to simulate surface water and near-surface groundwater flow, and to illustrate ECOFLOW's advantages and drawbacks. The ECOFLOW model area is generally characterised by large areas of exposed or shallow bedrock. The ECOFLOW modelling results are compared to previous results produced by MIKE SHE-MIKE 11 and PCRaster-POLFLOW, in order to check whether non-calibrated surface and subsurface water flows computed by ECOFLOW are consistent with these previous results. The analyses include quantification and comparison of inflow and outflow terms of the water balance, as well as analyses of groundwater recharge-discharge patterns. ECOFLOW is used to simulate a one-year non calibrated period, considering seven catchments (including three areas with direct runoff to the sea) within the Laxemar subarea. The modelling results show the ability of the model to produce reasonable results for a model domain including both porous media (Quaternary deposits) and discontinuous media (bedrock). The results demonstrate notable differences in the specific discharge between the considered catchments, with specific discharge values in the range 157-212 mm/year; the lowest value (the Lake Frisksjoen catchment) may however be erroneous due to numerical instability in the model. Overall, these results agree with specific discharge values computed by MIKE SHE-MIKE 11 and PCRaster-POLFLOW (190 and 128-186 mm

Integrated surface-subsurface water flow modelling of the Laxemar area. Application of the hydrological model ECOFLOW

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sokrut, Nikolay; Werner, Kent; Holmen, Johan [Golder Associates AB, Uppsala (Sweden)

2007-01-15

Since 2002, the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co (SKB) performs site investigations in the Simpevarp area, for the siting of a deep geological repository for spent nuclear fuel. The site descriptive modelling includes conceptual and quantitative modelling of surface-subsurface water interactions, which are key inputs to safety assessment and environmental impact assessment. Such modelling is important also for planning of continued site investigations. In this report, the distributed hydrological model ECOFLOW is applied to the Laxemar subarea to test the ability of the model to simulate surface water and near-surface groundwater flow, and to illustrate ECOFLOW's advantages and drawbacks. The ECOFLOW model area is generally characterised by large areas of exposed or shallow bedrock. The ECOFLOW modelling results are compared to previous results produced by MIKE SHE-MIKE 11 and PCRaster-POLFLOW, in order to check whether non-calibrated surface and subsurface water flows computed by ECOFLOW are consistent with these previous results. The analyses include quantification and comparison of inflow and outflow terms of the water balance, as well as analyses of groundwater recharge-discharge patterns. ECOFLOW is used to simulate a one-year non calibrated period, considering seven catchments (including three areas with direct runoff to the sea) within the Laxemar subarea. The modelling results show the ability of the model to produce reasonable results for a model domain including both porous media (Quaternary deposits) and discontinuous media (bedrock). The results demonstrate notable differences in the specific discharge between the considered catchments, with specific discharge values in the range 157-212 mm/year; the lowest value (the Lake Frisksjoen catchment) may however be erroneous due to numerical instability in the model. Overall, these results agree with specific discharge values computed by MIKE SHE-MIKE 11 and PCRaster-POLFLOW (190 and 128

Surface and subsurface cracks characteristics of single crystal SiC wafer in surface machining

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Qiusheng, Y., E-mail: qsyan@gdut.edu.cn; Senkai, C., E-mail: senkite@sina.com; Jisheng, P., E-mail: panjisheng@gdut.edu.cn [School of Electromechanical Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006 (China)

2015-03-30

Different machining processes were used in the single crystal SiC wafer machining. SEM was used to observe the surface morphology and a cross-sectional cleavages microscopy method was used for subsurface cracks detection. Surface and subsurface cracks characteristics of single crystal SiC wafer in abrasive machining were analysed. The results show that the surface and subsurface cracks system of single crystal SiC wafer in abrasive machining including radial crack, lateral crack and the median crack. In lapping process, material removal is dominated by brittle removal. Lots of chipping pits were found on the lapping surface. With the particle size becomes smaller, the surface roughness and subsurface crack depth decreases. When the particle size was changed to 1.5µm, the surface roughness Ra was reduced to 24.0nm and the maximum subsurface crack was 1.2µm. The efficiency of grinding is higher than lapping. Plastic removal can be achieved by changing the process parameters. Material removal was mostly in brittle fracture when grinding with 325# diamond wheel. Plow scratches and chipping pits were found on the ground surface. The surface roughness Ra was 17.7nm and maximum subsurface crack depth was 5.8 µm. When grinding with 8000# diamond wheel, the material removal was in plastic flow. Plastic scratches were found on the surface. A smooth surface of roughness Ra 2.5nm without any subsurface cracks was obtained. Atomic scale removal was possible in cluster magnetorheological finishing with diamond abrasive size of 0.5 µm. A super smooth surface eventually obtained with a roughness of Ra 0.4nm without any subsurface crack.

Molecular Simulation towards Efficient and Representative Subsurface Reservoirs Modeling

KAUST Repository

Kadoura, Ahmad

2016-09-01

This dissertation focuses on the application of Monte Carlo (MC) molecular simulation and Molecular Dynamics (MD) in modeling thermodynamics and flow of subsurface reservoir fluids. At first, MC molecular simulation is proposed as a promising method to replace correlations and equations of state in subsurface flow simulators. In order to accelerate MC simulations, a set of early rejection schemes (conservative, hybrid, and non-conservative) in addition to extrapolation methods through reweighting and reconstruction of pre-generated MC Markov chains were developed. Furthermore, an extensive study was conducted to investigate sorption and transport processes of methane, carbon dioxide, water, and their mixtures in the inorganic part of shale using both MC and MD simulations. These simulations covered a wide range of thermodynamic conditions, pore sizes, and fluid compositions shedding light on several interesting findings. For example, the possibility to have more carbon dioxide adsorbed with more preadsorbed water concentrations at relatively large basal spaces. The dissertation is divided into four chapters. The first chapter corresponds to the introductory part where a brief background about molecular simulation and motivations are given. The second chapter is devoted to discuss the theoretical aspects and methodology of the proposed MC speeding up techniques in addition to the corresponding results leading to the successful multi-scale simulation of the compressible single-phase flow scenario. In chapter 3, the results regarding our extensive study on shale gas at laboratory conditions are reported. At the fourth and last chapter, we end the dissertation with few concluding remarks highlighting the key findings and summarizing the future directions.

Patterns in coupled water and energy cycle: Modeling, synthesis with observations, and assessing the subsurface-landsurface interactions

Science.gov (United States)

Rahman, A.; Kollet, S. J.; Sulis, M.

2013-12-01

In the terrestrial hydrological cycle, the atmosphere and the free groundwater table act as the upper and lower boundary condition, respectively, in the non-linear two-way exchange of mass and energy across the land surface. Identifying and quantifying the interactions among various atmospheric-subsurface-landsurface processes is complicated due to the diverse spatiotemporal scales associated with these processes. In this study, the coupled subsurface-landsurface model ParFlow.CLM was applied over a ~28,000 km2 model domain encompassing the Rur catchment, Germany, to simulate the fluxes of the coupled water and energy cycle. The model was forced by hourly atmospheric data from the COSMO-DE model (numerical weather prediction system of the German Weather Service) over one year. Following a spinup period, the model results were synthesized with observed river discharge, soil moisture, groundwater table depth, temperature, and landsurface energy flux data at different sites in the Rur catchment. It was shown that the model is able to reproduce reasonably the dynamics and also absolute values in observed fluxes and state variables without calibration. The spatiotemporal patterns in simulated water and energy fluxes as well as the interactions were studied using statistical, geostatistical and wavelet transform methods. While spatial patterns in the mass and energy fluxes can be predicted from atmospheric forcing and power law scaling in the transition and winter months, it appears that, in the summer months, the spatial patterns are determined by the spatially correlated variability in groundwater table depth. Continuous wavelet transform techniques were applied to study the variability of the catchment average mass and energy fluxes at varying time scales. From this analysis, the time scales associated with significant interactions among different mass and energy balance components were identified. The memory of precipitation variability in subsurface hydrodynamics

Discriminative Random Field Models for Subsurface Contamination Uncertainty Quantification

Science.gov (United States)

Arshadi, M.; Abriola, L. M.; Miller, E. L.; De Paolis Kaluza, C.

2017-12-01

Application of flow and transport simulators for prediction of the release, entrapment, and persistence of dense non-aqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs) and associated contaminant plumes is a computationally intensive process that requires specification of a large number of material properties and hydrologic/chemical parameters. Given its computational burden, this direct simulation approach is particularly ill-suited for quantifying both the expected performance and uncertainty associated with candidate remediation strategies under real field conditions. Prediction uncertainties primarily arise from limited information about contaminant mass distributions, as well as the spatial distribution of subsurface hydrologic properties. Application of direct simulation to quantify uncertainty would, thus, typically require simulating multiphase flow and transport for a large number of permeability and release scenarios to collect statistics associated with remedial effectiveness, a computationally prohibitive process. The primary objective of this work is to develop and demonstrate a methodology that employs measured field data to produce equi-probable stochastic representations of a subsurface source zone that capture the spatial distribution and uncertainty associated with key features that control remediation performance (i.e., permeability and contamination mass). Here we employ probabilistic models known as discriminative random fields (DRFs) to synthesize stochastic realizations of initial mass distributions consistent with known, and typically limited, site characterization data. Using a limited number of full scale simulations as training data, a statistical model is developed for predicting the distribution of contaminant mass (e.g., DNAPL saturation and aqueous concentration) across a heterogeneous domain. Monte-Carlo sampling methods are then employed, in conjunction with the trained statistical model, to generate realizations conditioned on measured borehole data

Whole-stream metabolism of a perennial spring-fed aufeis field in Alaska, with coincident surface and subsurface flow

Science.gov (United States)

Hendrickson, P. J.; Gooseff, M. N.; Huryn, A. D.

2017-12-01

Aufeis (icings or naleds) are seasonal arctic and sub-arctic features that accumulate through repeated overflow and freeze events of river or spring discharge. Aufeis fields, defined as the substrate on which aufeis form and the overlaying ice, have been studied to mitigate impacts on engineering structures; however, ecological characteristics and functions of aufeis fields are poorly understood. The perennial springs that supply warm water to aufeis fields create unique fluvial habitats, and are thought to act as winter and summer oases for biota. To investigate ecosystem function, we measured whole-stream metabolism at the Kuparuk River Aufeis (North Slope, AK), a large ( 5 km2) field composed of cobble substrate and predominately subsurface flow dynamics. The single-station open channel diel oxygen method was utilized at several dissolved oxygen (DO) stations located within and downstream of the aufeis field. DO loggers were installed in August 2016, and data downloaded summer 2017. Daily ecosystem respiration (ER), gross primary production (GPP) and reaeration rates were modeled using BASE, a package freely available in the open-source software R. Preliminary results support net heterotrophy during a two-week period of DO measurements in the fall season when minimum ice extent is observed. GPP, ER, and net metabolism are greater at the upstream reach near the spring source (P/R = 0.53), and decrease as flow moves downstream. As flow exits the aufeis field, surface and subsurface flow are incorporated into the metabolism model, and indicate the stream system becomes dependent on autochthonous production (P/R = 0.91). Current work is directed towards spring and summer discharge and metabolic parameter estimation, which is associated with maximum ice extent and rapid melting of the aufeis feature.

Use of large-scale multi-configuration EMI measurements to characterize heterogeneous subsurface structures and their impact on crop productivity

Science.gov (United States)

Brogi, Cosimo; Huisman, Johan Alexander; Kaufmann, Manuela Sarah; von Hebel, Christian; van der Kruk, Jan; Vereecken, Harry

2017-04-01

Soil subsurface structures can play a key role in crop performance, especially during water stress periods. Geophysical techniques like electromagnetic induction EMI have been shown to be able of providing information about dominant shallow subsurface features. However, previous work with EMI has typically not reached beyond the field scale. The objective of this study is to use large-scale multi-configuration EMI to characterize patterns of soil structural organization (layering and texture) and the associated impact on crop vegetation at the km2 scale. For this, we carried out an intensive measurement campaign and collected high spatial resolution multi-configuration EMI data on an agricultural area of approx. 1 km2 (102 ha) near Selhausen (North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany) with a maximum depth of investigation of around 2.5 m. We measured using two EMI instruments simultaneously with a total of nine coil configurations. The instruments were placed inside polyethylene sleds that were pulled by an all-terrain-vehicle along parallel lines with a spacing of 2 to 2.5 m. The driving speed was between 5 and 7 km h-1 and we used a 0.2 Hz sampling frequency to obtain an in-line resolution of approximately 0.3 m. The survey area consists of almost 50 different fields managed in different way. The EMI measurements were collected between April and December 2016 within a few days after the harvest of each field. After data acquisition, EMI data were automatically filtered, temperature corrected, and interpolated onto a common grid. The resulting EMI maps allowed us to identify three main areas with different subsurface heterogeneities. The differences between these areas are likely related to the late quaternary geological history (Pleistocene and Holocene) of the area that resulted in spatially variable soil texture and layering, which has a strong impact on spatio-temporal soil water content variability. The high resolution surveys also allowed us to identify small scale

On-site wastewater treatment using subsurface flow constructed wetlands in Ireland.

Science.gov (United States)

Gill, Laurence W; O'Luanaigh, Niall; Johnston, Paul M

2011-01-01

The results from an Irish EPA-funded project on the effectiveness of using constructed wetlands for treating wastewater from single households is presented, which has contributed to the design guidelines included in the new EPA Code of Practice. Three subsurface flow gravel-filled wetlands were constructed on separate sites--one to provide secondary treatment and the other two to provide tertiary treatment stages for the domestic effluent. A comprehensive analysis over three years was then conducted to provide a robust characterization of the internal dynamics of the systems, particularly with respect to N and P removal as well as evaluating the temporal water balance across the different seasons. The removal of Total N was only 29% and 30% in the secondary and tertiary treatment wetlands, respectively; particularly disappointing for the tertiary treatment process, which was receiving nitrified effluent. Studies on the (15)N stable isotope confirmed that 35% of the ammonium from the septic tank was passing straight through the process without taking part in any biogeochemical processes. However, influent N in the wetlands was shown to be biologically assimilated into organic nitrogen and then released again as soluble ammonium--so-called nitrogen "spiraling." Removal of Total P in the wetlands averaged from 28% to 45% with higher P removals measured during summer periods, although the effluent concentrations were still found to be high (> 5 mg/l on average). The phosphorus in the plant material was also analysed revealing that the annual above-ground stem matter only accounted for 1.3% to 8.4% of the annual total P-load in the wetlands. Finally, the water balance analyses showed that the mean flow discharging from both the secondary and tertiary treatment wetlands was slightly greater than the mean flow to the reed bed over the trial period, with rainfall acting to increase flows by 13% and 5%, respectively, on average in winter while just about balancing

The thermal impact of subsurface building structures on urban groundwater resources - A paradigmatic example.

Science.gov (United States)

Epting, Jannis; Scheidler, Stefan; Affolter, Annette; Borer, Paul; Mueller, Matthias H; Egli, Lukas; García-Gil, Alejandro; Huggenberger, Peter

2017-10-15

Shallow subsurface thermal regimes in urban areas are increasingly impacted by anthropogenic activities, which include infrastructure development like underground traffic lines as well as industrial and residential subsurface buildings. In combination with the progressive use of shallow geothermal energy systems, this results in the so-called subsurface urban heat island effect. This article emphasizes the importance of considering the thermal impact of subsurface structures, which commonly is underestimated due to missing information and of reliable subsurface temperature data. Based on synthetic heat-transport models different settings of the urban environment were investigated, including: (1) hydraulic gradients and conductivities, which result in different groundwater flow velocities; (2) aquifer properties like groundwater thickness to aquitard and depth to water table; and (3) constructional features, such as building depths and thermal properties of building structures. Our results demonstrate that with rising groundwater flow velocities, the heat-load from building structures increase, whereas down-gradient groundwater temperatures decrease. Thermal impacts on subsurface resources therefore have to be related to the permeability of aquifers and hydraulic boundary conditions. In regard to the urban settings of Basel, Switzerland, flow velocities of around 1 md -1 delineate a marker where either down-gradient temperature deviations or heat-loads into the subsurface are more relevant. Furthermore, no direct thermal influence on groundwater resources should be expected for aquifers with groundwater thicknesses larger 10m and when the distance of the building structure to the groundwater table is higher than around 10m. We demonstrate that measuring temperature changes down-gradient of subsurface structures is insufficient overall to assess thermal impacts, particularly in urban areas. Moreover, in areas which are densely urbanized, and where groundwater flow

A multiscale fixed stress split iterative scheme for coupled flow and poromechanics in deep subsurface reservoirs

Science.gov (United States)

Dana, Saumik; Ganis, Benjamin; Wheeler, Mary F.

2018-01-01

In coupled flow and poromechanics phenomena representing hydrocarbon production or CO2 sequestration in deep subsurface reservoirs, the spatial domain in which fluid flow occurs is usually much smaller than the spatial domain over which significant deformation occurs. The typical approach is to either impose an overburden pressure directly on the reservoir thus treating it as a coupled problem domain or to model flow on a huge domain with zero permeability cells to mimic the no flow boundary condition on the interface of the reservoir and the surrounding rock. The former approach precludes a study of land subsidence or uplift and further does not mimic the true effect of the overburden on stress sensitive reservoirs whereas the latter approach has huge computational costs. In order to address these challenges, we augment the fixed-stress split iterative scheme with upscaling and downscaling operators to enable modeling flow and mechanics on overlapping nonmatching hexahedral grids. Flow is solved on a finer mesh using a multipoint flux mixed finite element method and mechanics is solved on a coarse mesh using a conforming Galerkin method. The multiscale operators are constructed using a procedure that involves singular value decompositions, a surface intersections algorithm and Delaunay triangulations. We numerically demonstrate the convergence of the augmented scheme using the classical Mandel's problem solution.

Optimal Control of Partially Miscible Two-Phase Flow with Applications to Subsurface CO2 Sequestration

KAUST Repository

Simon, Moritz; Ulbrich, Michael

2013-01-01

Motivated by applications in subsurface CO2 sequestration, we investigate constrained optimal control problems with partially miscible two-phase flow in porous media. The objective is, e.g., to maximize the amount of trapped CO2 in an underground reservoir after a fixed period of CO2 injection, where the time-dependent injection rates in multiple wells are used as control parameters. We describe the governing two-phase two-component Darcy flow PDE system and formulate the optimal control problem. For the discretization we use a variant of the BOX method, a locally conservative control-volume FE method. The timestep-wise Lagrangian of the control problem is implemented as a functional in the PDE toolbox Sundance, which is part of the HPC software Trilinos. The resulting MPI parallelized Sundance state and adjoint solvers are linked to the interior point optimization package IPOPT. Finally, we present some numerical results in a heterogeneous model reservoir.

Scaled Experimental Modeling of VHTR Plenum Flows

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

ICONE 15

2007-04-01

Abstract The Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR) is the leading candidate for the Next Generation Nuclear Power (NGNP) Project in the U.S. which has the goal of demonstrating the production of emissions free electricity and hydrogen by 2015. Various scaled heated gas and water flow facilities were investigated for modeling VHTR upper and lower plenum flows during the decay heat portion of a pressurized conduction-cooldown scenario and for modeling thermal mixing and stratification (“thermal striping”) in the lower plenum during normal operation. It was concluded, based on phenomena scaling and instrumentation and other practical considerations, that a heated water flow scale model facility is preferable to a heated gas flow facility and to unheated facilities which use fluids with ranges of density to simulate the density effect of heating. For a heated water flow lower plenum model, both the Richardson numbers and Reynolds numbers may be approximately matched for conduction-cooldown natural circulation conditions. Thermal mixing during normal operation may be simulated but at lower, but still fully turbulent, Reynolds numbers than in the prototype. Natural circulation flows in the upper plenum may also be simulated in a separate heated water flow facility that uses the same plumbing as the lower plenum model. However, Reynolds number scaling distortions will occur at matching Richardson numbers due primarily to the necessity of using a reduced number of channels connected to the plenum than in the prototype (which has approximately 11,000 core channels connected to the upper plenum) in an otherwise geometrically scaled model. Experiments conducted in either or both facilities will meet the objectives of providing benchmark data for the validation of codes proposed for NGNP designs and safety studies, as well as providing a better understanding of the complex flow phenomena in the plenums.

Modeling Subsurface Behavior at the System Level: Considerations and a Path Forward

Science.gov (United States)

Geesey, G.

2005-12-01

The subsurface is an obscure but essential resource to life on Earth. It is an important region for carbon production and sequestration, a source and reservoir for energy, minerals and metals and potable water. There is a growing need to better understand subsurface possesses that control the exploitation and security of these resources. Our best models often fail to predict these processes at the field scale because of limited understanding of 1) the processes and the controlling parameters, 2) how processes are coupled at the field scale 3) geological heterogeneities that control hydrological, geochemical and microbiological processes at the field scale and 4) lack of data sets to calibrate and validate numerical models. There is a need for experimental data obtained at scales larger than those obtained at the laboratory bench that take into account the influence of hydrodynamics, geochemical reactions including complexation and chelation/adsorption/precipitation/ion exchange/oxidation-reduction/colloid formation and dissolution, and reactions of microbial origin. Furthermore, the coupling of each of these processes and reactions needs to be evaluated experimentally at a scale that produces data that can be used to calibrate numerical models so that they accurately describe field scale system behavior. Establishing the relevant experimental scale for collection of data from coupled processes remains a challenge and will likely be process-dependent and involve iterations of experimentation and data collection at different intermediate scales until the models calibrated with the appropriate date sets achieve an acceptable level of performance. Assuming that the geophysicists will soon develop technologies to define geological heterogeneities over a wide range of scales in the subsurface, geochemists need to continue to develop techniques to remotely measure abiotic reactions, while geomicrobiologists need to continue their development of complementary technologies

High Resolution ground penetrating radar (GPR) measurements at the laboratory scale to model porosity and permeability in the Miami Limestone in South Florida.

Science.gov (United States)

Mount, G. J.; Comas, X.

2015-12-01

Subsurface water flow within the Biscayne aquifer is controlled by the heterogeneous distribution of porosity and permeability in the karst Miami Limestone and the presence of numerous dissolution and mega-porous features. The dissolution features and other high porosity areas can create preferential flow paths and direct recharge to the aquifer, which may not be accurately conceptualized in groundwater flow models. As hydrologic conditions are undergoing restoration in the Everglades, understanding the distribution of these high porosity areas within the subsurface would create a better understanding of subsurface flow. This research utilizes ground penetrating radar to estimate the spatial variability of porosity and dielectric permittivity of the Miami Limestone at centimeter scale resolution at the laboratory scale. High frequency GPR antennas were used to measure changes in electromagnetic wave velocity through limestone samples under varying volumetric water contents. The Complex Refractive Index Model (CRIM) was then applied in order to estimate porosity and dielectric permittivity of the solid phase of the limestone. Porosity estimates ranged from 45.2-66.0% from the CRIM model and correspond well with estimates of porosity from analytical and digital image techniques. Dielectric permittivity values of the limestone solid phase ranged from 7.0 and 13.0, which are similar to values in the literature. This research demonstrates the ability of GPR to identify the cm scale spatial variability of aquifer properties that influence subsurface water flow which could have implications for groundwater flow models in the Biscayne and potentially other shallow karst aquifers.

Asymptotic scalings of developing curved pipe flow

Science.gov (United States)

Ault, Jesse; Chen, Kevin; Stone, Howard

2015-11-01

Asymptotic velocity and pressure scalings are identified for the developing curved pipe flow problem in the limit of small pipe curvature and high Reynolds numbers. The continuity and Navier-Stokes equations in toroidal coordinates are linearized about Dean's analytical curved pipe flow solution (Dean 1927). Applying appropriate scaling arguments to the perturbation pressure and velocity components and taking the limits of small curvature and large Reynolds number yields a set of governing equations and boundary conditions for the perturbations, independent of any Reynolds number and pipe curvature dependence. Direct numerical simulations are used to confirm these scaling arguments. Fully developed straight pipe flow is simulated entering a curved pipe section for a range of Reynolds numbers and pipe-to-curvature radius ratios. The maximum values of the axial and secondary velocity perturbation components along with the maximum value of the pressure perturbation are plotted along the curved pipe section. The results collapse when the scaling arguments are applied. The numerically solved decay of the velocity perturbation is also used to determine the entrance/development lengths for the curved pipe flows, which are shown to scale linearly with the Reynolds number.

Effect of wettability on scale-up of multiphase flow from core-scale to reservoir fine-grid-scale

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chang, Y.C.; Mani, V.; Mohanty, K.K. [Univ. of Houston, TX (United States)

1997-08-01

Typical field simulation grid-blocks are internally heterogeneous. The objective of this work is to study how the wettability of the rock affects its scale-up of multiphase flow properties from core-scale to fine-grid reservoir simulation scale ({approximately} 10{prime} x 10{prime} x 5{prime}). Reservoir models need another level of upscaling to coarse-grid simulation scale, which is not addressed here. Heterogeneity is modeled here as a correlated random field parameterized in terms of its variance and two-point variogram. Variogram models of both finite (spherical) and infinite (fractal) correlation length are included as special cases. Local core-scale porosity, permeability, capillary pressure function, relative permeability functions, and initial water saturation are assumed to be correlated. Water injection is simulated and effective flow properties and flow equations are calculated. For strongly water-wet media, capillarity has a stabilizing/homogenizing effect on multiphase flow. For small variance in permeability, and for small correlation length, effective relative permeability can be described by capillary equilibrium models. At higher variance and moderate correlation length, the average flow can be described by a dynamic relative permeability. As the oil wettability increases, the capillary stabilizing effect decreases and the deviation from this average flow increases. For fractal fields with large variance in permeability, effective relative permeability is not adequate in describing the flow.

The effects of spatial heterogeneity and subsurface lateral transfer on evapotranspiration estimates in large scale Earth system models

Science.gov (United States)

Rouholahnejad, E.; Fan, Y.; Kirchner, J. W.; Miralles, D. G.

2017-12-01

Most Earth system models (ESM) average over considerable sub-grid heterogeneity in land surface properties, and overlook subsurface lateral flow. This could potentially bias evapotranspiration (ET) estimates and has implications for future temperature predictions, since overestimations in ET imply greater latent heat fluxes and potential underestimation of dry and warm conditions in the context of climate change. Here we quantify the bias in evaporation estimates that may arise from the fact that ESMs average over considerable heterogeneity in surface properties, and also neglect lateral transfer of water across the heterogeneous landscapes at global scale. We use a Budyko framework to express ET as a function of P and PET to derive simple sub-grid closure relations that quantify how spatial heterogeneity and lateral transfer could affect average ET as seen from the atmosphere. We show that averaging over sub-grid heterogeneity in P and PET, as typical Earth system models do, leads to overestimation of average ET. Our analysis at global scale shows that the effects of sub-grid heterogeneity will be most pronounced in steep mountainous areas where the topographic gradient is high and where P is inversely correlated with PET across the landscape. In addition, we use the Total Water Storage (TWS) anomaly estimates from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) remote sensing product and assimilate it into the Global Land Evaporation Amsterdam Model (GLEAM) to correct for existing free drainage lower boundary condition in GLEAM and quantify whether, and how much, accounting for changes in terrestrial storage can improve the simulation of soil moisture and regional ET fluxes at global scale.

Fate of estrone in laboratory-scale constructed wetlands

Science.gov (United States)

A horizontal, subsurface, laboratory-scale constructed wetland (CW) consisting of four cells in series was used to determine the attenuation of the steroid hormone estrone (E1) present in animal wastewater. Liquid swine manure diluted 1:80 with farm pond water and dosed with [14C]E1 flowed through ...

An electrical resistivity-based method for investigation of subsurface structure

Science.gov (United States)

Alves Meira Neto, A.; Litwin, D.; Troch, P. A. A.; Ferre, T. P. A.

2017-12-01

Resolving the spatial distribution of soil porosity within the subsurface is of great importance for understanding flow and transport within heterogeneous media. Additionally, porosity patterns can be associated with the availability of water and carbon dioxide that will drive geochemical reactions and constrain microbiological growth. The use of controlled experimentation has the potential to circumvent problems related to the external and internal variability of natural systems, while also allowing a higher degree of observability. In this study, we suggest an ERT-based method of retrieving porosity fields based on the application of Archie's law associated with an experimental procedure that can be used in laboratory-scale studies. We used a 2 cubic meter soil lysimeter, equipped with 238 electrodes distributed along its walls for testing the method. The lysimeter serves as a scaled-down version of the highly monitored artificial hillslopes at the Landscape Evolution Observatory (LEO) located at Biosphere 2 - University of Arizona. The capability of the ERT system in deriving spatially distributed patterns of porosity with respect to its several sources of uncertainty was numerically evaluated. The results will be used to produce an optimal experimental design and for assessing the reliability of experimental results. This novel approach has the potential to further resolve subsurface heterogeneity within the LEO project, and highlight the use of ERT-derived results for hydro-bio-geochemical studies.

Recharge and Lateral Groundwater Flow Boundary Conditions for the Saturated Zone Site-Scale Flow and Transport Model

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

B. Arnold; T. Corbet

2001-12-18

The purpose of the flow boundary conditions analysis is to provide specified-flux boundary conditions for the saturated zone (SZ) site-scale flow and transport model. This analysis is designed to use existing modeling and analysis results as the basis for estimated groundwater flow rates into the SZ site-scale model domain, both as recharge at the upper (water table) boundary and as underflow at the lateral boundaries. The objective is to provide consistency at the boundaries between the SZ site-scale flow model and other groundwater flow models. The scope of this analysis includes extraction of the volumetric groundwater flow rates simulated by the SZ regional-scale flow model to occur at the lateral boundaries of the SZ site-scale flow model and the internal qualification of the regional-scale model for use in this analysis model report (AMR). In addition, the scope includes compilation of information on the recharge boundary condition taken from three sources: (1) distributed recharge as taken from the SZ regional-scale flow model, (2) recharge below the area of the unsaturated zone (UZ) site-scale flow model, and (3) focused recharge along the Fortymile Wash channel.

Field experiments with subsurface releases of oil and and dyed water

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rye, H.; Brandvik, P.J.; Strom, T.

1998-01-01

A field experiment with a subsurface release of oil and air was carried out in June 1996 close to the Frigg Field in the North Sea area. One of the purposes of this sea trial was to increase the knowledge concerning the behaviour of the oil and gas during a subsurface blowout. This was done by releasing oil and air at 106 meters depth with a realistic gas oil ratio (GOR=67) and release velocity of the oil. In addition to the oil release, several releases with dyed water and gas (GOR=7 - 65) were performed. Important and unique data were collected during these subsurface releases. In particular, the experiments with the dyed water releases combined with air turned out to be an efficient way of obtaining field data for the behaviour of subsurface plumes. The main conclusions from analysis for the data collected are: the field methodology used to study blowout releases in the field appears to be appropriate. The use of dyed water to determine the performance of the subsurface plume proved out to be an efficient way to obtain reliable and useful data. The behaviour of the subsurface plume is very sensitive to gas flow rates. For low gas flow rates, the plume did not reach the sea surface at all due to the presence of stratification in the ambient water. Some discrepancies were found between a numerical model for subsurface releases and field results. These discrepancies are pointed out, and recommendations for possible model improvements are given. (author)

Data assimilation in optimizing and integrating soil and water quality water model predictions at different scales

Science.gov (United States)

Relevant data about subsurface water flow and solute transport at relatively large scales that are of interest to the public are inherently laborious and in most cases simply impossible to obtain. Upscaling in which fine-scale models and data are used to predict changes at the coarser scales is the...

Scaling Relations for Viscous and Gravitational Flow Instabilities in Multiphase Multicomponent Compressible Flow

Science.gov (United States)

Moortgat, J.; Amooie, M. A.; Soltanian, M. R.

2016-12-01

Problems in hydrogeology and hydrocarbon reservoirs generally involve the transport of solutes in a single solvent phase (e.g., contaminants or dissolved injection gas), or the flow of multiple phases that may or may not exchange mass (e.g., brine, NAPL, oil, gas). Often, flow is viscously and gravitationally unstable due to mobility and density contrasts within a phase or between phases. Such instabilities have been studied in detail for single-phase incompressible fluids and for two-phase immiscible flow, but to a lesser extent for multiphase multicomponent compressible flow. The latter is the subject of this presentation. Robust phase stability analyses and phase split calculations, based on equations of state, determine the mass exchange between phases and the resulting phase behavior, i.e., phase densities, viscosities, and volumes. Higher-order finite element methods and fine grids are used to capture the small-scale onset of flow instabilities. A full matrix of composition dependent coefficients is considered for each Fickian diffusive phase flux. Formation heterogeneity can have a profound impact and is represented by realistic geostatistical models. Qualitatively, fingering in multiphase compositional flow is different from single-phase problems because 1) phase mobilities depend on rock wettability through relative permeabilities, and 2) the initial density and viscosity ratios between phases may change due to species transfer. To quantify mixing rates in different flow regimes and for varying degrees of miscibility and medium heterogeneities, we define the spatial variance, scalar dissipation rate, dilution index, skewness, and kurtosis of the molar density of introduced species. Molar densities, unlike compositions, include compressibility effects. The temporal evolution of these measures shows that, while transport at the small-scale (cm) is described by the classical advection-diffusion-dispersion relations, scaling at the macro-scale (> 10 m) shows

Nitrogen removal and its relationship with the nitrogen-cycle genes and microorganisms in the horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands with different design parameters.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Jun; Ying, Guang-Guo; Liu, You-Sheng; Wei, Xiao-Dong; Liu, Shuang-Shuang; He, Liang-Ying; Yang, Yong-Qiang; Chen, Fan-Rong

2017-07-03

This study aims to investigate nitrogen removal and its relationship with the nitrogen-cycle genes and microorganisms in the horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands (CWs) with different design parameters. Twelve mesocosm-scale CWs with four substrates and three hydraulic loading rates were set up in the outdoor. The result showed the CWs with zeolite as substrate and HLR of 20 cm/d were selected as the best choice for the TN and NH 3 -N removal. It was found that the single-stage mesocosm-scale CWs were incapable to achieve high removals of TN and NH 3 -N due to inefficient nitrification process in the systems. This was demonstrated by the lower abundance of the nitrification genes (AOA and AOB) than the denitrification genes (nirK and nirS), and the less diverse nitrification microorganisms than the denitrification microorganisms in the CWs. The results also show that microorganism community structure including nitrogen-cycle microorganisms in the constructed wetland systems was affected by the design parameters especially the substrate type. These findings show that nitrification is a limiting factor for the nitrogen removal by CWs.

Clustered iterative stochastic ensemble method for multi-modal calibration of subsurface flow models

KAUST Repository

Elsheikh, Ahmed H.

2013-05-01

A novel multi-modal parameter estimation algorithm is introduced. Parameter estimation is an ill-posed inverse problem that might admit many different solutions. This is attributed to the limited amount of measured data used to constrain the inverse problem. The proposed multi-modal model calibration algorithm uses an iterative stochastic ensemble method (ISEM) for parameter estimation. ISEM employs an ensemble of directional derivatives within a Gauss-Newton iteration for nonlinear parameter estimation. ISEM is augmented with a clustering step based on k-means algorithm to form sub-ensembles. These sub-ensembles are used to explore different parts of the search space. Clusters are updated at regular intervals of the algorithm to allow merging of close clusters approaching the same local minima. Numerical testing demonstrates the potential of the proposed algorithm in dealing with multi-modal nonlinear parameter estimation for subsurface flow models. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.

Transport of Chemical Vapors from Subsurface Sources to Atmosphere as Affected by Shallow Subsurface and Atmospheric Conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Rice, A. K.; Smits, K. M.; Hosken, K.; Schulte, P.; Illangasekare, T. H.

2012-12-01

Understanding the movement and modeling of chemical vapor through unsaturated soil in the shallow subsurface when subjected to natural atmospheric thermal and mass flux boundary conditions at the land surface is of importance to applications such as landmine detection and vapor intrusion into subsurface structures. New, advanced technologies exist to sense chemical signatures at the land/atmosphere interface, but interpretation of these sensor signals to make assessment of source conditions remains a challenge. Chemical signatures are subject to numerous interactions while migrating through the unsaturated soil environment, attenuating signal strength and masking contaminant source conditions. The dominant process governing movement of gases through porous media is often assumed to be Fickian diffusion through the air phase with minimal or no quantification of other processes contributing to vapor migration, such as thermal diffusion, convective gas flow due to the displacement of air, expansion/contraction of air due to temperature changes, temporal and spatial variations of soil moisture and fluctuations in atmospheric pressure. Soil water evaporation and interfacial mass transfer add to the complexity of the system. The goal of this work is to perform controlled experiments under transient conditions of soil moisture, temperature and wind at the land/atmosphere interface and use the resulting dataset to test existing theories on subsurface gas flow and iterate between numerical modeling efforts and experimental data. Ultimately, we aim to update conceptual models of shallow subsurface vapor transport to include conditionally significant transport processes and inform placement of mobile sensors and/or networks. We have developed a two-dimensional tank apparatus equipped with a network of sensors and a flow-through head space for simulation of the atmospheric interface. A detailed matrix of realistic atmospheric boundary conditions was applied in a series of

Factors Influencing the Sahelian Paradox at the Local Watershed Scale: Causal Inference Insights

Science.gov (United States)

Van Gordon, M.; Groenke, A.; Larsen, L.

2017-12-01

While the existence of paradoxical rainfall-runoff and rainfall-groundwater correlations are well established in the West African Sahel, the hydrologic mechanisms involved are poorly understood. In pursuit of mechanistic explanations, we perform a causal inference analysis on hydrologic variables in three watersheds in Benin and Niger. Using an ensemble of techniques, we compute the strength of relationships between observational soil moisture, runoff, precipitation, and temperature data at seasonal and event timescales. Performing analysis over a range of time lags allows dominant time scales to emerge from the relationships between variables. By determining the time scales of hydrologic connectivity over vertical and lateral space, we show differences in the importance of overland and subsurface flow over the course of the rainy season and between watersheds. While previous work on the paradoxical hydrologic behavior in the Sahel focuses on surface processes and infiltration, our results point toward the importance of subsurface flow to rainfall-runoff relationships in these watersheds. The hypotheses generated from our ensemble approach suggest that subsequent explorations of mechanistic hydrologic processes in the region include subsurface flow. Further, this work highlights how an ensemble approach to causal analysis can reveal nuanced relationships between variables even in poorly understood hydrologic systems.

Contaminant geochemistry. Interactions and transport in the subsurface environment. 2. ed.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Berkowitz, Brian; Dror, Ishai; Yaron, Bruno [Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot (Israel). Dept. of Earth and Planetary Sciences

2014-07-01

In this updated and expanded second edition, new literature has been added on contaminant fate in the soil-subsurface environment. In particular, more data on the behavior of inorganic contaminants and on engineered nanomaterials were included, the latter comprising a group of ''emerging contaminants'' that may reach the soil and subsurface zones. New chapters are devoted to a new perspective of contaminant geochemistry, namely irreversible changes in pristine land and subsurface systems following chemical contamination. Two chapters were added on this topic, focusing attention on the impact of chemical contaminants on the matrix and properties of both liquid and solid phases of soil and subsurface domains. Contaminant impacts on irreversible changes occurring in groundwater are discussed and their irreversible changes on the porous medium solid phase are surveyed. In contrast to the geological time scale controlling natural changes of porous media liquid and solid phases, the time scale associated with chemical pollutant induced changes is far shorter and extends over a ''human lifetime scale''.

STRUCTURAL HETEROGENEITIES AND PALEO FLUID FLOW IN AN ANALOG SANDSTONE RESERVOIR 2001-2004

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pollard, David; Aydin, Atilla

2005-01-01

Fractures and faults are brittle structural heterogeneities that can act both as conduits and barriers with respect to fluid flow in rock. This range in the hydraulic effects of fractures and faults greatly complicates the challenges faced by geoscientists working on important problems: from groundwater aquifer and hydrocarbon reservoir management, to subsurface contaminant fate and transport, to underground nuclear waste isolation, to the subsurface sequestration of CO2 produced during fossil-fuel combustion. The research performed under DOE grant DE-FG03-94ER14462 aimed to address these challenges by laying a solid foundation, based on detailed geological mapping, laboratory experiments, and physical process modeling, on which to build our interpretive and predictive capabilities regarding the structure, patterns, and fluid flow properties of fractures and faults in sandstone reservoirs. The material in this final technical report focuses on the period of the investigation from July 1, 2001 to October 31, 2004. The Aztec Sandstone at the Valley of Fire, Nevada, provides an unusually rich natural laboratory in which exposures of joints, shear deformation bands, compaction bands and faults at scales ranging from centimeters to kilometers can be studied in an analog for sandstone aquifers and reservoirs. The suite of structures there has been documented and studied in detail using a combination of low-altitude aerial photography, outcrop-scale mapping and advanced computational analysis. In addition, chemical alteration patterns indicative of multiple paleo fluid flow events have been mapped at outcrop, local and regional scales. The Valley of Fire region has experienced multiple episodes of fluid flow and this is readily evident in the vibrant patterns of chemical alteration from which the Valley of Fire derives its name. We have successfully integrated detailed field and petrographic observation and analysis, process-based mechanical modeling, and numerical

Nested sparse grid collocation method with delay and transformation for subsurface flow and transport problems

Science.gov (United States)

Liao, Qinzhuo; Zhang, Dongxiao; Tchelepi, Hamdi

2017-06-01

In numerical modeling of subsurface flow and transport problems, formation properties may not be deterministically characterized, which leads to uncertainty in simulation results. In this study, we propose a sparse grid collocation method, which adopts nested quadrature rules with delay and transformation to quantify the uncertainty of model solutions. We show that the nested Kronrod-Patterson-Hermite quadrature is more efficient than the unnested Gauss-Hermite quadrature. We compare the convergence rates of various quadrature rules including the domain truncation and domain mapping approaches. To further improve accuracy and efficiency, we present a delayed process in selecting quadrature nodes and a transformed process for approximating unsmooth or discontinuous solutions. The proposed method is tested by an analytical function and in one-dimensional single-phase and two-phase flow problems with different spatial variances and correlation lengths. An additional example is given to demonstrate its applicability to three-dimensional black-oil models. It is found from these examples that the proposed method provides a promising approach for obtaining satisfactory estimation of the solution statistics and is much more efficient than the Monte-Carlo simulations.

Subsurface Biogeochemical Research FY11 Second Quarter Performance Measure

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Scheibe, Timothy D.

2011-03-31

The Subsurface Biogeochemical Research (SBR) Long Term Measure for 2011 under the Performance Assessment Rating Tool (PART) measure is to "Refine subsurface transport models by developing computational methods to link important processes impacting contaminant transport at smaller scales to the field scale." The second quarter performance measure is to "Provide a report on computational methods linking genome-enabled understanding of microbial metabolism with reactive transport models to describe processes impacting contaminant transport in the subsurface." Microorganisms such as bacteria are by definition small (typically on the order of a micron in size), and their behavior is controlled by their local biogeochemical environment (typically within a single pore or a biofilm on a grain surface, on the order of tens of microns in size). However, their metabolic activity exerts strong influence on the transport and fate of groundwater contaminants of significant concern at DOE sites, in contaminant plumes with spatial extents of meters to kilometers. This report describes progress and key findings from research aimed at integrating models of microbial metabolism based on genomic information (small scale) with models of contaminant fate and transport in aquifers (field scale).

Groundwater flow analysis on local scale. Setting boundary conditions for groundwater flow analysis on site scale model in step 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ohyama, Takuya; Saegusa, Hiromitsu; Onoe, Hironori

2005-05-01

Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute has been conducting a wide range of geoscientific research in order to build a foundation for multidisciplinary studies of the deep geological environment as a basis of research and development for geological disposal of nuclear wastes. Ongoing geoscientific research programs include the Regional Hydrogeological Study (RHS) project and Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory (MIU) project in the Tono region, Gifu Prefecture. The main goal of these projects is to establish comprehensive techniques for investigation, analysis, and assessment of the deep geological environment at several spatial scales. The RHS project is a local scale study for understanding the groundwater flow system from the recharge area to the discharge area. The surface-based Investigation Phase of the MIU project is a site scale study for understanding the groundwater flow system immediately surrounding the MIU construction site. The MIU project is being conducted using a multiphase, iterative approach. In this study, the hydrogeological modeling and groundwater flow analysis of the local scale were carried out in order to set boundary conditions of the site scale model based on the data obtained from surface-based investigations in Step 1 in site scale of the MIU project. As a result of the study, head distribution to set boundary conditions for groundwater flow analysis on the site scale model could be obtained. (author)

Simulation of flow in dual-scale porous media

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Hua

Liquid composite molding (LCM) is one of the most effective processes for manufacturing near net-shaped parts from fiber-reinforced polymer composites. The quality of LCM products and the efficiency of the process depend strongly on the wetting of fiber preforms during the mold-filling stage of LCM. Mold-filling simulation is a very effective approach to optimize the LCM process and mold design. Recent studies have shown that the flow modeling for the single-scale fiber preforms (made from random mats) has difficulties in accurately predicting the wetting in the dual-scale fiber preforms (made from woven and stitched fabrics); the latter are characterized by the presence of unsaturated flow created due to two distinct length-scales of pores (i.e., large pores outside the tows and small pores inside the tows) in the same media. In this study, we first develop a method to evaluate the accuracy of the permeability-measuring devices for LCM, and conduct a series of 1-D mold-filling experiments for different dual-scale fabrics. The volume averaging method is then applied to derive the averaged governing equations for modeling the macroscopic flow through the dual-scale fabrics. The two sets of governing equations are coupled with each other through the sink terms representing the absorptions of mass, energy, and species (degree of resin cure) from the global flow by the local fiber tows. The finite element method (FEM) coupled with the control volume method, also known as the finite element/control volume (FE/CV) method, is employed to solve the governing equations and track the moving boundary signifying the moving liquid-front. The numerical computations are conducted with the help of an in-house developed computer program called PORE-FLOW(c). We develop the flux-corrected transport (FCT) based FEM to stabilize the convection-dominated energy and species equations. A fast methodology is proposed to simulate the dual-scale flow under isothermal conditions, where flow

Subsurface stormflow modeling with sensitivity analysis using a Latin-hypercube sampling technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gwo, J.P.; Toran, L.E.; Morris, M.D.; Wilson, G.V.

1994-09-01

Subsurface stormflow, because of its dynamic and nonlinear features, has been a very challenging process in both field experiments and modeling studies. The disposal of wastes in subsurface stormflow and vadose zones at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, however, demands more effort to characterize these flow zones and to study their dynamic flow processes. Field data and modeling studies for these flow zones are relatively scarce, and the effect of engineering designs on the flow processes is poorly understood. On the basis of a risk assessment framework and a conceptual model for the Oak Ridge Reservation area, numerical models of a proposed waste disposal site were built, and a Latin-hypercube simulation technique was used to study the uncertainty of model parameters. Four scenarios, with three engineering designs, were simulated, and the effectiveness of the engineering designs was evaluated. Sensitivity analysis of model parameters suggested that hydraulic conductivity was the most influential parameter. However, local heterogeneities may alter flow patterns and result in complex recharge and discharge patterns. Hydraulic conductivity, therefore, may not be used as the only reference for subsurface flow monitoring and engineering operations. Neither of the two engineering designs, capping and French drains, was found to be effective in hydrologically isolating downslope waste trenches. However, pressure head contours indicated that combinations of both designs may prove more effective than either one alone

Modelling shallow landslide susceptibility by means of a subsurface flow path connectivity index and estimates of soil depth spatial distribution

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Lanni

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Topographic index-based hydrological models have gained wide use to describe the hydrological control on the triggering of rainfall-induced shallow landslides at the catchment scale. A common assumption in these models is that a spatially continuous water table occurs simultaneously across the catchment. However, during a rainfall event isolated patches of subsurface saturation form above an impeding layer and their hydrological connectivity is a necessary condition for lateral flow initiation at a point on the hillslope.

Here, a new hydrological model is presented, which allows us to account for the concept of hydrological connectivity while keeping the simplicity of the topographic index approach. A dynamic topographic index is used to describe the transient lateral flow that is established at a hillslope element when the rainfall amount exceeds a threshold value allowing for (a development of a perched water table above an impeding layer, and (b hydrological connectivity between the hillslope element and its own upslope contributing area. A spatially variable soil depth is the main control of hydrological connectivity in the model. The hydrological model is coupled with the infinite slope stability model and with a scaling model for the rainfall frequency–duration relationship to determine the return period of the critical rainfall needed to cause instability on three catchments located in the Italian Alps, where a survey of soil depth spatial distribution is available. The model is compared with a quasi-dynamic model in which the dynamic nature of the hydrological connectivity is neglected. The results show a better performance of the new model in predicting observed shallow landslides, implying that soil depth spatial variability and connectivity bear a significant control on shallow landsliding.

Chemotaxis and flow disorder shape microbial dispersion in porous media

Science.gov (United States)

De Anna, Pietro; Yawata, Yutaka; Stocker, Roman; Juanes, Ruben

2017-04-01

Bacteria drive a plethora of natural processes in the subsurface, consuming organic matter and catalysing chemical reactions that are key to global elemental cycles. These macro-scale consequences result from the collective action of individual bacteria at the micro-scale, which are modulated by the highly heterogeneous subsurface environment, dominated by flow disorder and strong chemical gradients. Yet, despite the generally recognized importance of these microscale processes, microbe-host medium interaction at the pore scale remain poorly characterized and understood. Here, we introduce a microfluidic model system to directly image and quantify the role of cell motility on bacterial dispersion and residence time in confined, porous, media. Using the soil-dwelling bacterium Bacillus subtilis and the common amino acid serine as a resource, we observe that chemotaxis in highly disordered and confined physico-chemical environment affords bacteria an increase in their ability to persistently occupy the host medium. Our findings illustrate that the interplay between bacterial behaviour and pore-scale disorder in fluid velocity and nutrient concentration directly impacts the residence time, transport and bio-geo-chemical transformation rates of biota in the subsurface, and thus likely the processes they mediate.

STOMP, Subsurface Transport Over Multiple Phases, theory guide

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

White, M.D.; Oostrom, M.

1996-10-01

This guide describes the simulator's governing equations, constitutive functions and numerical solution algorithms of the STOMP (Subsurface Transport Over Multiple Phases) simulator, a scientific tool for analyzing multiple phase subsurface flow and transport. The STOMP simulator's fundamental purpose is to produce numerical predictions of thermal and hydrologic flow and transport phenomena in variably saturated subsurface environments, which are contaminated with volatile or nonvolatile organic compounds. Auxiliary applications include numerical predictions of solute transport processes including radioactive chain decay processes. In writing these guides for the STOMP simulator, the authors have assumed that the reader comprehends concepts and theories associated with multiple-phase hydrology, heat transfer, thermodynamics, radioactive chain decay, and nonhysteretic relative permeability, saturation-capillary pressure constitutive functions. The authors further assume that the reader is familiar with the computing environment on which they plan to compile and execute the STOMP simulator. The STOMP simulator requires an ANSI FORTRAN 77 compiler to generate an executable code. The memory requirements for executing the simulator are dependent on the complexity of physical system to be modeled and the size and dimensionality of the computational domain. Likewise execution speed depends on the problem complexity, size and dimensionality of the computational domain, and computer performance. One-dimensional problems of moderate complexity can be solved on conventional desktop computers, but multidimensional problems involving complex flow and transport phenomena typically require the power and memory capabilities of workstation or mainframe type computer systems

Sub-surface laser nanostructuring in stratified metal/dielectric media: a versatile platform towards flexible, durable and large-scale plasmonic writing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Siozios, A; Bellas, D V; Lidorikis, E; Patsalas, P; Kalfagiannis, N; Cranton, W M; Koutsogeorgis, D C; Bazioti, C; Dimitrakopulos, G P; Vourlias, G

2015-01-01

Laser nanostructuring of pure ultrathin metal layers or ceramic/metal composite thin films has emerged as a promising route for the fabrication of plasmonic patterns with applications in information storage, cryptography, and security tagging. However, the environmental sensitivity of pure Ag layers and the complexity of ceramic/metal composite film growth hinder the implementation of this technology to large-scale production, as well as its combination with flexible substrates. In the present work we investigate an alternative pathway, namely, starting from non-plasmonic multilayer metal/dielectric layers, whose growth is compatible with large scale production such as in-line sputtering and roll-to-roll deposition, which are then transformed into plasmonic templates by single-shot UV-laser annealing (LA). This entirely cold, large-scale process leads to a subsurface nanoconstruction involving plasmonic Ag nanoparticles (NPs) embedded in a hard and inert dielectric matrix on top of both rigid and flexible substrates. The subsurface encapsulation of Ag NPs provides durability and long-term stability, while the cold character of LA suits the use of sensitive flexible substrates. The morphology of the final composite film depends primarily on the nanocrystalline character of the dielectric host and its thermal conductivity. We demonstrate the emergence of a localized surface plasmon resonance, and its tunability depending on the applied fluence and environmental pressure. The results are well explained by theoretical photothermal modeling. Overall, our findings qualify the proposed process as an excellent candidate for versatile, large-scale optical encoding applications. (paper)

MSTS - Multiphase Subsurface Transport Simulator theory manual

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

White, M.D.; Nichols, W.E.

1993-05-01

The US Department of Energy, through the Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Project Office, has designated the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada for detailed study as the candidate US geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. Site characterization will determine the suitability of the Yucca Mountain site for the potential waste repository. If the site is determined suitable, subsequent studies and characterization will be conducted to obtain authorization from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to construct the potential waste repository. A principal component of the characterization and licensing processes involves numerically predicting the thermal and hydrologic response of the subsurface environment of the Yucca Mountain site to the potential repository over a 10,000-year period. The thermal and hydrologic response of the subsurface environment to the repository is anticipated to include complex processes of countercurrent vapor and liquid migration, multiple-phase heat transfer, multiple-phase transport, and geochemical reactions. Numerical simulators based on mathematical descriptions of these subsurface phenomena are required to make numerical predictions of the thermal and hydrologic response of the Yucca Mountain subsurface environment The engineering simulator called the Multiphase Subsurface Transport Simulator (MSTS) was developed at the request of the Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Project Office to produce numerical predictions of subsurface flow and transport phenomena at the potential Yucca Mountain site. This document delineates the design architecture and describes the specific computational algorithms that compose MSTS. Details for using MSTS and sample problems are given in the open-quotes User's Guide and Referenceclose quotes companion document

Scaling of wet granular flows in a rotating drum

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jarray Ahmed

2017-01-01

Full Text Available In this work, we investigate the effect of capillary forces and particle size on wet granular flows and we propose a scaling methodology that ensures the conservation of the bed flow. We validate the scaling law experimentally by using different size glass beads with tunable capillary forces. The latter is obtained using mixtures of ethanol-water as interstitial liquid and by increasing the hydrophobicity of glass beads with an ad-hoc silanization procedure. The scaling methodology in the flow regimes considered (slipping, slumping and rolling yields similar bed flow for different particle sizes including the angle of repose that normally increases when decreasing the particle size.

Reconstruction of a constructed wetland with horizontal subsurface flow after 18 years of operation.

Science.gov (United States)

Hudcová, Tereza; Vymazal, Jan; Dunajský, Michal Kriška

2013-01-01

The constructed wetland (CW) for 326 PE with horizontal subsurface flow at Kotenčice, Central Bohemia, Czech Republic, was built in 1994. Despite the relatively high efficiency of the CW, the filtration beds suffered from clogging, and therefore it was decided in 2011 to rebuild the whole system. The new treatment system was built as an experimental system consisting of four different combinations of horizontal and vertical beds. The major aim of the design was to determine the best hybrid combination which then could be used in the future for refurbishment of older horizontal flow CWs or for the new systems. The mechanical pretreatment consists of mechanical bar screens, a new Imhoff tank, and the original settling tank which has been converted into the accumulation tank from where the wastewater is pumped into the wetlands. The filters are planted with Phragmites australis, Phalaris arundinacea, Iris pseudacorus, Iris sibirica, Glyceria maxima and Lythrum salicaria in order to evaluate and compare various plant species' effect on the treatment process. The new technology includes a tertiary treatment which consists of a greenhouse with a photo-reactor for the cultivation of algae and hydroponic systems (residual nutrients removal), sludge reed-beds and a composting field.

Continuous 'Passive' Registration of Non-Point Contaminant Loads Via Agricultural Subsurface Drain Tubes

Science.gov (United States)

Rozemeijer, J.; Jansen, S.; de Jonge, H.; Lindblad Vendelboe, A.

2014-12-01

Considering their crucial role in water and solute transport, enhanced monitoring and modeling of agricultural subsurface tube drain systems is important for adequate water quality management. For example, previous work in lowland agricultural catchments has shown that subsurface tube drain effluent contributed up to 80% of the annual discharge and 90-92% of the annual NO3 loads from agricultural fields towards the surface water. However, existing monitoring techniques for flow and contaminant loads from tube drains are expensive and labor-intensive. Therefore, despite the unambiguous relevance of this transport route, tube drain monitoring data are scarce. The presented study aimed developing a cheap, simple, and robust method to monitor loads from tube drains. We are now ready to introduce the Flowcap that can be attached to the outlet of tube drains and is capable of registering total flow, contaminant loads, and flow-averaged concentrations. The Flowcap builds on the existing SorbiCells, a modern passive sampling technique that measures average concentrations over longer periods of time (days to months) for various substances. By mounting SorbiCells in our Flowcap, a flow-proportional part of the drain effluent is sampled from the main stream. Laboratory testing yielded good linear relations (R-squared of 0.98) between drainage flow rates and sampling rates. The Flowcap was tested in practice for measuring NO3 loads from two agricultural fields and one glasshouse in the Netherlands. The Flowcap registers contaminant loads from tube drains without any need for housing, electricity, or maintenance. This enables large-scale monitoring of non-point contaminant loads via tube drains, which would facilitate the improvement of contaminant transport models and would yield valuable information for the selection and evaluation of mitigation options to improve water quality.

Molecular Simulation towards Efficient and Representative Subsurface Reservoirs Modeling

KAUST Repository

Kadoura, Ahmad Salim

2016-01-01

This dissertation focuses on the application of Monte Carlo (MC) molecular simulation and Molecular Dynamics (MD) in modeling thermodynamics and flow of subsurface reservoir fluids. At first, MC molecular simulation is proposed as a promising method

A Finite Difference, Semi-implicit, Equation-of-State Efficient Algorithm for the Compositional Flow Modeling in the Subsurface: Numerical Examples

KAUST Repository

Saavedra, Sebastian

2012-07-01

The mathematical model that has been recognized to have the more accurate approximation to the physical laws govern subsurface hydrocarbon flow in reservoirs is the Compositional Model. The features of this model are adequate to describe not only the performance of a multiphase system but also to represent the transport of chemical species in a porous medium. Its importance relies not only on its current relevance to simulate petroleum extraction processes, such as, Primary, Secondary, and Enhanced Oil Recovery Process (EOR) processes but also, in the recent years, carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration. The purpose of this study is to investigate the subsurface compositional flow under isothermal conditions for several oil well cases. While simultaneously addressing computational implementation finesses to contribute to the efficiency of the algorithm. This study provides the theoretical framework and computational implementation subtleties of an IMplicit Pressure Explicit Composition (IMPEC)-Volume-balance (VB), two-phase, equation-of-state, approach to model isothermal compositional flow based on the finite difference scheme. The developed model neglects capillary effects and diffusion. From the phase equilibrium premise, the model accounts for volumetric performances of the phases, compressibility of the phases, and composition-dependent viscosities. The Equation of State (EoS) employed to approximate the hydrocarbons behaviour is the Peng Robinson Equation of State (PR-EOS). Various numerical examples were simulated. The numerical results captured the complex physics involved, i.e., compositional, gravitational, phase-splitting, viscosity and relative permeability effects. Regarding the numerical scheme, a phase-volumetric-flux estimation eases the calculation of phase velocities by naturally fitting to phase-upstream-upwinding. And contributes to a faster computation and an efficient programming development.

Characterizing subsurface water flow to artificial drain lines using fiber-optic distributed temperature sensing

Science.gov (United States)

Shults, D.; Brooks, E. S.; Heinse, R.; Keller, C. K.

2017-12-01

Over the last several years growers have experienced increasingly wet spring conditions in the Palouse Region located in North Idaho, Eastern Washington and Eastern Oregon. As a result more artificial drain lines are being installed so growers can access their fields earlier in the growing season. Additionally there has been increasing adoption of no-tillage practices among growers in order minimize erosion and runoff in the region. There is a growing body of evidence that suggests long-term no-tillage may lead to the establishment of large macropore networks through increased earthworm activity and the preservation of root channels. These macropore networks, in conjunctions with the presence of artificial drains lines, may create connected preferential flow paths from agricultural fields to receiving streams. This connectivity of flow paths from agricultural fields to receiving water bodies may increase the loading of nutrients and agricultural chemicals as some flow paths may largely bypass soil matrix interaction where materials can be sequestered. Our primary objective for this study was to characterize subsurface flow to two artificial drain lines, one under conventional tillage and the other under no-tillage, using distributed temperature sensing (DTS) technology. During the study (November 2016-April 2017) the near surface soil-water temperature was consistently colder than that of deeper depths. Temperature was thus used as a tracer as snow melt and soil-water moved from the near surface to the drain lines during snowmelt and precipitation events. The spatial and temporal variability of the temperature along the artificial drain line under no-tillage practices was found to be greater than that of the conventional tilled field. It is hypothesized that preferential flow paths are responsible for the increased variability of temperature seen in the drain line under long term no-till management. The temperature along the conventional till drain line showed a

Enhanced recovery of subsurface geological structures using compressed sensing and the Ensemble Kalman filter

KAUST Repository

Sana, Furrukh

2015-07-26

Recovering information on subsurface geological features, such as flow channels, holds significant importance for optimizing the productivity of oil reservoirs. The flow channels exhibit high permeability in contrast to low permeability rock formations in their surroundings, enabling formulation of a sparse field recovery problem. The Ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) is a widely used technique for the estimation of subsurface parameters, such as permeability. However, the EnKF often fails to recover and preserve the channel structures during the estimation process. Compressed Sensing (CS) has shown to significantly improve the reconstruction quality when dealing with such problems. We propose a new scheme based on CS principles to enhance the reconstruction of subsurface geological features by transforming the EnKF estimation process to a sparse domain representing diverse geological structures. Numerical experiments suggest that the proposed scheme provides an efficient mechanism to incorporate and preserve structural information in the estimation process and results in significant enhancement in the recovery of flow channel structures.

Enhanced recovery of subsurface geological structures using compressed sensing and the Ensemble Kalman filter

KAUST Repository

Sana, Furrukh; Katterbauer, Klemens; Al-Naffouri, Tareq Y.; Hoteit, Ibrahim

2015-01-01

Recovering information on subsurface geological features, such as flow channels, holds significant importance for optimizing the productivity of oil reservoirs. The flow channels exhibit high permeability in contrast to low permeability rock formations in their surroundings, enabling formulation of a sparse field recovery problem. The Ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) is a widely used technique for the estimation of subsurface parameters, such as permeability. However, the EnKF often fails to recover and preserve the channel structures during the estimation process. Compressed Sensing (CS) has shown to significantly improve the reconstruction quality when dealing with such problems. We propose a new scheme based on CS principles to enhance the reconstruction of subsurface geological features by transforming the EnKF estimation process to a sparse domain representing diverse geological structures. Numerical experiments suggest that the proposed scheme provides an efficient mechanism to incorporate and preserve structural information in the estimation process and results in significant enhancement in the recovery of flow channel structures.

Modeling Phosphorus Losses through Surface Runoff and Subsurface Drainage Using ICECREAM.

Science.gov (United States)

Qi, Hongkai; Qi, Zhiming; Zhang, T Q; Tan, C S; Sadhukhan, Debasis

2018-03-01

Modeling soil phosphorus (P) losses by surface and subsurface flow pathways is essential in developing successful strategies for P pollution control. We used the ICECREAM model to simultaneously simulate P losses in surface and subsurface flow, as well as to assess effectiveness of field practices in reducing P losses. Monitoring data from a mineral-P-fertilized clay loam field in southwestern Ontario, Canada, were used for calibration and validation. After careful adjustment of model parameters, ICECREAM was shown to satisfactorily simulate all major processes of surface and subsurface P losses. When the calibrated model was used to assess tillage and fertilizer management scenarios, results point to a 10% reduction in total P losses by shifting autumn tillage to spring, and a 25.4% reduction in total P losses by injecting fertilizer rather than broadcasting. Although the ICECREAM model was effective in simulating surface and subsurface P losses when thoroughly calibrated, further testing is needed to confirm these results with manure P application. As illustrated here, successful use of simulation models requires careful verification of model routines and comprehensive calibration to ensure that site-specific processes are accurately represented. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

Final Technical Report. Origins of subsurface microorganisms: Relating laboratory microcosm studies to a geologic time scale; FINAL

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kieft, Thomas; Amy, Penny S.; Phillips, Fred M.

1998-01-01

This project was conducted as part of the Department of Energy's Deep Subsurface Science Program. It was part of a larger effort to determine the origins of subsurface microorganisms. Two hypotheses have been suggested for the origins of subsurface microorganisms: (1) microorganisms were deposited at the time of (or shortly after) geologic deposition of rocks and sediments (the in situ survival hypothesis), and (2) microorganisms have been transported from surface environments to subsurface rocks and sediments since the time of geologic deposition (transport hypothesis). These two hypotheses are not mutually exclusive. Depending on the geological setting, either one or both of these hypotheses may best explain microbial origins. Our project focused on the in situ survival hypothesis. We tested the hypothesis that microorganisms (individuals populations and communities) can survive long-term sequestration within subsurface sediments. Other objectives were to identify geologic conditions that favor long-term survival, identify physiological traits of microorganisms that favor long-term survival, and determine which groups of microorganisms are most likely to survive long-term sequestration in subsurface sediments. We tested this hypothesis using a combination of pure culture techniques in laboratory microcosms under controlled conditions and field experiments with buried subsurface sediments

Tile drainage as karst: Conduit flow and diffuse flow in a tile-drained watershed

Science.gov (United States)

Schilling, K.E.; Helmers, M.

2008-01-01

The similarity of tiled-drained watersheds to karst drainage basins can be used to improve understanding of watershed-scale nutrient losses from subsurface tile drainage networks. In this study, short-term variations in discharge and chemistry were examined from a tile outlet collecting subsurface tile flow from a 963 ha agricultural watershed. Study objectives were to apply analytical techniques from karst springs to tile discharge to evaluate water sources and estimate the loads of agricultural pollutants discharged from the tile with conduit, intermediate and diffuse flow regimes. A two-member mixing model using nitrate, chloride and specific conductance was used to distinguish rainwater versus groundwater inputs. Results indicated that groundwater comprised 75% of the discharge for a three-day storm period and rainwater was primarily concentrated during the hydrograph peak. A contrasting pattern of solute concentrations and export loads was observed in tile flow. During base flow periods, tile flow consisted of diffuse flow from groundwater sources and contained elevated levels of nitrate, chloride and specific conductance. During storm events, suspended solids and pollutants adhered to soil surfaces (phosphorus, ammonium and organic nitrogen) were concentrated and discharged during the rapid, conduit flow portion of the hydrograph. During a three-day period, conduit flow occurred for 5.6% of the time but accounted for 16.5% of the total flow. Nitrate and chloride were delivered primarily with diffuse flow (more than 70%), whereas 80-94% of total suspended sediment, phosphorus and ammonium were exported with conduit and intermediate flow regimes. Understanding the water sources contributing to tile drainage and the manner by which pollutant discharge occurs from these systems (conduit, intermediate or diffuse flow) may be useful for designing, implementing and evaluating non-point source reduction strategies in tile-drained landscapes. ?? 2007 Elsevier B.V. All

Mass-flux subgrid-scale parameterization in analogy with multi-component flows: a formulation towards scale independence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J.-I. Yano

2012-11-01

Full Text Available A generalized mass-flux formulation is presented, which no longer takes a limit of vanishing fractional areas for subgrid-scale components. The presented formulation is applicable to a~situation in which the scale separation is still satisfied, but fractional areas occupied by individual subgrid-scale components are no longer small. A self-consistent formulation is presented by generalizing the mass-flux formulation under the segmentally-constant approximation (SCA to the grid–scale variabilities. The present formulation is expected to alleviate problems arising from increasing resolutions of operational forecast models without invoking more extensive overhaul of parameterizations.

The present formulation leads to an analogy of the large-scale atmospheric flow with multi-component flows. This analogy allows a generality of including any subgrid-scale variability into the mass-flux parameterization under SCA. Those include stratiform clouds as well as cold pools in the boundary layer.

An important finding under the present formulation is that the subgrid-scale quantities are advected by the large-scale velocities characteristic of given subgrid-scale components (large-scale subcomponent flows, rather than by the total large-scale flows as simply defined by grid-box average. In this manner, each subgrid-scale component behaves as if like a component of multi-component flows. This formulation, as a result, ensures the lateral interaction of subgrid-scale variability crossing the grid boxes, which are missing in the current parameterizations based on vertical one-dimensional models, and leading to a reduction of the grid-size dependencies in its performance. It is shown that the large-scale subcomponent flows are driven by large-scale subcomponent pressure gradients. The formulation, as a result, furthermore includes a self-contained description of subgrid-scale momentum transport.

The main purpose of the present paper

Multiphase, multicomponent simulations and experiments of reactive flow, relevant for combining geologic CO2 sequestration with geothermal energy capture

Science.gov (United States)

Saar, Martin O.

2011-11-01

Understanding the fluid dynamics of supercritical carbon dioxide (CO2) in brine- filled porous media is important for predictions of CO2 flow and brine displacement during geologic CO2 sequestration and during geothermal energy capture using sequestered CO2 as the subsurface heat extraction fluid. We investigate multiphase fluid flow in porous media employing particle image velocimetry experiments and lattice-Boltzmann fluid flow simulations at the pore scale. In particular, we are interested in the motion of a drop (representing a CO2 bubble) through an orifice in a plate, representing a simplified porous medium. In addition, we study single-phase/multicomponent reactive transport experimentally by injecting water with dissolved CO2 into rocks/sediments typically considered for CO2 sequestration to investigate how resultant fluid-mineral reactions modify permeability fields. Finally, we investigate numerically subsurface CO2 and heat transport at the geologic formation scale.

Scaling of peak flows with constant flow velocity in random self-similar networks

Science.gov (United States)

Troutman, Brent M.; Mantilla, Ricardo; Gupta, Vijay K.

2011-01-01

A methodology is presented to understand the role of the statistical self-similar topology of real river networks on scaling, or power law, in peak flows for rainfall-runoff events. We created Monte Carlo generated sets of ensembles of 1000 random self-similar networks (RSNs) with geometrically distributed interior and exterior generators having parameters pi and pe, respectively. The parameter values were chosen to replicate the observed topology of real river networks. We calculated flow hydrographs in each of these networks by numerically solving the link-based mass and momentum conservation equation under the assumption of constant flow velocity. From these simulated RSNs and hydrographs, the scaling exponents β and φ characterizing power laws with respect to drainage area, and corresponding to the width functions and flow hydrographs respectively, were estimated. We found that, in general, φ > β, which supports a similar finding first reported for simulations in the river network of the Walnut Gulch basin, Arizona. Theoretical estimation of β and φ in RSNs is a complex open problem. Therefore, using results for a simpler problem associated with the expected width function and expected hydrograph for an ensemble of RSNs, we give heuristic arguments for theoretical derivations of the scaling exponents β(E) and φ(E) that depend on the Horton ratios for stream lengths and areas. These ratios in turn have a known dependence on the parameters of the geometric distributions of RSN generators. Good agreement was found between the analytically conjectured values of β(E) and φ(E) and the values estimated by the simulated ensembles of RSNs and hydrographs. The independence of the scaling exponents φ(E) and φ with respect to the value of flow velocity and runoff intensity implies an interesting connection between unit hydrograph theory and flow dynamics. Our results provide a reference framework to study scaling exponents under more complex scenarios

Preferential transport of isoproturon at a plot scale and a field scale tile-drained site

Science.gov (United States)

Zehe, Erwin; Flühler, Hannes

2001-06-01

Irrigation experiments using the tracers Brilliant Blue (BB) and Bromide (Br) were conducted on three plots of 1.4×1.4 m 2 (plot scale) and a field scale subsurface drained test site (900 m 2) to clarify mechanisms causing rapid transport of surface applied Isoproturon (IPU) during preferential flow events. One of the small plots (site 10) and the field scale test site are located on the same field. One day after irrigation of the plot scale sites the Br and IPU concentration in two vertical soil profiles as well as the macroporousity on separate profiles and hydraulic properties of single macropores were determined. During irrigation of the field scale test site discharge, soil moisture as well as the concentration of IPU and Br in the drainage outlet were measured. Preferential flow in deep penetrating earthworm burrows caused a fast breakthrough of IPU and Br into the tile drain (1.2 m depth) at the field scale site as well as leaching of IPU into the subsoil (>0.8 m) at site 10. The results suggest a hierarchy of preconditions for the occurrence of preferential flow events of which a sufficient number of deep penetrating macropores interconnected to the soil surface seems to be the most important one. Moreover there is evidence that facilitated transport of IPU attached to mobile soil particles occurred during the preferential flow events at the field scale site and site 10. The susceptibility for preferential flow as well as the susceptibility for facilitated transport appear to be intrinsic properties of the investigated soil.

Reverse flow through a large scale multichannel nozzle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Duignan, M.R.; Nash, C.A.

1992-01-01

A database was developed for the flow of water through a scaled nozzle of a Savannah River Site reactor inlet plenum. The water flow in the nozzle was such that it ranged from stratified to water solid conditions. Data on the entry of air into the nozzle and plenum as a function of water flow are of interest in loss-of-coolant studies. The scaled nozzle was 44 cm long, had an entrance diameter of 95 mm, an exit opening of 58 mm x 356 mm, and an exit hydraulic diameter approximately equal to that of the inlet. Within the nozzle were three flow-straightening vanes which divided the flow path into four channels. All data were taken at steady-state and isothermal (300 K ± 1.5 K) conditions. During the reverse flow of water through the nozzle the point at which air begins to enter was predicted within 90% by a critical weir-flow calculation. The point of air entry into the plenum itself was found to be a function of flow conditions

Wastewater treatment in horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands using different media (setup stage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abdel Razik A. Zidan

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Wastewater treatment through horizontal subsurface flow (HSSF constructed wetlands (CWs using three different treatment media (gravel, pieces of plastic pipes, and shredded tire rubber chips were investigated in Samaha village, Dakahliya, Egypt. The study focused on the wetland setup stage during the first months of its operation (setup stage. In this stage media porosity, bacterial biofilm, and plant roots growth were in progress and it was prior to the operational steady state stage. Objectives of this paper are to study the change in media porosity of HSSF wetland cells in order to estimate duration of wetland setup stage, and to evaluate the use of different bed media on biological oxygen demand (BOD, chemical oxygen demand (COD and total suspended solids (TSS treatment. The results showed that after 180 days of operation, the wetland cells had reached steady porosity and had started stable treatment. Also performance of plastic media bed in pollutants reduction was better than gravel and rubber beds and gravel media was in advanced than rubber media.

Hybrid nested sampling algorithm for Bayesian model selection applied to inverse subsurface flow problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Elsheikh, Ahmed H.; Wheeler, Mary F.; Hoteit, Ibrahim

2014-01-01

A Hybrid Nested Sampling (HNS) algorithm is proposed for efficient Bayesian model calibration and prior model selection. The proposed algorithm combines, Nested Sampling (NS) algorithm, Hybrid Monte Carlo (HMC) sampling and gradient estimation using Stochastic Ensemble Method (SEM). NS is an efficient sampling algorithm that can be used for Bayesian calibration and estimating the Bayesian evidence for prior model selection. Nested sampling has the advantage of computational feasibility. Within the nested sampling algorithm, a constrained sampling step is performed. For this step, we utilize HMC to reduce the correlation between successive sampled states. HMC relies on the gradient of the logarithm of the posterior distribution, which we estimate using a stochastic ensemble method based on an ensemble of directional derivatives. SEM only requires forward model runs and the simulator is then used as a black box and no adjoint code is needed. The developed HNS algorithm is successfully applied for Bayesian calibration and prior model selection of several nonlinear subsurface flow problems

Hybrid nested sampling algorithm for Bayesian model selection applied to inverse subsurface flow problems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Elsheikh, Ahmed H., E-mail: aelsheikh@ices.utexas.edu [Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences (ICES), University of Texas at Austin, TX (United States); Institute of Petroleum Engineering, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS (United Kingdom); Wheeler, Mary F. [Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences (ICES), University of Texas at Austin, TX (United States); Hoteit, Ibrahim [Department of Earth Sciences and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal (Saudi Arabia)

2014-02-01

A Hybrid Nested Sampling (HNS) algorithm is proposed for efficient Bayesian model calibration and prior model selection. The proposed algorithm combines, Nested Sampling (NS) algorithm, Hybrid Monte Carlo (HMC) sampling and gradient estimation using Stochastic Ensemble Method (SEM). NS is an efficient sampling algorithm that can be used for Bayesian calibration and estimating the Bayesian evidence for prior model selection. Nested sampling has the advantage of computational feasibility. Within the nested sampling algorithm, a constrained sampling step is performed. For this step, we utilize HMC to reduce the correlation between successive sampled states. HMC relies on the gradient of the logarithm of the posterior distribution, which we estimate using a stochastic ensemble method based on an ensemble of directional derivatives. SEM only requires forward model runs and the simulator is then used as a black box and no adjoint code is needed. The developed HNS algorithm is successfully applied for Bayesian calibration and prior model selection of several nonlinear subsurface flow problems.

Hybrid nested sampling algorithm for Bayesian model selection applied to inverse subsurface flow problems

KAUST Repository

Elsheikh, Ahmed H.

2014-02-01

A Hybrid Nested Sampling (HNS) algorithm is proposed for efficient Bayesian model calibration and prior model selection. The proposed algorithm combines, Nested Sampling (NS) algorithm, Hybrid Monte Carlo (HMC) sampling and gradient estimation using Stochastic Ensemble Method (SEM). NS is an efficient sampling algorithm that can be used for Bayesian calibration and estimating the Bayesian evidence for prior model selection. Nested sampling has the advantage of computational feasibility. Within the nested sampling algorithm, a constrained sampling step is performed. For this step, we utilize HMC to reduce the correlation between successive sampled states. HMC relies on the gradient of the logarithm of the posterior distribution, which we estimate using a stochastic ensemble method based on an ensemble of directional derivatives. SEM only requires forward model runs and the simulator is then used as a black box and no adjoint code is needed. The developed HNS algorithm is successfully applied for Bayesian calibration and prior model selection of several nonlinear subsurface flow problems. © 2013 Elsevier Inc.

Groundwater flow simulation on local scale. Setting boundary conditions of groundwater flow simulation on site scale model in the step 4

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Onoe, Hironori; Saegusa, Hiromitsu; Ohyama, Takuya

2007-03-01

Japan Atomic Energy Agency has been conducting a wide range of geoscientific research in order to build a foundation for multidisciplinary studies of the deep geological environment as a basis of research and development for geological disposal of nuclear wastes. Ongoing geoscientific research programs include the Regional Hydrogeological Study (RHS) project and Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory (MIU) project in the Tono region, Gifu Prefecture. The main goal of these projects is to establish comprehensive techniques for investigation, analysis, and assessment of the deep geological at several spatial scales. The RHS project is a Local scale study for understanding the groundwater flow system from the recharge area to the discharge area. The Surface-based Investigation Phase of the MIU project is a Site scale study for understanding the deep geological environment immediately surrounding the MIU construction site using a multiphase, iterative approach. In this study, the hydrogeological modeling and groundwater flow simulation on Local scale were carried out in order to set boundary conditions of the Site scale model based on the data obtained from surface-based investigations in the Step4 in Site scale of the MIU project. As a result of the study, boundary conditions for groundwater flow simulation on the Site scale model of the Step4 could be obtained. (author)

Influence of Si wafer thinning processes on (sub)surface defects

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Inoue, Fumihiro, E-mail: fumihiro.inoue@imec.be [Imec, Kapeldreef 75, 3001 Leuven (Belgium); Jourdain, Anne; Peng, Lan; Phommahaxay, Alain; De Vos, Joeri; Rebibis, Kenneth June; Miller, Andy; Sleeckx, Erik; Beyne, Eric [Imec, Kapeldreef 75, 3001 Leuven (Belgium); Uedono, Akira [Division of Applied Physics, Faculty of Pure and Applied Science, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8573 (Japan)

2017-05-15

Highlights: • Mono-vacancy free Si-thinning can be accomplished by combining several thinning techniques. • The grinding damage needs to be removed prior to dry etching, otherwise vacancies remain in the Si at a depth around 0.5 to 2 μm after Si wafer thickness below 5 μm. • The surface of grinding + CMP + dry etching is equivalent mono vacancy level as that of grinding + CMP. - Abstract: Wafer-to-wafer three-dimensional (3D) integration with minimal Si thickness can produce interacting multiple devices with significantly scaled vertical interconnections. Realizing such a thin 3D structure, however, depends critically on the surface and subsurface of the remaining backside Si after the thinning processes. The Si (sub)surface after mechanical grinding has already been characterized fruitfully for a range of few dozen of μm. Here, we expand the characterization of Si (sub)surface to 5 μm thickness after thinning process on dielectric bonded wafers. The subsurface defects and damage layer were investigated after grinding, chemical mechanical polishing (CMP), wet etching and plasma dry etching. The (sub)surface defects were characterized using transmission microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and positron annihilation spectroscopy. Although grinding provides the fastest removal rate of Si, the surface roughness was not compatible with subsequent processing. Furthermore, mechanical damage such as dislocations and amorphous Si cannot be reduced regardless of Si thickness and thin wafer handling systems. The CMP after grinding showed excellent performance to remove this grinding damage, even though the removal amount is 1 μm. For the case of Si thinning towards 5 μm using grinding and CMP, the (sub)surface is atomic scale of roughness without vacancy. For the case of grinding + dry etch, vacancy defects were detected in subsurface around 0.5–2 μm. The finished surface after wet etch remains in the nm scale in the strain region. By inserting a CMP step in

Reversing flow causes passive shark scale actuation in a separating turbulent boundary layer

Science.gov (United States)

Lang, Amy; Gemmell, Bradford; Motta, Phil; Habegger, Laura; Du Clos, Kevin; Devey, Sean; Stanley, Caleb; Santos, Leo

2017-11-01

Control of flow separation by shortfin mako skin in experiments has been demonstrated, but the mechanism is still poorly understood yet must be to some extent Re independent. The hypothesized mechanisms inherent in the shark skin for controlling flow separation are: (1) the scales, which are capable of being bristled only by reversing flow, inhibit flow reversal events from further development into larger-scale separation and (2) the cavities formed when scales bristle induces mixing of high momentum flow towards the wall thus energizing the flow close to the surface. Two studies were carried out to measure passive scale actuation caused by reversing flow. A small flow channel induced an unsteady, wake flow over the scales prompting reversing flow events and scale actuation. To resolve the flow and scale movements simultaneously we used specialized optics at high magnification (1 mm field of view) at 50,000 fps. In another study, 3D printed models of shark scales, or microflaps (bristling capability up to 50 degrees), were set into a flat plate. Using a tripped, turbulent boundary layer grown over the long flat plate and a localized adverse pressure gradient, a separation bubble was generated within which the microflaps were placed. Passive flow actuation of both shark scales and microflaps by reversing flow was observed. Funding from Army Research Office and NSF REU site Grant.

RELAPS choked flow model and application to a large scale flow test

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ransom, V.H.; Trapp, J.A.

1980-01-01

The RELAP5 code was used to simulate a large scale choked flow test. The fluid system used in the test was modeled in RELAP5 using a uniform, but coarse, nodalization. The choked mass discharge rate was calculated using the RELAP5 choked flow model. The calulations were in good agreement with the test data, and the flow was calculated to be near thermal equilibrium

Modeling post-wildfire hydrological processes with ParFlow

Science.gov (United States)

Escobar, I. S.; Lopez, S. R.; Kinoshita, A. M.

2017-12-01

Wildfires alter the natural processes within a watershed, such as surface runoff, evapotranspiration rates, and subsurface water storage. Post-fire hydrologic models are typically one-dimensional, empirically-based models or two-dimensional, conceptually-based models with lumped parameter distributions. These models are useful for modeling and predictions at the watershed outlet; however, do not provide detailed, distributed hydrologic processes at the point scale within the watershed. This research uses ParFlow, a three-dimensional, distributed hydrologic model to simulate post-fire hydrologic processes by representing the spatial and temporal variability of soil burn severity (via hydrophobicity) and vegetation recovery. Using this approach, we are able to evaluate the change in post-fire water components (surface flow, lateral flow, baseflow, and evapotranspiration). This work builds upon previous field and remote sensing analysis conducted for the 2003 Old Fire Burn in Devil Canyon, located in southern California (USA). This model is initially developed for a hillslope defined by a 500 m by 1000 m lateral extent. The subsurface reaches 12.4 m and is assigned a variable cell thickness to explicitly consider soil burn severity throughout the stages of recovery and vegetation regrowth. We consider four slope and eight hydrophobic layer configurations. Evapotranspiration is used as a proxy for vegetation regrowth and is represented by the satellite-based Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEBOP) product. The pre- and post-fire surface runoff, subsurface storage, and surface storage interactions are evaluated at the point scale. Results will be used as a basis for developing and fine-tuning a watershed-scale model. Long-term simulations will advance our understanding of post-fire hydrological partitioning between water balance components and the spatial variability of watershed processes, providing improved guidance for post-fire watershed management. In reference

Final Report: A Model Management System for Numerical Simulations of Subsurface Processes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zachmann, David

2013-10-07

The DOE and several other Federal agencies have committed significant resources to support the development of a large number of mathematical models for studying subsurface science problems such as groundwater flow, fate of contaminants and carbon sequestration, to mention only a few. This project provides new tools to help decision makers and stakeholders in subsurface science related problems to select an appropriate set of simulation models for a given field application.

A regional-scale ecological risk framework for environmental flow evaluations

Science.gov (United States)

O'Brien, Gordon C.; Dickens, Chris; Hines, Eleanor; Wepener, Victor; Stassen, Retha; Quayle, Leo; Fouchy, Kelly; MacKenzie, James; Graham, P. Mark; Landis, Wayne G.

2018-02-01

Environmental flow (E-flow) frameworks advocate holistic, regional-scale, probabilistic E-flow assessments that consider flow and non-flow drivers of change in a socio-ecological context as best practice. Regional-scale ecological risk assessments of multiple stressors to social and ecological endpoints, which address ecosystem dynamism, have been undertaken internationally at different spatial scales using the relative-risk model since the mid-1990s. With the recent incorporation of Bayesian belief networks into the relative-risk model, a robust regional-scale ecological risk assessment approach is available that can contribute to achieving the best practice recommendations of E-flow frameworks. PROBFLO is a holistic E-flow assessment method that incorporates the relative-risk model and Bayesian belief networks (BN-RRM) into a transparent probabilistic modelling tool that addresses uncertainty explicitly. PROBFLO has been developed to evaluate the socio-ecological consequences of historical, current and future water resource use scenarios and generate E-flow requirements on regional spatial scales. The approach has been implemented in two regional-scale case studies in Africa where its flexibility and functionality has been demonstrated. In both case studies the evidence-based outcomes facilitated informed environmental management decision making, with trade-off considerations in the context of social and ecological aspirations. This paper presents the PROBFLO approach as applied to the Senqu River catchment in Lesotho and further developments and application in the Mara River catchment in Kenya and Tanzania. The 10 BN-RRM procedural steps incorporated in PROBFLO are demonstrated with examples from both case studies. PROBFLO can contribute to the adaptive management of water resources and contribute to the allocation of resources for sustainable use of resources and address protection requirements.

Characterization of accumulated precipitates during subsurface iron removal

KAUST Repository

Van Halem, Doris

2011-01-01

The principle of subsurface iron removal for drinking water supply is that aerated water is periodically injected into the aquifer through a tube well. On its way into the aquifer, the injected O2-rich water oxidizes adsorbed Fe 2+, creating a subsurface oxidation zone. When groundwater abstraction is resumed, the soluble Fe 2+ is adsorbed and water with reduced Fe concentrations is abstracted for multiple volumes of the injection water. In this article, Fe accumulation deposits in the aquifer near subsurface treatment wells were identified and characterized to assess the sustainability of subsurface iron removal regarding clogging of the aquifer and the potential co-accumulation of other groundwater constituents, such as As. Chemical extraction of soil samples, with Acid-Oxalate and HNO3, showed that Fe had accumulated at specific depths near subsurface iron removal wells after 12 years of operation. Whether it was due to preferred flow paths or geochemical mineralogy conditions; subsurface iron removal clearly favoured certain soil layers. The total Fe content increased between 11.5 and 390.8 mmol/kg ds in the affected soil layers, and the accumulated Fe was found to be 56-100% crystalline. These results suggest that precipitated amorphous Fe hydroxides have transformed to Fe hydroxides of higher crystallinity. These crystalline, compact Fe hydroxides have not noticeably clogged the investigated well and/or aquifer between 1996 and 2008. The subsurface iron removal wells even need less frequent rehabilitation, as drawdown increases more slowly than in normal production wells. Other groundwater constituents, such as Mn, As and Sr were found to co-accumulate with Fe. Acid extraction and ESEM-EDX showed that Ca occurred together with Fe and by X-ray Powder Diffraction it was identified as calcite. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Macro-scale turbulence modelling for flows in porous media

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pinson, F.

2006-03-01

- This work deals with the macroscopic modeling of turbulence in porous media. It concerns heat exchangers, nuclear reactors as well as urban flows, etc. The objective of this study is to describe in an homogenized way, by the mean of a spatial average operator, turbulent flows in a solid matrix. In addition to this first operator, the use of a statistical average operator permits to handle the pseudo-aleatory character of turbulence. The successive application of both operators allows us to derive the balance equations of the kind of flows under study. Two major issues are then highlighted, the modeling of dispersion induced by the solid matrix and the turbulence modeling at a macroscopic scale (Reynolds tensor and turbulent dispersion). To this aim, we lean on the local modeling of turbulence and more precisely on the k - ε RANS models. The methodology of dispersion study, derived thanks to the volume averaging theory, is extended to turbulent flows. Its application includes the simulation, at a microscopic scale, of turbulent flows within a representative elementary volume of the porous media. Applied to channel flows, this analysis shows that even within the turbulent regime, dispersion remains one of the dominating phenomena within the macro-scale modeling framework. A two-scale analysis of the flow allows us to understand the dominating role of the drag force in the kinetic energy transfers between scales. Transfers between the mean part and the turbulent part of the flow are formally derived. This description significantly improves our understanding of the issue of macroscopic modeling of turbulence and leads us to define the sub-filter production and the wake dissipation. A f - f - w >f model is derived. It is based on three balance equations for the turbulent kinetic energy, the viscous dissipation and the wake dissipation. Furthermore, a dynamical predictor for the friction coefficient is proposed. This model is then successfully applied to the study of

Statistical dynamical subgrid-scale parameterizations for geophysical flows

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

O'Kane, T J; Frederiksen, J S

2008-01-01

Simulations of both atmospheric and oceanic circulations at given finite resolutions are strongly dependent on the form and strengths of the dynamical subgrid-scale parameterizations (SSPs) and in particular are sensitive to subgrid-scale transient eddies interacting with the retained scale topography and the mean flow. In this paper, we present numerical results for SSPs of the eddy-topographic force, stochastic backscatter, eddy viscosity and eddy-mean field interaction using an inhomogeneous statistical turbulence model based on a quasi-diagonal direct interaction approximation (QDIA). Although the theoretical description on which our model is based is for general barotropic flows, we specifically focus on global atmospheric flows where large-scale Rossby waves are present. We compare and contrast the closure-based results with an important earlier heuristic SSP of the eddy-topographic force, based on maximum entropy or statistical canonical equilibrium arguments, developed specifically for general ocean circulation models (Holloway 1992 J. Phys. Oceanogr. 22 1033-46). Our results demonstrate that where strong zonal flows and Rossby waves are present, such as in the atmosphere, maximum entropy arguments are insufficient to accurately parameterize the subgrid contributions due to eddy-eddy, eddy-topographic and eddy-mean field interactions. We contrast our atmospheric results with findings for the oceans. Our study identifies subgrid-scale interactions that are currently not parameterized in numerical atmospheric climate models, which may lead to systematic defects in the simulated circulations.

CO2 exsolution - challenges and opportunities in subsurface flow management

Science.gov (United States)

Zuo, Lin; Benson, Sally

2014-05-01

for storage security. Falta et al. [2013] show that if carbonated brine migrates upwards and exsolution occurs, brine migration would be greatly reduced and limited by the presence of exsolved CO2 and the consequent low relatively permeability to brine. Similarly, if an exsolved CO2 phase were to evolve in seals, for example, after CO2 injection stops, the effect would be to reduce the permeability to brine and the CO2 would have very low mobility. This flow blocking effect is also studied with water/oil/CO2 [Zuo et al., 2013]. Experiments show that exsolved CO2 performs as a secondary residual phase in porous media that effectively blocks established water flow paths and deviates water to residual oil zones, thereby increasing recovery. Overall, our studies suggest that CO2 exsolution provides an opportunity for mobility control in subsurface processes. However, the lack of simulation capability that accounts for differences between gas injection and gas exsolution creates challenges for modeling and hence, designing studies to exploit the mobility reduction capabilities of CO2 exsolution. Using traditional drainage multiphase flow parameterization in simulations involving exsolution will lead to large errors in transport rates. Development of process dependent parameterizations of multiphase flow properties will be a key next step and will help to unlock the benefits from gas exsolution. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This work is funded by the Global Climate and Energy Project (GCEP) at Stanford University. This work was also supported by U.S. EPA, Science To Achieve Results (STAR) Program, Grant #: 834383, 2010-2012. REFERENCES Falta, R., L. Zuo and S.M. Benson (2013). Migration of exsolved CO2 following depressurization of saturated brines. Journal of Greenhouse Gas Science and Technology, 3(6), 503-515. Zuo, L., S.C.M. Krevor, R.W. Falta, and S.M. Benson (2012). An experimental study of CO2 exsolution and relative permeability measurements during CO2 saturated water

Scaling of peak flows with constant flow velocity in random self-similar networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Mantilla

2011-07-01

Full Text Available A methodology is presented to understand the role of the statistical self-similar topology of real river networks on scaling, or power law, in peak flows for rainfall-runoff events. We created Monte Carlo generated sets of ensembles of 1000 random self-similar networks (RSNs with geometrically distributed interior and exterior generators having parameters p_i and p_e, respectively. The parameter values were chosen to replicate the observed topology of real river networks. We calculated flow hydrographs in each of these networks by numerically solving the link-based mass and momentum conservation equation under the assumption of constant flow velocity. From these simulated RSNs and hydrographs, the scaling exponents β and φ characterizing power laws with respect to drainage area, and corresponding to the width functions and flow hydrographs respectively, were estimated. We found that, in general, φ > β, which supports a similar finding first reported for simulations in the river network of the Walnut Gulch basin, Arizona. Theoretical estimation of β and φ in RSNs is a complex open problem. Therefore, using results for a simpler problem associated with the expected width function and expected hydrograph for an ensemble of RSNs, we give heuristic arguments for theoretical derivations of the scaling exponents β^(E and φ^(E that depend on the Horton ratios for stream lengths and areas. These ratios in turn have a known dependence on the parameters of the geometric distributions of RSN generators. Good agreement was found between the analytically conjectured values of β^(E and φ^(E and the values estimated by the simulated ensembles of RSNs and hydrographs. The independence of the scaling exponents φ^(E and φ with respect to the value of flow velocity and runoff intensity implies an interesting connection between unit

Effect of multilayer substrate configuration in horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands: assessment of treatment performance, biofilm development, and solids accumulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Ding, Yanli; Lyu, Tao; Bai, Shaoyuan; Li, Zhenling; Ding, Haijing; You, Shaohong; Xie, Qinglin

2018-01-01

This study investigates the influence of multilayer substrate configuration in horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands (HSCWs) on their treatment performance, biofilm development, and solids accumulation. Three pilot-scale HSCWs were built to treat campus sewage and have been operational for 3 years. The HSCWs included monolayer (CW1), three-layer (CW3), and six-layer (CW6) substrate configurations with hydraulic conductivity of the substrate increasing from the surface to bottom in the multilayer CWs. It was demonstrated the pollutant removal performance after a 3-year operation improved in the multilayer HSCWs (49-80%) compared to the monolayer HSCW (29-41%). Simultaneously, the multilayer HSCWs exhibited significant features that prevented clogging compared to the monolayer configuration. The amount of accumulated solids was notably higher in the monolayer CW compared to multilayer CWs. Further, multilayer HSCWs could delay clogging by providing higher biofilm development for organics removal and consequently, lesser solids accumulations. Principal component analysis strongly supported the visualization of the performance patterns in the present study and showed that multilayer substrate configuration, season, and sampling locations significantly influenced biofilm growth and solids accumulation. Finally, the present study provided important information to support the improved multilayer configured HSCW implication in the future.

Integrating experimental and numerical methods for a scenario-based quantitative assessment of subsurface energy storage options

Science.gov (United States)

Kabuth, Alina; Dahmke, Andreas; Hagrey, Said Attia al; Berta, Márton; Dörr, Cordula; Koproch, Nicolas; Köber, Ralf; Köhn, Daniel; Nolde, Michael; Tilmann Pfeiffer, Wolf; Popp, Steffi; Schwanebeck, Malte; Bauer, Sebastian

2016-04-01

Within the framework of the transition to renewable energy sources ("Energiewende"), the German government defined the target of producing 60 % of the final energy consumption from renewable energy sources by the year 2050. However, renewable energies are subject to natural fluctuations. Energy storage can help to buffer the resulting time shifts between production and demand. Subsurface geological structures provide large potential capacities for energy stored in the form of heat or gas on daily to seasonal time scales. In order to explore this potential sustainably, the possible induced effects of energy storage operations have to be quantified for both specified normal operation and events of failure. The ANGUS+ project therefore integrates experimental laboratory studies with numerical approaches to assess subsurface energy storage scenarios and monitoring methods. Subsurface storage options for gas, i.e. hydrogen, synthetic methane and compressed air in salt caverns or porous structures, as well as subsurface heat storage are investigated with respect to site prerequisites, storage dimensions, induced effects, monitoring methods and integration into spatial planning schemes. The conceptual interdisciplinary approach of the ANGUS+ project towards the integration of subsurface energy storage into a sustainable subsurface planning scheme is presented here, and this approach is then demonstrated using the examples of two selected energy storage options: Firstly, the option of seasonal heat storage in a shallow aquifer is presented. Coupled thermal and hydraulic processes induced by periodic heat injection and extraction were simulated in the open-source numerical modelling package OpenGeoSys. Situations of specified normal operation as well as cases of failure in operational storage with leaking heat transfer fluid are considered. Bench-scale experiments provided parameterisations of temperature dependent changes in shallow groundwater hydrogeochemistry. As a

Assessing coastal plain risk indices for subsurface phosphorus loss

Science.gov (United States)

Phosphorus (P) Indices are important tools for nutrient management planning in the U.S. whose evaluation often has been deemphasized in favor of research and development. Assessing P Indices in artificially drained agroecosystems is especially important, as subsurface flow is the predominant mode of...

Monitoring subsurface coal fires in Jharia coalfield using ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

ing adverse effects on the regional environment ... subsurface coal fires and to study its lateral prop- ... as is the case with the recently developed Persis- .... using Statistical-Cost, Network-Flow Algorithm ..... dence of Kolkata (Calcutta) City, India during the 1990s ... a case study in the east of France; Int. J. Remote Sens.

Characterization of accumulated precipitates during subsurface iron removal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Halem, Doris van; Vet, Weren de; Verberk, Jasper; Amy, Gary; Dijk, Hans van

2011-01-01

Research highlights: → Accumulated iron was not found to clog the well or aquifer after 12 years of subsurface iron removal. → 56-100% of accumulated iron hydroxides were found to be crystalline. → Subsurface iron removal favoured certain soil layers, either due to hydraulics or mineralogy. → Other groundwater constituents, such as manganese and arsenic were found to co-accumulate with iron. - Abstract: The principle of subsurface iron removal for drinking water supply is that aerated water is periodically injected into the aquifer through a tube well. On its way into the aquifer, the injected O 2 -rich water oxidizes adsorbed Fe 2+ , creating a subsurface oxidation zone. When groundwater abstraction is resumed, the soluble Fe 2+ is adsorbed and water with reduced Fe concentrations is abstracted for multiple volumes of the injection water. In this article, Fe accumulation deposits in the aquifer near subsurface treatment wells were identified and characterized to assess the sustainability of subsurface iron removal regarding clogging of the aquifer and the potential co-accumulation of other groundwater constituents, such as As. Chemical extraction of soil samples, with Acid-Oxalate and HNO 3 , showed that Fe had accumulated at specific depths near subsurface iron removal wells after 12 years of operation. Whether it was due to preferred flow paths or geochemical mineralogy conditions; subsurface iron removal clearly favoured certain soil layers. The total Fe content increased between 11.5 and 390.8 mmol/kg ds in the affected soil layers, and the accumulated Fe was found to be 56-100% crystalline. These results suggest that precipitated amorphous Fe hydroxides have transformed to Fe hydroxides of higher crystallinity. These crystalline, compact Fe hydroxides have not noticeably clogged the investigated well and/or aquifer between 1996 and 2008. The subsurface iron removal wells even need less frequent rehabilitation, as drawdown increases more slowly than in

Coupled modelling of subsurface water flux for an integrated flood risk management

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. Sommer

2009-07-01

Full Text Available Flood events cause significant damage not only on the surface but also underground. Infiltration of surface water into soil, flooding through the urban sewer system and, in consequence, rising groundwater are the main causes of subsurface damage. The modelling of flooding events is an important part of flood risk assessment. The processes of subsurface discharge of infiltrated water necessitate coupled modelling tools of both, surface and subsurface water fluxes. Therefore, codes for surface flooding, for discharge in the sewerage system and for groundwater flow were coupled with each other. A coupling software was used to amalgamate the individual programs in terms of mapping between the different model geometries, time synchronization and data exchange. The coupling of the models was realized on two scales in the Saxon capital of Dresden (Germany. As a result of the coupled modelling it could be shown that surface flooding dominates processes of any flood event. Compared to flood simulations without coupled modelling no substantial changes of the surface inundation area could be determined. Regarding sewerage, the comparison between the influx of groundwater into sewerage and the loading due to infiltration by flood water showed infiltration of surface flood water to be the main reason for sewerage overloading. Concurrent rainfalls can intensify the problem. The infiltration of the sewerage system by rising groundwater contributes only marginally to the loading of the sewerage and the distribution of water by sewerage has only local impacts on groundwater rise. However, the localization of risk areas due to rising groundwater requires the consideration of all components of the subsurface water fluxes. The coupled modelling has shown that high groundwater levels are the result of a multi-causal process that occurs before and during the flood event.

Boosting iterative stochastic ensemble method for nonlinear calibration of subsurface flow models

KAUST Repository

Elsheikh, Ahmed H.

2013-06-01

A novel parameter estimation algorithm is proposed. The inverse problem is formulated as a sequential data integration problem in which Gaussian process regression (GPR) is used to integrate the prior knowledge (static data). The search space is further parameterized using Karhunen-Loève expansion to build a set of basis functions that spans the search space. Optimal weights of the reduced basis functions are estimated by an iterative stochastic ensemble method (ISEM). ISEM employs directional derivatives within a Gauss-Newton iteration for efficient gradient estimation. The resulting update equation relies on the inverse of the output covariance matrix which is rank deficient.In the proposed algorithm we use an iterative regularization based on the ℓ2 Boosting algorithm. ℓ2 Boosting iteratively fits the residual and the amount of regularization is controlled by the number of iterations. A termination criteria based on Akaike information criterion (AIC) is utilized. This regularization method is very attractive in terms of performance and simplicity of implementation. The proposed algorithm combining ISEM and ℓ2 Boosting is evaluated on several nonlinear subsurface flow parameter estimation problems. The efficiency of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated by the small size of utilized ensembles and in terms of error convergence rates. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.

Direct Numerical Simulation of Low Capillary Number Pore Scale Flows

Science.gov (United States)

Esmaeilzadeh, S.; Soulaine, C.; Tchelepi, H.

2017-12-01

The arrangement of void spaces and the granular structure of a porous medium determines multiple macroscopic properties of the rock such as porosity, capillary pressure, and relative permeability. Therefore, it is important to study the microscopic structure of the reservoir pores and understand the dynamics of fluid displacements through them. One approach for doing this, is direct numerical simulation of pore-scale flow that requires a robust numerical tool for prediction of fluid dynamics and a detailed understanding of the physical processes occurring at the pore-scale. In pore scale flows with a low capillary number, Eulerian multiphase methods are well-known to produce additional vorticity close to the interface. This is mainly due to discretization errors which lead to an imbalance of capillary pressure and surface tension forces that causes unphysical spurious currents. At the pore scale, these spurious currents can become significantly stronger than the average velocity in the phases, and lead to unphysical displacement of the interface. In this work, we first investigate the capability of the algebraic Volume of Fluid (VOF) method in OpenFOAM for low capillary number pore scale flow simulations. Afterward, we compare VOF results with a Coupled Level-Set Volume of Fluid (CLSVOF) method and Iso-Advector method. It has been shown that the former one reduces the VOF's unphysical spurious currents in some cases, and both are known to capture interfaces sharper than VOF. As the conclusion, we will investigate that whether the use of CLSVOF or Iso-Advector will lead to less spurious velocities and more accurate results for capillary driven pore-scale multiphase flows or not. Keywords: Pore-scale multiphase flow, Capillary driven flows, Spurious currents, OpenFOAM

Regional-to-site scale groundwater flow in Romuvaara

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kattilakoski, E.; Koskinen, L. [VTT Energy, Espoo (Finland)

1999-04-01

The work describing numerical groundwater flow modelling at the Romuvaara site serves as a background report for the safety assessment TILA-99. The site scale can roughly be taken as the scale of detailed borehole investigations, which have probed the bedrock of Romuvaara over about 2 km{sup 2} large and 1 km deep volume. The site model in this work covers an area of about 12 km{sup 2}. The depth of the model is 2200 m. The site scale flow modelling produced characteristics of the deep groundwater flow and evaluated the impact of a spent fuel repository on the natural groundwater flow conditions. It treated the hydraulic gradient in the intact rock between the repository and the fracture zone nearest to it (about 50 m off) for the block scale model, which describes the groundwater flow on the repository scale. The result quantities were the hydraulic head h (as the base quantity) and its gradient in selected cross sections and fracture zones, the flow rates around the repository, flow paths and discharge areas of the water from the repository. Two repository layouts were discussed. The numerical simulations were performed with the FEFTRA code based on the porous medium concept and the finite element method. The regional model with a no-flow boundary condition at the bottom and on the lateral edges was firstly used to confirm the hydraulic head boundary condition on the lateral edges of an interior site model (having a no-flow boundary condition at the bottom). The groundwater table was used as the hydraulic head boundary condition at the surface of each model. Both the conductivity of the bedrock (modeled with three-dimensional elements) and the transmissivities of the fracture zones (described with two-dimensional elements in the three-dimensional mesh) decreased as a function of the depth. All the results were derived from the site model. The range of variation of the hydraulic gradient immediately outside the repository was studied in the direction of the flow

The impact of urbanization on subsurface flow paths - A paired-catchment isotopic study

Science.gov (United States)

Bonneau, Jeremie; Burns, Matthew J.; Fletcher, Tim D.; Witt, Roman; Drysdale, Russell N.; Costelloe, Justin F.

2018-06-01

Urbanization disturbs groundwater flow through the sealing of native soils with impervious surfaces and through modifications to the subsoil by constructed drainage and other infrastructure (trenches and excavations, e.g. water supply). The impact of these disturbances on groundwater contributions to urban streams (i.e. baseflow) is poorly understood. While high flows caused by impervious runoff to streams are a common focus of urban studies, the route taken by groundwater to become streamflow in urban landscapes is not generally considered. To assess the impact of urbanization on groundwater sources to streams, both rainfall and baseflow were sampled weekly for stable isotopes of water in two nearby streams-one draining a peri-urban catchment and the other draining a forested, natural catchment. In addition, to study the rate of groundwater discharge to the stream, monthly baseflow recession behavior was investigated. We found that baseflow in the forested catchment was constant in stable isotope values (δ18O = -5.73‰ ± 0.14‰) throughout the year. Monthly baseflow recession constants were close to 1 and had little variation (ranging 0.951-0.992), indicating a well-mixed groundwater store and long residence times. In contrast, the urban baseflow isotopic composition featured distinct seasonal variations (δ18O = -3.35‰ ± 1.20‰ from October to March and δ18O = -4.54‰ ± 0.43‰ from April to September) and high week-to-week variability in summer, reflecting a contribution of recent rainfall to baseflow. Recession constants were lower (ranging 0.727-0.955) with pronounced seasonal variations, suggesting shorter residence times and the likely presence of a variety of stores and pathways. These results provide evidence that the urban catchment has diversified groundwater pathways, and its groundwater storage is drained faster than that of the forested catchment. It highlights some of the subsurface hydrological consequences of urbanization. Restoring low-flow

A Review of distribution and quantity of lingering subsurface oil from the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

Science.gov (United States)

Nixon, Zachary; Michel, Jacqueline

2018-01-01

Remaining lingering subsurface oil residues from the Exxon Valdez oil spill (EVOS) are, at present, patchily distributed across the geologically complex and spatially extensive shorelines of Prince William Sound and the Gulf of Alaska. We review and synthesize previous literature describing the causal geomorphic and physical mechanisms for persistence of oil in the intertidal subsurface sediments of these areas. We also summarize previous sampling and modeling efforts, and refine previously presented models with additional data to characterize the present-day linear and areal spatial extent, and quantity of lingering subsurface oil. In the weeks after the spill in March of 1989, approximately 17,750 t of oil were stranded along impacted shorelines, and by October of 1992, only 2% of the mass of spilled oil was estimated to remain in intertidal areas. We estimate that lingering subsurface residues, generally between 5 and 20 cm thick and sequestered below 10-20 cm of clean sediment, are present over 30 ha of intertidal area, along 11.4 km of shoreline, and represent approximately 227 t or 0.6% of the total mass of spilled oil. These residues are typically located in finer-grained sand and gravel sediments, often under an armor of cobble- or boulder-sized clasts, in areas with limited groundwater flow and porosity. Persistence of these residues is correlated with heavy initial oil loading together with localized sheltering from physical disturbance such as wave energy within the beach face. While no longer generally bioavailable and increasingly chemically weathered, present removal rates for these remaining subsurface oil residues have slowed to nearly zero. The only remaining plausible removal mechanisms will operate over time scales of decades.

An insight into subterranean flow proposition around Alleppey mudbank coastal sector, Kerala, India: Inferences from the subsurface profiles of ground penetrating radar

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Loveson, V.J.; Dubey, R.; DineshKumar, P.K.; Nigam, R.; Naqvi, S.W.A.

-1 Author Version: Environ. Earth Sci., vol.75(20); 2016; no.1361 doi:10.1007/s12665-016-6172-6 An insight into subterranean flow proposition around Alleppey mudbank coastal sector, Kerala, India: inferences from the subsurface profiles of Ground... and productivity, physical and chemical aspects of the sea, annual drift etc. (Bristow et al., 1938; Varma and Kurup 1969; Gopinath and Qasim 1974; Jacob and Qasim (1974), Ramachandran and Mallik, 1985).Similar occurrences of mud banks in few other countries...

Global scale groundwater flow model

Science.gov (United States)

Sutanudjaja, Edwin; de Graaf, Inge; van Beek, Ludovicus; Bierkens, Marc

2013-04-01

As the world's largest accessible source of freshwater, groundwater plays vital role in satisfying the basic needs of human society. It serves as a primary source of drinking water and supplies water for agricultural and industrial activities. During times of drought, groundwater sustains water flows in streams, rivers, lakes and wetlands, and thus supports ecosystem habitat and biodiversity, while its large natural storage provides a buffer against water shortages. Yet, the current generation of global scale hydrological models does not include a groundwater flow component that is a crucial part of the hydrological cycle and allows the simulation of groundwater head dynamics. In this study we present a steady-state MODFLOW (McDonald and Harbaugh, 1988) groundwater model on the global scale at 5 arc-minutes resolution. Aquifer schematization and properties of this groundwater model were developed from available global lithological model (e.g. Dürr et al., 2005; Gleeson et al., 2010; Hartmann and Moorsdorff, in press). We force the groundwtaer model with the output from the large-scale hydrological model PCR-GLOBWB (van Beek et al., 2011), specifically the long term net groundwater recharge and average surface water levels derived from routed channel discharge. We validated calculated groundwater heads and depths with available head observations, from different regions, including the North and South America and Western Europe. Our results show that it is feasible to build a relatively simple global scale groundwater model using existing information, and estimate water table depths within acceptable accuracy in many parts of the world.

Identifying future directions for subsurface hydrocarbon migration research

Science.gov (United States)

Leifer, I.; Clark, J. F.; Luyendyk, B.; Valentine, D.

Subsurface hydrocarbon migration is important for understanding the input and impacts of natural hydrocarbon seepage on the environment. Great uncertainties remain in most aspects of hydrocarbon migration, including some basic mechanisms of this four-phase flow of tar, oil, water, and gas through the complex fracture-network geometry particularly since the phases span a wide range of properties. Academic, government, and industry representatives recently attended a workshop to identify the areas of greatest need for future research in shallow hydrocarbon migration.Novel approaches such as studying temporal and spatial seepage variations and analogous geofluid systems (e.g., geysers and trickle beds) allow deductions of subsurface processes and structures that remain largely unclear. Unique complexities exist in hydrocarbon migration due to its multiphase flow and complex geometry, including in-situ biological weathering. Furthermore, many aspects of the role of hydrocarbons (positive and negative) in the environment are poorly understood, including how they enter the food chain (respiration, consumption, etc.) and “percolate” to higher trophic levels. But understanding these ecological impacts requires knowledge of the emissions' temporal and spatial variability and trajectories.

Natural Length Scales Shape Liquid Phase Continuity in Unsaturated Flows

Science.gov (United States)

Assouline, S.; Lehmann, P. G.; Or, D.

2015-12-01

Unsaturated flows supporting soil evaporation and internal drainage play an important role in various hydrologic and climatic processes manifested at a wide range of scales. We study inherent natural length scales that govern these flow processes and constrain the spatial range of their representation by continuum models. These inherent length scales reflect interactions between intrinsic porous medium properties that affect liquid phase continuity, and the interplay among forces that drive and resist unsaturated flow. We have defined an intrinsic length scale for hydraulic continuity based on pore size distribution that controls soil evaporation dynamics (i.e., stage 1 to stage 2 transition). This simple metric may be used to delineate upper bounds for regional evaporative losses or the depth of soil-atmosphere interactions (in the absence of plants). A similar length scale governs the dynamics of internal redistribution towards attainment of field capacity, again through its effect on hydraulic continuity in the draining porous medium. The study provides a framework for guiding numerical and mathematical models for capillary flows across different scales considering the necessary conditions for coexistence of stationarity (REV), hydraulic continuity and intrinsic capillary gradients.

Chapter 1: Hydrologic exchange flows and their ecological consequences in river corridors

Science.gov (United States)

Harvey, Judson

2016-01-01

The actively flowing waters of streams and rivers remain in close contact with surrounding off-channel and subsurface environments. These hydrologic linkages between relatively fast flowing channel waters, with more slowly flowing waters off-channel and in the subsurface, are collectively referred to as hydrologic exchange flows (HEFs). HEFs include surface exchange with a channel’s marginal areas and subsurface flow through the streambed (hyporheic flow), as well as storm-driven bank storage and overbank flows onto floodplains. HEFs are important, not only for storing water and attenuating flood peaks, but also for their role in influencing water conservation, water quality improvement, and related outcomes for ecological values and services of aquatic ecosystems. Biogeochemical opportunities for chemical transformations are increased by HEFs as a result of the prolonged contact between flowing waters and geochemically and microbially active surfaces of sediments and vegetation. Chemical processing is intensified and water quality is often improved by removal of excess nutrients, metals, and organic contaminants from flowing waters. HEFs also are important regulators of organic matter decomposition, nutrient recycling, and stream metabolism that helps establish a balanced and resilient aquatic food web. The shallow and protected storage zones associated with HEFs support nursery and feeding areas for aquatic organisms that sustain aquatic biological diversity. Understanding of these varied roles for HEFs has been driven by the related disciplines of stream ecology, fluvial geomorphology, surface-water hydraulics, and groundwater hydrology. A current research emphasis is on the role that HEFs play in altered flow regimes, including restoration to achieve diverse goals, such as expanding aquatic habitats and managing dissolved and suspended river loads to reduce over-fertilization of coastal waters and offset wetland loss. New integrative concepts and models are

Persistent Homology fingerprinting of microstructural controls on larger-scale fluid flow in porous media

Science.gov (United States)

Moon, C.; Mitchell, S. A.; Callor, N.; Dewers, T. A.; Heath, J. E.; Yoon, H.; Conner, G. R.

2017-12-01

Traditional subsurface continuum multiphysics models include useful yet limiting geometrical assumptions: penny- or disc-shaped cracks, spherical or elliptical pores, bundles of capillary tubes, cubic law fracture permeability, etc. Each physics (flow, transport, mechanics) uses constitutive models with an increasing number of fit parameters that pertain to the microporous structure of the rock, but bear no inter-physics relationships or self-consistency. Recent advances in digital rock physics and pore-scale modeling link complex physics to detailed pore-level geometries, but measures for upscaling are somewhat unsatisfactory and come at a high computational cost. Continuum mechanics rely on a separation between small scale pore fluctuations and larger scale heterogeneity (and perhaps anisotropy), but this can break down (particularly for shales). Algebraic topology offers powerful mathematical tools for describing a local-to-global structure of shapes. Persistent homology, in particular, analyzes the dynamics of topological features and summarizes into numeric values. It offers a roadmap to both "fingerprint" topologies of pore structure and multiscale connectedness as well as links pore structure to physical behavior, thus potentially providing a means to relate the dependence of constitutive behaviors of pore structures in a self-consistent way. We present a persistence homology (PH) analysis framework of 3D image sets including a focused ion beam-scanning electron microscopy data set of the Selma Chalk. We extract structural characteristics of sampling volumes via persistence homology and fit a statistical model using the summarized values to estimate porosity, permeability, and connectivity—Lattice Boltzmann methods for single phase flow modeling are used to obtain the relationships. These PH methods allow for prediction of geophysical properties based on the geometry and connectivity in a computationally efficient way. Sandia National Laboratories is a

Laboratory and field scale demonstration of reactive barrier systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dwyer, B.P.; Marozas, D.C.; Cantrell, K.; Stewart, W.

1996-10-01

In an effort to devise a cost efficient technology for remediation of uranium contaminated groundwater, the Department of Energy's Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (DOE-UMTRA) Program through Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) fabricated a pilot scale research project utilizing reactive subsurface barriers at an UMTRA site in Durango, Colorado. A reactive subsurface barrier is produced by placing a reactant material (in this experiment, metallic iron) in the flow path of the contaminated groundwater. The reactive media then removes and/or transforms the contaminant(s) to regulatory acceptable levels. Experimental design and results are discussed with regard to other potential applications of reactive barrier remediation strategies at other sites with contaminated groundwater problems

Large-scale Flow and Transport of Magnetic Flux in the Solar ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

tribpo

Abstract. Horizontal large-scale velocity field describes horizontal displacement of the photospheric magnetic flux in zonal and meridian directions. The flow systems of solar plasma, constructed according to the velocity field, create the large-scale cellular-like patterns with up-flow in the center and the down-flow on the ...

Signatures of non-universal large scales in conditional structure functions from various turbulent flows

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blum, Daniel B; Voth, Greg A; Bewley, Gregory P; Bodenschatz, Eberhard; Gibert, Mathieu; Xu Haitao; Gylfason, Ármann; Mydlarski, Laurent; Yeung, P K

2011-01-01

We present a systematic comparison of conditional structure functions in nine turbulent flows. The flows studied include forced isotropic turbulence simulated on a periodic domain, passive grid wind tunnel turbulence in air and in pressurized SF 6 , active grid wind tunnel turbulence (in both synchronous and random driving modes), the flow between counter-rotating discs, oscillating grid turbulence and the flow in the Lagrangian exploration module (in both constant and random driving modes). We compare longitudinal Eulerian second-order structure functions conditioned on the instantaneous large-scale velocity in each flow to assess the ways in which the large scales affect the small scales in a variety of turbulent flows. Structure functions are shown to have larger values when the large-scale velocity significantly deviates from the mean in most flows, suggesting that dependence on the large scales is typical in many turbulent flows. The effects of the large-scale velocity on the structure functions can be quite strong, with the structure function varying by up to a factor of 2 when the large-scale velocity deviates from the mean by ±2 standard deviations. In several flows, the effects of the large-scale velocity are similar at all the length scales we measured, indicating that the large-scale effects are scale independent. In a few flows, the effects of the large-scale velocity are larger on the smallest length scales. (paper)

The management of subsurface uncertainty using probabilistic modeling of life cycle production forecasts and cash flows

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Olatunbosun, O. O.

1998-01-01

The subject pertains to the implementation of the full range of subsurface uncertainties in life cycle probabilistic forecasting and its extension to project cash flows using the methodology of probabilities. A new tool has been developed in the probabilistic application of Crystal-Ball which can model reservoir volumetrics, life cycle production forecasts and project cash flows in a single environment. The tool is modular such that the volumetrics and cash flow modules are optional. Production forecasts are often generated by applying a decline equation to single best estimate values of input parameters such as initial potential, decline rate, abandonment rate etc -or sometimes by results of reservoir simulation. This new tool provides a means of implementing the full range of uncertainties and interdependencies of the input parameters into the production forecasts by defining the input parameters as probability density functions, PDFs and performing several iterations to generate an expectation curve forecast. Abandonment rate is implemented in each iteration via a link to an OPEX model. The expectation curve forecast is input into a cash flow model to generate a probabilistic NPV. Base case and sensitivity runs from reservoir simulation can likewise form the basis for a probabilistic production forecast from which a probabilistic cash flow can be generated. A good illustration of the application of this tool is in the modelling of the production forecast for a well that encounters its target reservoirs in OUT/ODT situation and thus has significant uncertainties. The uncertainty in presence and size (if present) of gas cap and dependency between ultimate recovery and initial potential amongst other uncertainties can be easily implemented in the production forecast with this tool. From the expectation curve forecast, a probabilistic NPV can be easily generated. Possible applications of this tool include: i. estimation of range of actual recoverable volumes based

Application of subsurface vertical flow constructed wetlands to reject water treatment in dairy wastewater treatment plant.

Science.gov (United States)

Dąbrowski, Wojciech; Karolinczak, Beata; Gajewska, Magdalena; Wojciechowska, Ewa

2017-01-01

The paper presents the effects of applying subsurface vertical flow constructed wetlands (SS VF) for the treatment of reject water generated in the process of aerobic sewage sludge stabilization in the biggest dairy wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Poland. Two SS VF beds were built: bed (A) with 0.65 m depth and bed (B) with 1.0 m depth, planted with reeds. Beds were fed with reject water with hydraulic load of 0.1 m d -1 in order to establish the differences in treatment efficiency. During an eight-months research period, a high removal efficiency of predominant pollutants was shown: BOD 5 88.1% (A) and 90.5% (B); COD 84.5% (A) and 87.5% (B); TSS 87.6% (A) and 91.9% (B); TKN 82.4% (A) and 76.5% (B); N-NH 4 + 89.2% (A) and 85.7% (B); TP 30.2% (A) and 40.6% (B). There were not statistically significant differences in the removal efficiencies between bed (B) with 1.0 m depth and bed (A) with 0.65 m depth. The research indicated that SS VF beds could be successfully applied to reject water treatment in dairy WWTPs. The study proved that the use of SS VF beds in full scale in dairy WWTPs would result in a significant decrease in pollutants' load in reject water. In the analyzed case, decreasing the load of ammonia nitrogen was of greatest importance, as it constituted 58% of the total load treated in dairy WWTP and posed a hazard to the stability of the treatment process.

Effects of interspecific competition on the growth of macrophytes and nutrient removal in constructed wetlands: A comparative assessment of free water surface and horizontal subsurface flow systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Yucong; Wang, Xiaochang; Dzakpasu, Mawuli; Zhao, Yaqian; Ngo, Huu Hao; Guo, Wenshan; Ge, Yuan; Xiong, Jiaqing

2016-05-01

The outcome of competition between adjoining interspecific colonies of Phragmites and Typha in two large field pilot-scale free water surface (FWS) and subsurface flow (SSF) CWs is evaluated. According to findings, the effect of interspecific competition was notable for Phragmites australis, whereby it showed the highest growth performance in both FWS and SSF wetland. In a mixed-culture, P. australis demonstrates superiority in terms of competitive interactions for space between plants. Furthermore, the interspecific competition among planted species seemed to cause different ecological responses of plant species in the two CWs. For example, while relatively high density and shoot height determined the high aboveground dry weight of P. australis in the FWS wetland, this association was not evident in the SSF. Additionally, while plants nutrients uptake accounts for a higher proportion of the nitrogen removal in FWS, that in the SSF accounts for a higher proportion of the phosphorous removal. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ensemble urban flood simulation in comparison with laboratory-scale experiments: Impact of interaction models for manhole, sewer pipe, and surface flow

Science.gov (United States)

Noh, Seong Jin; Lee, Seungsoo; An, Hyunuk; Kawaike, Kenji; Nakagawa, Hajime

2016-11-01

An urban flood is an integrated phenomenon that is affected by various uncertainty sources such as input forcing, model parameters, complex geometry, and exchanges of flow among different domains in surfaces and subsurfaces. Despite considerable advances in urban flood modeling techniques, limited knowledge is currently available with regard to the impact of dynamic interaction among different flow domains on urban floods. In this paper, an ensemble method for urban flood modeling is presented to consider the parameter uncertainty of interaction models among a manhole, a sewer pipe, and surface flow. Laboratory-scale experiments on urban flood and inundation are performed under various flow conditions to investigate the parameter uncertainty of interaction models. The results show that ensemble simulation using interaction models based on weir and orifice formulas reproduces experimental data with high accuracy and detects the identifiability of model parameters. Among interaction-related parameters, the parameters of the sewer-manhole interaction show lower uncertainty than those of the sewer-surface interaction. Experimental data obtained under unsteady-state conditions are more informative than those obtained under steady-state conditions to assess the parameter uncertainty of interaction models. Although the optimal parameters vary according to the flow conditions, the difference is marginal. Simulation results also confirm the capability of the interaction models and the potential of the ensemble-based approaches to facilitate urban flood simulation.

High Resolution Definition of Subsurface Heterogeneity for Understanding the Biodynamics of Natural Field Systems: Advancing the Ability for Scaling to Field Conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Majer, Ernest L.; Brockman, Fred J.

1999-01-01

This research is an integrated project which uses physical (geophysical and hydrologic) and innovative geophysical imaging and microbial characterization methods to identify key scales of physical heterogeneities that affect bioremediation. In the this effort data from controlled laboratory and in situ experiments at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental (INEEL) Test Area North (TAN) site were used to determine the dominant physical characteristics (lithologic, structural, and hydrologic) that can be imaged in situ and correlated with flow and transport properties. Emphasis was placed on identifying fundamental scales of variation of physical parameters that control transport behavior relative to subsurface microbial dynamics that could be used to develop a predictive model. A key hypothesis of the work was that nutrient flux and transport properties are key factors in controlling microbial dynamics, and that geophysical techniques could be used to identify the critical physical properties and scales controlling transport. This hypothesis was essentially validated. The goal was not only to develop and apply methods to monitor the spatial and temporal distribution of the bioremediation in fractured sites such as TAN, but also to develop methods applicable to a wider range of DOE sites. The outcome has been an improved understanding of the relationship between physical, chemical and microbial processes in heterogeneous environments, thus applicable to the design and monitoring of bioremediation strategies for a variety of environments. In this EMSP work we demonstrated that high resolution geophysical methods have considerable resolving power, especially when linked with modern advanced processing and interpretation. In terms of basic science, in addition to providing innovative methods for monitoring bioremediation, the work also provided a strong motivation for developing and extending high resolution geophysical methods

Joint inversion of geophysical and hydrological data for improved subsurface characterization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kowalsky, Michael B.; Chen, Jinsong; Hubbard, Susan S.

2006-01-01

Understanding fluid distribution and movement in the subsurface is critical for a variety of subsurface applications, such as remediation of environmental contaminants, sequestration of nuclear waste and CO2, intrusion of saline water into fresh water aquifers, and the production of oil and gas. It is well recognized that characterizing the properties that control fluids in the subsurface with the accuracy and spatial coverage needed to parameterize flow and transport models is challenging using conventional borehole data alone. Integration of conventional borehole data with more spatially extensive geophysical data (obtained from the surface, between boreholes, and from surface to boreholes) shows promise for providing quantitative information about subsurface properties and processes. Typically, estimation of subsurface properties involves a two-step procedure in which geophysical data are first inverted and then integrated with direct measurements and petrophysical relationship information to estimate hydrological parameters. However, errors inherent to geophysical data acquisition and inversion approaches and errors associated with petrophysical relationships can decrease the value of geophysical data in the estimation procedure. In this paper, we illustrate using two examples how joint inversion approaches, or simultaneous inversion of geophysical and hydrological data, offer great potential for overcoming some of these limitations

The perceptual trap: Experimental and modelling examples of soil moisture, hydraulic conductivity and response units in complex subsurface settings.

Science.gov (United States)

Jackisch, Conrad; Demand, Dominic; Allroggen, Niklas; Loritz, Ralf; Zehe, Erwin

2017-04-01

In order to discuss hypothesis testing in hydrology, the question of the solid foundation of such tests has to be answered. But how certain are we about our measurements of the components of the water balance and the states and dynamics of the complex systems? What implicit assumptions or bias are already embedded in our perception of the processes? How can we find light in the darkness of heterogeneity? We will contribute examples from experimental findings, modelling approaches and landscape analysis to the discussion. Example soil moisture and the soil continuum: The definition of soil moisture as fraction of water in the porous medium assumes locally well-mixed conditions. Moreover, a unique relation of soil water retention presumes instant local thermodynamic equilibrium in the pore water arrangement. We will show findings from soil moisture responses to precipitation events, from irrigation experiments, and from a model study of initial infiltration velocities. The results highlight, that the implicit assumption relating soil moisture state dynamics with actual soil water flow is biased towards the slow end of the actual velocity distribution and rather blind for preferential flow acting in a very small proportion of the pore space. Moreover, we highlight the assumption of a well-defined continuum during the extrapolation of point-scale measurements and why spatially and temporally continuous observation techniques of soil water states are essential for advancing our understanding and development of subsurface process theories. Example hydraulic conductivity: Hydraulic conductivity lies at the heart of hydrological research and modelling. Its values can range across several orders of magnitude at a single site alone. Yet, we often consider it a crisp, effective parameter. We have conducted measurements of soil hydraulic conductivity in the lab and in the field. Moreover, we assessed infiltration capacity and conducted plot-scale irrigation experiments to

The effect of ochre applied to buffer zones on soluble phosphorus retention during combined surface and subsurface flow conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Habibiandehkordi, R.; Quinton, J.; Surridge, B.

2012-12-01

Despite invention of a wide range of mitigating measures, diffuse phosphorus (P) pollution from agricultural lands still remains a major threat to the water resources. Thus, reducing P inputs along with improving the effectiveness of current best management practices (BMPs) is necessary to avoid eutrophication. Buffer zones are considered to be among the BMPs to control diffuse P pollution. However, these features are less effective in controlling soluble P loss with a retention range of -71 to +95% which is generally governed by the process of infiltration. Moreover, the soil in buffer strip system can be saturated over a course of time thereby enriching surface and subsurface runoff with soluble P. The aim of this study is to evaluate effectiveness of ochre applied to buffer strips in reducing the loss of soluble P during coupled surface and subsurface flow conditions. Batch experiments showed a maximum P retention capacity of 17.2 g kg-1 for ochre collected from a mine water treatment plant in Capehouse, UK without any risk of P desorption or releasing trace elements to the environment. The preliminarily results of flume experiments confirms the suitability of ochre to be used as a soil amendment in conjunction with buffer strips for tackling soluble P loss.

A Theoretical Study of Subsurface Drainage Model Simulation of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

A three-dimensional variable-density groundwater flow model, the SEAWAT model, was used to assess the influence of subsurface drain spacing, evapotranspiration and irrigation water quality on salt concentration at the base of the root zone, leaching and drainage in salt affected irrigated land. The study was carried out ...

Scale problems in assessment of hydrogeological parameters of groundwater flow models

Science.gov (United States)

Nawalany, Marek; Sinicyn, Grzegorz

2015-09-01

An overview is presented of scale problems in groundwater flow, with emphasis on upscaling of hydraulic conductivity, being a brief summary of the conventional upscaling approach with some attention paid to recently emerged approaches. The focus is on essential aspects which may be an advantage in comparison to the occasionally extremely extensive summaries presented in the literature. In the present paper the concept of scale is introduced as an indispensable part of system analysis applied to hydrogeology. The concept is illustrated with a simple hydrogeological system for which definitions of four major ingredients of scale are presented: (i) spatial extent and geometry of hydrogeological system, (ii) spatial continuity and granularity of both natural and man-made objects within the system, (iii) duration of the system and (iv) continuity/granularity of natural and man-related variables of groundwater flow system. Scales used in hydrogeology are categorised into five classes: micro-scale - scale of pores, meso-scale - scale of laboratory sample, macro-scale - scale of typical blocks in numerical models of groundwater flow, local-scale - scale of an aquifer/aquitard and regional-scale - scale of series of aquifers and aquitards. Variables, parameters and groundwater flow equations for the three lowest scales, i.e., pore-scale, sample-scale and (numerical) block-scale, are discussed in detail, with the aim to justify physically deterministic procedures of upscaling from finer to coarser scales (stochastic issues of upscaling are not discussed here). Since the procedure of transition from sample-scale to block-scale is physically well based, it is a good candidate for upscaling block-scale models to local-scale models and likewise for upscaling local-scale models to regional-scale models. Also the latest results in downscaling from block-scale to sample scale are briefly referred to.

Scale problems in assessment of hydrogeological parameters of groundwater flow models

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nawalany Marek

2015-09-01

Full Text Available An overview is presented of scale problems in groundwater flow, with emphasis on upscaling of hydraulic conductivity, being a brief summary of the conventional upscaling approach with some attention paid to recently emerged approaches. The focus is on essential aspects which may be an advantage in comparison to the occasionally extremely extensive summaries presented in the literature. In the present paper the concept of scale is introduced as an indispensable part of system analysis applied to hydrogeology. The concept is illustrated with a simple hydrogeological system for which definitions of four major ingredients of scale are presented: (i spatial extent and geometry of hydrogeological system, (ii spatial continuity and granularity of both natural and man-made objects within the system, (iii duration of the system and (iv continuity/granularity of natural and man-related variables of groundwater flow system. Scales used in hydrogeology are categorised into five classes: micro-scale – scale of pores, meso-scale – scale of laboratory sample, macro-scale – scale of typical blocks in numerical models of groundwater flow, local-scale – scale of an aquifer/aquitard and regional-scale – scale of series of aquifers and aquitards. Variables, parameters and groundwater flow equations for the three lowest scales, i.e., pore-scale, sample-scale and (numerical block-scale, are discussed in detail, with the aim to justify physically deterministic procedures of upscaling from finer to coarser scales (stochastic issues of upscaling are not discussed here. Since the procedure of transition from sample-scale to block-scale is physically well based, it is a good candidate for upscaling block-scale models to local-scale models and likewise for upscaling local-scale models to regional-scale models. Also the latest results in downscaling from block-scale to sample scale are briefly referred to.

Effects of turbulent hyporheic mixing on reach-scale solute transport

Science.gov (United States)

Roche, K. R.; Li, A.; Packman, A. I.

2017-12-01

Turbulence rapidly mixes solutes and fine particles into coarse-grained streambeds. Both hyporheic exchange rates and spatial variability of hyporheic mixing are known to be controlled by turbulence, but it is unclear how turbulent mixing influences mass transport at the scale of stream reaches. We used a process-based particle-tracking model to simulate local- and reach-scale solute transport for a coarse-bed stream. Two vertical mixing profiles, one with a smooth transition from in-stream to hyporheic transport conditions and a second with enhanced turbulent transport at the sediment-water interface, were fit to steady-state subsurface concentration profiles observed in laboratory experiments. The mixing profile with enhanced interfacial transport better matched the observed concentration profiles and overall mass retention in the streambed. The best-fit mixing profiles were then used to simulate upscaled solute transport in a stream. Enhanced mixing coupled in-stream and hyporheic solute transport, causing solutes exchanged into the shallow subsurface to have travel times similar to the water column. This extended the exponential region of the in-stream solute breakthrough curve, and delayed the onset of the heavy power-law tailing induced by deeper and slower hyporheic porewater velocities. Slopes of observed power-law tails were greater than those predicted from stochastic transport theory, and also changed in time. In addition, rapid hyporheic transport velocities truncated the hyporheic residence time distribution by causing mass to exit the stream reach via subsurface advection, yielding strong exponential tempering in the in-stream breakthrough curves at the timescale of advective hyporheic transport through the reach. These results show that strong turbulent mixing across the sediment-water interface violates the conventional separation of surface and subsurface flows used in current models for solute transport in rivers. Instead, the full distribution of

Vertical Subsurface Flow (VSSF) constructed wetland for domestic wastewater treatment

Science.gov (United States)

Perdana, M. C.; Sutanto, H. B.; Prihatmo, G.

2018-04-01

Vertical Subsurface Flow Constructed Wetland (VSSF) is appraised to become an alternative solution for treating domestic wastewater effectively and efficiently. The system which imitates the natural wetland concept is able to reduce organic material and nutrients in wastewater; therefore, it will be more feasible to be discharged to the environment. This study aimed to compare which species is more recommended to be applied for reducing organic material and nutrients in domestic wastewater. This experimental study applied four treatments, i.e 1) control (unplanted), 2) single species Iris pseudacorus, 3) single species Echinodorus palaefolius, and 4) combination (Iris pseudacorus and Echinodorus palaefolius) with three days of retention time. The application of those plants aims for holding the role in increasing wastewater quality and adding aesthetic impression at once. The plants were planted on VSSF media, in relatively same of weight and size to compare their effectiveness in decreasing organic and inorganic load. The parameters measured pervade TDS, pH, BOD5, COD, Nitrate, and Phosphate. The plants’ condition was also observed during and after the system worked. The result showed that the best average value of effectiveness for each of parameters: COD by combination treatment (50.76%), BOD5 by single I. pseudacorus (30.15%), Nitrate by single E. palaefolius (58.06%), Phosphate by single E. palaefolius (99.5%), and TDS by E.palaefolius (3.25%). The result showed that there was a significant difference of Nitrate and Phosphate reduction between control and three other treatments, while pH parameter showed non-significant change among them. In term of performance, I.pseudacorus seemed showed a preferable achievement.

Site scale groundwater flow in Haestholmen

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Loefman, J.

1999-05-01

Groundwater flow modelling on the site scale has been an essential part of site investigation work carried out at different locations since 1986. The objective of the modelling has been to provide results that characterise the groundwater flow conditions deep in the bedrock. The main result quantities can be used for evaluation of the investigation sites and of the preconditions for safe final disposal - of spent nuclear fuel. This study represents the groundwater flow modelling at Haestholmen, and it comprises the transient flow analysis taking into account the effects of density variations and the repository as well as the post-glacial land uplift. The analysis is performed by means of numerical finite element simulation of coupled and transient groundwater flow and solute transport carried out up to 10000 years into the future. This work provides also the results for the site-specific data needs for the block scale groundwater flow modelling at Haestholmen. Conceptually the fractured bedrock is divided into hydraulic units: the planar fracture zones and the remaining part of the bedrock. The equivalent-continuum (EC) model is applied so that each hydraulic unit is treated as a homogeneous and isotropic continuum with representative average characteristics. All the fracture zones are modelled explicitly and represented by two-dimensional finite elements. A site-specific simulation model for groundwater flow and solute transport is developed on the basis of the latest hydrogeological and hydrogeochemical field investigations at Haestholmen. The present topography together with a mathematical model describing the land uplift at the Haestholmen area are employed as a boundary condition at the surface of the model. The overall flow pattern is mostly controlled by the local variations in the topography and by the highly transmissive fracture zones. Near the surface the flow spreads out to offshore and to the lower areas of topography in all directions away from

Synthesizing large-scale pyroclastic flows: Experimental design, scaling, and first results from PELE

Science.gov (United States)

Lube, G.; Breard, E. C. P.; Cronin, S. J.; Jones, J.

2015-03-01

Pyroclastic flow eruption large-scale experiment (PELE) is a large-scale facility for experimental studies of pyroclastic density currents (PDCs). It is used to generate high-energy currents involving 500-6500 m3 natural volcanic material and air that achieve velocities of 7-30 m s-1, flow thicknesses of 2-4.5 m, and runouts of >35 m. The experimental PDCs are synthesized by a controlled "eruption column collapse" of ash-lapilli suspensions onto an instrumented channel. The first set of experiments are documented here and used to elucidate the main flow regimes that influence PDC dynamic structure. Four phases are identified: (1) mixture acceleration during eruption column collapse, (2) column-slope impact, (3) PDC generation, and (4) ash cloud diffusion. The currents produced are fully turbulent flows and scale well to natural PDCs including small to large scales of turbulent transport. PELE is capable of generating short, pulsed, and sustained currents over periods of several tens of seconds, and dilute surge-like PDCs through to highly concentrated pyroclastic flow-like currents. The surge-like variants develop a basal <0.05 m thick regime of saltating/rolling particles and shifting sand waves, capped by a 2.5-4.5 m thick, turbulent suspension that grades upward to lower particle concentrations. Resulting deposits include stratified dunes, wavy and planar laminated beds, and thin ash cloud fall layers. Concentrated currents segregate into a dense basal underflow of <0.6 m thickness that remains aerated. This is capped by an upper ash cloud surge (1.5-3 m thick) with 100 to 10-4 vol % particles. Their deposits include stratified, massive, normally and reversely graded beds, lobate fronts, and laterally extensive veneer facies beyond channel margins.

A-TOUGH: A multimedia fluid-flow/energy-transport model for fully- coupled atmospheric-subsurface interactions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Montazer, P.; Hammermeister, D.; Ginanni, J.

1994-01-01

The long-term effect of changes in atmospheric climatological conditions on subsurface hydrological conditions in the unsaturated zone in and environments is an important factor in defining the performance of a high-level and low-level radioactive waste repositories in geological environment. Computer simulation coupled with paleohydrological studies can be used to understand and quantify the potential impact of future climatological conditions on repository performance. A-TOUGH efficiently simulates (given current state-of-the-art technology) the physical processes involved in the near-surface atmosphere and its effect on subsurface conditions. This efficiency is due to the numerical techniques used in TOUGH and the efficient computational techniques used in V-TOUGH to solve non-linear thermodynamic equations that govern the flux of vapor and energy within subsurface porous and fractured media and between these media and the atmosphere

Spatial structure and scaling of macropores in hydrological process at small catchment scale

Science.gov (United States)

Silasari, Rasmiaditya; Broer, Martine; Blöschl, Günter

2013-04-01

During rainfall events, the formation of overland flow can occur under the circumstances of saturation excess and/or infiltration excess. These conditions are affected by the soil moisture state which represents the soil water content in micropores and macropores. Macropores act as pathway for the preferential flows and have been widely studied locally. However, very little is known about their spatial structure and conductivity of macropores and other flow characteristic at the catchment scale. This study will analyze these characteristics to better understand its importance in hydrological processes. The research will be conducted in Petzenkirchen Hydrological Open Air Laboratory (HOAL), a 64 ha catchment located 100 km west of Vienna. The land use is divided between arable land (87%), pasture (5%), forest (6%) and paved surfaces (2%). Video cameras will be installed on an agricultural field to monitor the overland flow pattern during rainfall events. A wireless soil moisture network is also installed within the monitored area. These field data will be combined to analyze the soil moisture state and the responding surface runoff occurrence. The variability of the macropores spatial structure of the observed area (field scale) then will be assessed based on the topography and soil data. Soil characteristics will be supported with laboratory experiments on soil matrix flow to obtain proper definitions of the spatial structure of macropores and its variability. A coupled physically based distributed model of surface and subsurface flow will be used to simulate the variability of macropores spatial structure and its effect on the flow behaviour. This model will be validated by simulating the observed rainfall events. Upscaling from field scale to catchment scale will be done to understand the effect of macropores variability on larger scales by applying spatial stochastic methods. The first phase in this study is the installation and monitoring configuration of video

Geophysical data fusion for subsurface imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blohm, M.; Hatch, W.E.; Hoekstra, P.; Porter, D.W.

1994-01-01

Effective site characterization requires that many relevant geologic, hydrogeologic and biological properties of the subsurface be evaluated. A parameter that often directly influences chemical processes, ground water flow, contaminant transport, and biological activities is the lateral and vertical distribution of clays. The objective of the research an development under this contract is to improve non-invasive methods for detecting clay lenses. The percentage of clays in soils influences most physical properties that have an impact on environmental restoration and waste management. For example, the percentage of clays determine hydraulic permeability and the rate of contaminant migration, absorption of radioactive elements, and interaction with organic compounds. Therefore, improvements in non-invasive mapping of clays in the subsurface will result in better: characterization of contaminated sites, prediction of pathways of contaminant migration, assessment of risk of contaminants to public health if contaminants reach water supplies, design of remedial action and evaluation of alternative action

LARGE-SCALE FLOWS IN PROMINENCE CAVITIES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schmit, D. J.; Gibson, S. E.; Tomczyk, S.; Reeves, K. K.; Sterling, Alphonse C.; Brooks, D. H.; Williams, D. R.; Tripathi, D.

2009-01-01

Regions of rarefied density often form cavities above quiescent prominences. We observed two different cavities with the Coronal Multichannel Polarimeter on 2005 April 21 and with Hinode/EIS on 2008 November 8. Inside both of these cavities, we find coherent velocity structures based on spectral Doppler shifts. These flows have speeds of 5-10 km s -1 , occur over length scales of tens of megameters, and persist for at least 1 hr. Flows in cavities are an example of the nonstatic nature of quiescent structures in the solar atmosphere.

A Mobile Acoustic Subsurface Sensing (MASS) system for rapid roadway assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Yifeng; Zhang, Yi; Cao, Yinghong; McDaniel, J Gregory; Wang, Ming L

2013-05-08

Surface waves are commonly used for vibration-based nondestructive testing for infrastructure. Spectral Analysis of Surface Waves (SASW) has been used to detect subsurface properties for geologic inspections. Recently, efforts were made to scale down these subsurface detection approaches to see how they perform on small-scale structures such as concrete slabs and pavements. Additional efforts have been made to replace the traditional surface-mounted transducers with non-contact acoustic transducers. Though some success has been achieved, most of these new approaches are inefficient because they require point-to-point measurements or off-line signal analysis. This article introduces a Mobile Acoustic Subsurface Sensing system as MASS, which is an improved surface wave based implementation for measuring the subsurface profile of roadways. The compact MASS system is a 3-wheeled cart outfitted with an electromagnetic impact source, distance register, non-contact acoustic sensors and data acquisition/ processing equipment. The key advantage of the MASS system is the capability to collect measurements continuously at walking speed in an automatic way. The fast scan and real-time analysis advantages are based upon the non-contact acoustic sensing and fast air-coupled surface wave analysis program. This integration of hardware and software makes the MASS system an efficient mobile prototype for the field test.

A Mobile Acoustic Subsurface Sensing (MASS System for Rapid Roadway Assessment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ming L. Wang

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Surface waves are commonly used for vibration-based nondestructive testing for infrastructure. Spectral Analysis of Surface Waves (SASW has been used to detect subsurface properties for geologic inspections. Recently, efforts were made to scale down these subsurface detection approaches to see how they perform on small-scale structures such as concrete slabs and pavements. Additional efforts have been made to replace the traditional surface-mounted transducers with non-contact acoustic transducers. Though some success has been achieved, most of these new approaches are inefficient because they require point-to-point measurements or off-line signal analysis. This article introduces a Mobile Acoustic Subsurface Sensing system as MASS, which is an improved surface wave based implementation for measuring the subsurface profile of roadways. The compact MASS system is a 3-wheeled cart outfitted with an electromagnetic impact source, distance register, non-contact acoustic sensors and data acquisition/ processing equipment. The key advantage of the MASS system is the capability to collect measurements continuously at walking speed in an automatic way. The fast scan and real-time analysis advantages are based upon the non-contact acoustic sensing and fast air-coupled surface wave analysis program. This integration of hardware and software makes the MASS system an efficient mobile prototype for the field test.

Performance Analysis and Scaling Behavior of the Terrestrial Systems Modeling Platform TerrSysMP in Large-Scale Supercomputing Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Kollet, S. J.; Goergen, K.; Gasper, F.; Shresta, P.; Sulis, M.; Rihani, J.; Simmer, C.; Vereecken, H.

2013-12-01

In studies of the terrestrial hydrologic, energy and biogeochemical cycles, integrated multi-physics simulation platforms take a central role in characterizing non-linear interactions, variances and uncertainties of system states and fluxes in reciprocity with observations. Recently developed integrated simulation platforms attempt to honor the complexity of the terrestrial system across multiple time and space scales from the deeper subsurface including groundwater dynamics into the atmosphere. Technically, this requires the coupling of atmospheric, land surface, and subsurface-surface flow models in supercomputing environments, while ensuring a high-degree of efficiency in the utilization of e.g., standard Linux clusters and massively parallel resources. A systematic performance analysis including profiling and tracing in such an application is crucial in the understanding of the runtime behavior, to identify optimum model settings, and is an efficient way to distinguish potential parallel deficiencies. On sophisticated leadership-class supercomputers, such as the 28-rack 5.9 petaFLOP IBM Blue Gene/Q 'JUQUEEN' of the Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC), this is a challenging task, but even more so important, when complex coupled component models are to be analysed. Here we want to present our experience from coupling, application tuning (e.g. 5-times speedup through compiler optimizations), parallel scaling and performance monitoring of the parallel Terrestrial Systems Modeling Platform TerrSysMP. The modeling platform consists of the weather prediction system COSMO of the German Weather Service; the Community Land Model, CLM of NCAR; and the variably saturated surface-subsurface flow code ParFlow. The model system relies on the Multiple Program Multiple Data (MPMD) execution model where the external Ocean-Atmosphere-Sea-Ice-Soil coupler (OASIS3) links the component models. TerrSysMP has been instrumented with the performance analysis tool Scalasca and analyzed

Density scaling and quasiuniversality of flow-event statistics for athermal plastic flows

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lerner, Edan; Bailey, Nicholas; Dyre, J. C.

2014-01-01

Athermal steady-state plastic flows were simulated for the Kob-Andersen binary Lennard-Jones system and its repulsive version in which the sign of the attractive terms is changed to a plus. Properties evaluated include the distributions of energy drops, stress drops, and strain intervals between...... the flow events. We show that simulations at a single density in conjunction with an equilibrium-liquid simulation at the same density allow one to predict the plastic flow-event statistics at other densities. This is done by applying the recently established “hidden scale invariance” of simple liquids...

Dynamic subgrid scale model of large eddy simulation of cross bundle flows

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hassan, Y.A.; Barsamian, H.R.

1996-01-01

The dynamic subgrid scale closure model of Germano et. al (1991) is used in the large eddy simulation code GUST for incompressible isothermal flows. Tube bundle geometries of staggered and non-staggered arrays are considered in deep bundle simulations. The advantage of the dynamic subgrid scale model is the exclusion of an input model coefficient. The model coefficient is evaluated dynamically for each nodal location in the flow domain. Dynamic subgrid scale results are obtained in the form of power spectral densities and flow visualization of turbulent characteristics. Comparisons are performed among the dynamic subgrid scale model, the Smagorinsky eddy viscosity model (that is used as the base model for the dynamic subgrid scale model) and available experimental data. Spectral results of the dynamic subgrid scale model correlate better with experimental data. Satisfactory turbulence characteristics are observed through flow visualization

Biological mechanisms associated with triazophos (TAP) removal by horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands (HSFCW)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu, Juan; Feng, Yuqin; Dai, Yanran; Cui, Naxin; Anderson, Bruce; Cheng, Shuiping

2016-01-01

Triazophos (TAP) is a widely used pesticide that is easily accumulated in the environment due to its relatively high stability: this accumulation from agricultural runoff results in potential hazards to aquatic ecosystems. Constructed wetlands are generally considered to be an effective technology for treating TAP polluted surface water. However, knowledge about the biological mechanisms of TAP removal is still lacking. This study investigates the responses of a wetland plant (Canna indica), substrate enzymes and microbial communities in bench-scale horizontal subsurface-flow constructed wetlands (HSCWs) loaded with different TAP concentrations (0, 0.1, 0.5 and 5 mg·L"−"1). The results indicate that TAP stimulated the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) in the roots of C. indica. The highest TAP concentrations significantly inhibited photosynthetic activities, as shown by a reduced effective quantum yield of PS II (Φ_P_S_I_I) and lower electron transport rates (ETR). However, interestingly, the lower TAP loadings exhibited some favorable effects on these two variables, suggesting that C. indica is a suitable species for use in wetlands designed for treatment of low TAP concentrations. Urease and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) in the wetland substrate were activated by TAP. Two-way ANOVA demonstrated that urease activity was influenced by both the TAP concentrations and season, while acidphosphatase (ACP) only responded to seasonal variations. Analysis of high throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA revealed seasonal variations in the microbial community structure of the wetland substrate at the phylum and family levels. In addition, urease activity had a greater correlation with the relative abundance of some functional microbial groups, such as the Bacillaceae family, and the ALP and ACP may be influenced by the plant more than substrate microbial communities. - Highlights: • Physiological responses of the wetland plant to triazophos loads

Biological mechanisms associated with triazophos (TAP) removal by horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands (HSFCW)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wu, Juan; Feng, Yuqin; Dai, Yanran; Cui, Naxin [State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and ResourceReuse, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092 (China); Anderson, Bruce [Department of Civil Engineering, Queen' s University, Kingston K7L3N6 (Canada); Cheng, Shuiping, E-mail: shpcheng@tongji.edu.cn [State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and ResourceReuse, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092 (China)

2016-05-15

Triazophos (TAP) is a widely used pesticide that is easily accumulated in the environment due to its relatively high stability: this accumulation from agricultural runoff results in potential hazards to aquatic ecosystems. Constructed wetlands are generally considered to be an effective technology for treating TAP polluted surface water. However, knowledge about the biological mechanisms of TAP removal is still lacking. This study investigates the responses of a wetland plant (Canna indica), substrate enzymes and microbial communities in bench-scale horizontal subsurface-flow constructed wetlands (HSCWs) loaded with different TAP concentrations (0, 0.1, 0.5 and 5 mg·L{sup −1}). The results indicate that TAP stimulated the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) in the roots of C. indica. The highest TAP concentrations significantly inhibited photosynthetic activities, as shown by a reduced effective quantum yield of PS II (Φ{sub PSII}) and lower electron transport rates (ETR). However, interestingly, the lower TAP loadings exhibited some favorable effects on these two variables, suggesting that C. indica is a suitable species for use in wetlands designed for treatment of low TAP concentrations. Urease and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) in the wetland substrate were activated by TAP. Two-way ANOVA demonstrated that urease activity was influenced by both the TAP concentrations and season, while acidphosphatase (ACP) only responded to seasonal variations. Analysis of high throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA revealed seasonal variations in the microbial community structure of the wetland substrate at the phylum and family levels. In addition, urease activity had a greater correlation with the relative abundance of some functional microbial groups, such as the Bacillaceae family, and the ALP and ACP may be influenced by the plant more than substrate microbial communities. - Highlights: • Physiological responses of the wetland plant to triazophos

The InSight Mars Lander and Its Effect on the Subsurface Thermal Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Siegler, Matthew A.; Smrekar, Suzanne E.; Grott, Matthias; Piqueux, Sylvain; Mueller, Nils; Williams, Jean-Pierre; Plesa, Ana-Catalina; Spohn, Tilman

2017-10-01

The 2018 InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) Mission has the mission goal of providing insitu data for the first measurement of the geothermal heat flow of Mars. The Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3) will take thermal conductivity and thermal gradient measurements to approximately 5 m depth. By necessity, this measurement will be made within a few meters of the lander. This means that thermal perturbations from the lander will modify local surface and subsurface temperature measurements. For HP3's sensitive thermal gradient measurements, this spacecraft influence will be important to model and parameterize. Here we present a basic 3D model of thermal effects of the lander on its surroundings. Though lander perturbations significantly alter subsurface temperatures, a successful thermal gradient measurement will be possible in all thermal conditions by proper (>3 m depth) placement of the heat flow probe.

Pilot-scale comparison of constructed wetlands operated under high hydraulicloading rates and attached biofilm reactors for domestic wastewater treatment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fountoulakis, M.S.; Terzakis, S.; Chatzinotas, A.

2009-01-01

Four different pilot-scale treatment units were constructed to compare the feasibility of treating domestic wastewater in the City of Heraklio, Crete, Greece: (a) a freewater surface (FWS) wetland system, (b) a horizontal subsurface flow (HSF) wetland system, (c) a rotating biological contactor...

Topology Optimization of Large Scale Stokes Flow Problems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aage, Niels; Poulsen, Thomas Harpsøe; Gersborg-Hansen, Allan

2008-01-01

This note considers topology optimization of large scale 2D and 3D Stokes flow problems using parallel computations. We solve problems with up to 1.125.000 elements in 2D and 128.000 elements in 3D on a shared memory computer consisting of Sun UltraSparc IV CPUs.......This note considers topology optimization of large scale 2D and 3D Stokes flow problems using parallel computations. We solve problems with up to 1.125.000 elements in 2D and 128.000 elements in 3D on a shared memory computer consisting of Sun UltraSparc IV CPUs....

COUPLING STATE-OF-THE-SCIENCE SUBSURFACE SIMULATION WITH ADVANCED USER INTERFACE AND PARALLEL VISUALIZATION: SBIR Phase I Final Report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hardeman, B.; Swenson, D.; Finsterle, S.; Zhou, Q.

2008-01-01

This is a Phase I report on a project to significantly enhance existing subsurface simulation software using leadership-class computing resources, allowing researchers to solve problems with greater speed and accuracy. Subsurface computer simulation is used for monitoring the behavior of contaminants around nuclear waste disposal and storage areas, groundwater flow, environmental remediation, carbon sequestration, methane hydrate production, and geothermal energy reservoir analysis. The Phase I project was a collaborative effort between Thunderhead Engineering (project lead and developers of a commercial pre- and post-processor for the TOUGH2 simulator) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (developers of the TOUGH2 simulator for subsurface flow). The Phase I project successfully identified the technical approaches to be implemented in Phase II.

Site scale groundwater flow in Olkiluoto

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Loefman, J.

1999-03-01

Groundwater flow modelling on the site scale has been an essential part of site investigation work carried out at different locations since 1986. The objective of the modelling has been to provide results that characterise the groundwater flow conditions deep in the bedrock. The main result quantities can be used for evaluation of the investigation sites and of the preconditions for safe final disposal of spent nuclear fuel. This study represents the latest modelling effort at Olkiluoto (Finland), and it comprises the transient flow analysis taking into account the effects of density variations and the repository as well as the post-glacial land uplift. The analysis is performed by means of numerical finite element simulation of coupled and transient groundwater flow and solute transport carried out up to 10000 years into the future. This work provides also the results for the site-specific data needs for the block scale groundwater flow modelling at Olkiluoto. Conceptually the fractured bedrock is divided into hydraulic units: the planar fracture zones and the remaining part of the bedrock. The equivalent-continuum (EC) model is applied so that each hydraulic unit is treated as a homogeneous and isotropic continuum with representative average characteristics. All the fracture zones are modelled explicitly and represented by two-dimensional finite elements. A site-specific simulation model for groundwater flow and solute transport is developed on the basis of the latest hydrogeological and hydrogeochemical field investigations at Olkiluoto. The present groundwater table and topography together with a mathematical model describing the land uplift at the Olkiluoto area are employed as a boundary condition at the surface of the model. The overall flow pattern is mostly controlled by the local variations in the topography. Below the island of Olkiluoto the flow direction is mostly downwards, while near the shoreline and below the sea water flows horizontally and

Site scale groundwater flow in Haestholmen

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Loefman, J. [VTT Energy, Espoo (Finland)

1999-05-01

Groundwater flow modelling on the site scale has been an essential part of site investigation work carried out at different locations since 1986. The objective of the modelling has been to provide results that characterise the groundwater flow conditions deep in the bedrock. The main result quantities can be used for evaluation of the investigation sites and of the preconditions for safe final disposal - of spent nuclear fuel. This study represents the groundwater flow modelling at Haestholmen, and it comprises the transient flow analysis taking into account the effects of density variations and the repository as well as the post-glacial land uplift. The analysis is performed by means of numerical finite element simulation of coupled and transient groundwater flow and solute transport carried out up to 10000 years into the future. This work provides also the results for the site-specific data needs for the block scale groundwater flow modelling at Haestholmen. Conceptually the fractured bedrock is divided into hydraulic units: the planar fracture zones and the remaining part of the bedrock. The equivalent-continuum (EC) model is applied so that each hydraulic unit is treated as a homogeneous and isotropic continuum with representative average characteristics. All the fracture zones are modelled explicitly and represented by two-dimensional finite elements. A site-specific simulation model for groundwater flow and solute transport is developed on the basis of the latest hydrogeological and hydrogeochemical field investigations at Haestholmen. The present topography together with a mathematical model describing the land uplift at the Haestholmen area are employed as a boundary condition at the surface of the model. The overall flow pattern is mostly controlled by the local variations in the topography and by the highly transmissive fracture zones. Near the surface the flow spreads out to offshore and to the lower areas of topography in all directions away from

Site scale groundwater flow in Olkiluoto

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Loefman, J. [VTT Energy, Espoo (Finland)

1999-03-01

Groundwater flow modelling on the site scale has been an essential part of site investigation work carried out at different locations since 1986. The objective of the modelling has been to provide results that characterise the groundwater flow conditions deep in the bedrock. The main result quantities can be used for evaluation of the investigation sites and of the preconditions for safe final disposal of spent nuclear fuel. This study represents the latest modelling effort at Olkiluoto (Finland), and it comprises the transient flow analysis taking into account the effects of density variations and the repository as well as the post-glacial land uplift. The analysis is performed by means of numerical finite element simulation of coupled and transient groundwater flow and solute transport carried out up to 10000 years into the future. This work provides also the results for the site-specific data needs for the block scale groundwater flow modelling at Olkiluoto. Conceptually the fractured bedrock is divided into hydraulic units: the planar fracture zones and the remaining part of the bedrock. The equivalent-continuum (EC) model is applied so that each hydraulic unit is treated as a homogeneous and isotropic continuum with representative average characteristics. All the fracture zones are modelled explicitly and represented by two-dimensional finite elements. A site-specific simulation model for groundwater flow and solute transport is developed on the basis of the latest hydrogeological and hydrogeochemical field investigations at Olkiluoto. The present groundwater table and topography together with a mathematical model describing the land uplift at the Olkiluoto area are employed as a boundary condition at the surface of the model. The overall flow pattern is mostly controlled by the local variations in the topography. Below the island of Olkiluoto the flow direction is mostly downwards, while near the shoreline and below the sea water flows horizontally and

Measuring Dispositional Flow: Validity and reliability of the Dispositional Flow State Scale 2, Italian version.

Science.gov (United States)

Riva, Eleonora F M; Riva, Giuseppe; Talò, Cosimo; Boffi, Marco; Rainisio, Nicola; Pola, Linda; Diana, Barbara; Villani, Daniela; Argenton, Luca; Inghilleri, Paolo

2017-01-01

The aim of this study is to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Dispositional Flow Scale-2 (DFS-2), for use with Italian adults, young adults and adolescents. In accordance with the guidelines for test adaptation, the scale has been translated with the method of back translation. The understanding of the item has been checked according to the latest standards on the culturally sensitive translation. The scale thus produced was administered to 843 individuals (of which 60.69% female), between the ages of 15 and 74. The sample is balanced between workers and students. The main activities defined by the subjects allow the sample to be divided into three categories: students, workers, athletes (professionals and semi-professionals). The confirmatory factor analysis, conducted using the Maximum Likelihood Estimator (MLM), showed acceptable fit indexes. Reliability and validity have been verified, and structural invariance has been verified on 6 categories of Flow experience and for 3 subsamples with different with different fields of action. Correlational analysis shows significant high values between the nine dimensions. Our data confirmed the validity and reliability of the Italian DFS-2 in measuring Flow experiences. The scale is reliable for use with Italian adults, young adults and adolescents. The Italian version of the scale is suitable for the evaluation of the subjective tendency to experience Flow trait characteristic in different contest, as sport, study and work.

Small scale changes of geochemistry and flow field due to transient heat storage in aquifers

Science.gov (United States)

Bauer, S.; Boockmeyer, A.; Li, D.; Beyer, C.

2013-12-01

Heat exchangers in the subsurface are increasingly installed for transient heat storage due to the need of heating or cooling of buildings as well as the interim storage of heat to compensate for the temporally fluctuating energy production by wind or solar energy. For heat storage to be efficient, high temperatures must be achieved in the subsurface. Significant temporal changes of the soil and groundwater temperatures however effect both the local flow field by temperature dependent fluid parameters as well as reactive mass transport through temperature dependent diffusion coefficients, geochemical reaction rates and mineral equilibria. As the use of heat storage will be concentrated in urban areas, the use of the subsurface for (drinking) water supply and heat storage will typically coincide and a reliable prognosis of the processes occurring is needed. In the present work, the effects of a temporal variation of the groundwater temperature, as induced by a local heat exchanger introduced into a groundwater aquifer, are studied. For this purpose, the coupled non-isothermal groundwater flow, heat transport and reactive mass transport is simulated in the near filed of such a heat exchanger. By explicitly discretizing and incorporating the borehole, the borehole cementation and the heat exchanger tubes, a realistic geometrical and process representation is obtained. The numerical simulation code OpenGeoSys is used in this work, which incorporates the required processes of coupled groundwater flow, heat and mass transport as well as temperature dependent geochemistry. Due to the use of a Finite Element Method, a close representation of the geometric effects can be achieved. Synthetic scenario simulations for typical settings of salt water formations in northern Germany are used to investigate the geochemical effects arising from a high temperature heat storage by quantifying changes in groundwater chemistry and overall reaction rates. This work presents the

Regional-to-site scale groundwater flow in Kivetty

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kattilakoski, E. [VTT Energy, Espoo (Finland); Meszaros, F. [The Relief Laboratory, Harskut (Hungary)

1999-04-01

The work describing numerical groundwater flow modelling at the Kivetty site serves as a background report for the safety assessment TILA-99. The site scale can roughly be taken as the scale of detailed borehole investigations, which have probed the bedrock of Kivetty over about 3 km{sup 2} large and 1 km deep volume. The site model in this work covers an area of about 16 km{sup 2}. The depth of the model is 2000 m. The site scale flow modelling produced characteristics of the deep groundwater flow both under the natural conditions and in the case of a spent fuel repository. The hydraulic gradient in the intact rock between the repository and the fracture zone nearest to it (about 50 m off) was assessed for the block scale model. The result quantities were the hydraulic head h (as the base quantity) and its gradient in selected cross sections and fracture zones, the flow rates around the repository, flow paths and discharge areas of the water from the repository. Two repository layouts were discussed. The numerical simulations were performed with the FEFTRA code based on the porous medium concept and the finite element method. The regional model with a no-flow boundary condition at the bottom and on the lateral edges was firstly used to confirm the hydraulic head boundary condition on the lateral edges of an interior site model (having a no-flow boundary condition at the bottom). The groundwater table was used as the hydraulic head boundary condition at the surface of each model. Both the conductivity of the bedrock (modeled with three-dimensional elements) and the transmissivities of the fracture zones (described with two-dimensional elements in the three-dimensional mesh) decreased as a function of the depth. All the results were derived from the site model. With the exception of the western part of Repository A the outlined repositories are located underneath Kumpuvuori, where the flow has a significant subvertical component. The horizontal component of the deep

Regional-to-site scale groundwater flow in Kivetty

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kattilakoski, E.; Meszaros, F.

1999-04-01

The work describing numerical groundwater flow modelling at the Kivetty site serves as a background report for the safety assessment TILA-99. The site scale can roughly be taken as the scale of detailed borehole investigations, which have probed the bedrock of Kivetty over about 3 km 2 large and 1 km deep volume. The site model in this work covers an area of about 16 km 2 . The depth of the model is 2000 m. The site scale flow modelling produced characteristics of the deep groundwater flow both under the natural conditions and in the case of a spent fuel repository. The hydraulic gradient in the intact rock between the repository and the fracture zone nearest to it (about 50 m off) was assessed for the block scale model. The result quantities were the hydraulic head h (as the base quantity) and its gradient in selected cross sections and fracture zones, the flow rates around the repository, flow paths and discharge areas of the water from the repository. Two repository layouts were discussed. The numerical simulations were performed with the FEFTRA code based on the porous medium concept and the finite element method. The regional model with a no-flow boundary condition at the bottom and on the lateral edges was firstly used to confirm the hydraulic head boundary condition on the lateral edges of an interior site model (having a no-flow boundary condition at the bottom). The groundwater table was used as the hydraulic head boundary condition at the surface of each model. Both the conductivity of the bedrock (modeled with three-dimensional elements) and the transmissivities of the fracture zones (described with two-dimensional elements in the three-dimensional mesh) decreased as a function of the depth. All the results were derived from the site model. With the exception of the western part of Repository A the outlined repositories are located underneath Kumpuvuori, where the flow has a significant subvertical component. The horizontal component of the deep

Tests of peak flow scaling in simulated self-similar river networks

Science.gov (United States)

Menabde, M.; Veitzer, S.; Gupta, V.; Sivapalan, M.

2001-01-01

The effect of linear flow routing incorporating attenuation and network topology on peak flow scaling exponent is investigated for an instantaneously applied uniform runoff on simulated deterministic and random self-similar channel networks. The flow routing is modelled by a linear mass conservation equation for a discrete set of channel links connected in parallel and series, and having the same topology as the channel network. A quasi-analytical solution for the unit hydrograph is obtained in terms of recursion relations. The analysis of this solution shows that the peak flow has an asymptotically scaling dependence on the drainage area for deterministic Mandelbrot-Vicsek (MV) and Peano networks, as well as for a subclass of random self-similar channel networks. However, the scaling exponent is shown to be different from that predicted by the scaling properties of the maxima of the width functions. ?? 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Performance of surface and subsurface flow constructed wetlands treating eutrophic waters.

Science.gov (United States)

Hernández-Crespo, C; Gargallo, S; Benedito-Durá, V; Nácher-Rodríguez, Beatriz; Rodrigo-Alacreu, M A; Martín, M

2017-10-01

Three medium size constructed wetlands (CWs) with a total surface of 90ha are working since 2009 in the Albufera de Valencia Natural Park (Spain). Two of them are fed with eutrophic waters from l'Albufera Lake. Their objectives are both reduce the phytoplankton biomass and increase the biodiversity; consequently, improved water quality is returned to the lake. A "science based governance" of these CWs is ongoing inside the LIFE+12 Albufera Project to demonstrate the environmental benefits of these features. In this paper, results and relationships among hydraulic operation, physicochemical variables and plankton in two different CWs typologies, five free water surface CW (FWSCW) and one horizontal subsurface flow CW (HSSFCW), were analysed showing that CWs were capable of improving the water quality and biodiversity but showing clear differences depending on the CW type. The CWs worked under different hydraulic load rates (HLR) from <0.12 to 54.75myr -1 . Inflow water quality was typical from eutrophic waters with mean values of chlorophyll a (Chl a) about 22-90μgChlal -1 and mean total phosphorus (TP) between 0.122 and 0.337mgl -1 . The main conclusion is that HSSFCW was much more efficient than FWSCW in the removal of organic matter, suspended solids and nutrients. The biological role of several shallow lagoons located at the end of the CWs has also been evaluated, showing that they contribute to increase the zooplankton biomass, a key factor to control the phytoplankton blooms. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Calibration of the Site-Scale Saturated Zone Flow Model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zyvoloski, G. A.

2001-01-01

The purpose of the flow calibration analysis work is to provide Performance Assessment (PA) with the calibrated site-scale saturated zone (SZ) flow model that will be used to make radionuclide transport calculations. As such, it is one of the most important models developed in the Yucca Mountain project. This model will be a culmination of much of our knowledge of the SZ flow system. The objective of this study is to provide a defensible site-scale SZ flow and transport model that can be used for assessing total system performance. A defensible model would include geologic and hydrologic data that are used to form the hydrogeologic framework model; also, it would include hydrochemical information to infer transport pathways, in-situ permeability measurements, and water level and head measurements. In addition, the model should include information on major model sensitivities. Especially important are those that affect calibration, the direction of transport pathways, and travel times. Finally, if warranted, alternative calibrations representing different conceptual models should be included. To obtain a defensible model, all available data should be used (or at least considered) to obtain a calibrated model. The site-scale SZ model was calibrated using measured and model-generated water levels and hydraulic head data, specific discharge calculations, and flux comparisons along several of the boundaries. Model validity was established by comparing model-generated permeabilities with the permeability data from field and laboratory tests; by comparing fluid pathlines obtained from the SZ flow model with those inferred from hydrochemical data; and by comparing the upward gradient generated with the model with that observed in the field. This analysis is governed by the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) Analysis and Modeling Report (AMR) Development Plan ''Calibration of the Site-Scale Saturated Zone Flow Model'' (CRWMS M and O 1999a)

High spatial-temporal resolution and integrated surface and subsurface precipitation-runoff modelling for a small stormwater catchment

Science.gov (United States)

Hailegeorgis, Teklu T.; Alfredsen, Knut

2018-02-01

Reliable runoff estimation is important for design of water infrastructure and flood risk management in urban catchments. We developed a spatially distributed Precipitation-Runoff (P-R) model that explicitly represents the land cover information, performs integrated modelling of surface and subsurface components of the urban precipitation water cycle and flow routing. We conducted parameter calibration and validation for a small (21.255 ha) stormwater catchment in Trondheim City during Summer-Autumn events and season, and snow-influenced Winter-Spring seasons at high spatial and temporal resolutions of respectively 5 m × 5 m grid size and 2 min. The calibration resulted in good performance measures (Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency, NSE = 0.65-0.94) and acceptable validation NSE for the seasonal and snow-influenced periods. The infiltration excess surface runoff dominates the peak flows while the contribution of subsurface flow to the sewer pipes also augments the peak flows. Based on the total volumes of simulated flow in sewer pipes (Qsim) and precipitation (P) during the calibration periods, the Qsim/P ranges from 21.44% for an event to 56.50% for the Winter-Spring season, which are in close agreement with the observed volumes (Qobs/P). The lowest percentage of precipitation volume that is transformed to the total simulated runoff in the catchment (QT) is 79.77%. Computation of evapotranspiration (ET) indicated that the ET/P is less than 3% for the events and snow-influenced seasons while it is about 18% for the Summer-Autumn season. The subsurface flow contribution to the sewer pipes are markedly higher than the total surface runoff volume for some events and the Summer-Autumn season. The peakiest flow rates correspond to the Winter-Spring season. Therefore, urban runoff simulation for design and management purposes should include two-way interactions between the subsurface runoff and flow in sewer pipes, and snow-influenced seasons. The developed urban P-R model is

Subgrid-scale models for large-eddy simulation of rotating turbulent channel flows

Science.gov (United States)

Silvis, Maurits H.; Bae, Hyunji Jane; Trias, F. Xavier; Abkar, Mahdi; Moin, Parviz; Verstappen, Roel

2017-11-01

We aim to design subgrid-scale models for large-eddy simulation of rotating turbulent flows. Rotating turbulent flows form a challenging test case for large-eddy simulation due to the presence of the Coriolis force. The Coriolis force conserves the total kinetic energy while transporting it from small to large scales of motion, leading to the formation of large-scale anisotropic flow structures. The Coriolis force may also cause partial flow laminarization and the occurrence of turbulent bursts. Many subgrid-scale models for large-eddy simulation are, however, primarily designed to parametrize the dissipative nature of turbulent flows, ignoring the specific characteristics of transport processes. We, therefore, propose a new subgrid-scale model that, in addition to the usual dissipative eddy viscosity term, contains a nondissipative nonlinear model term designed to capture transport processes, such as those due to rotation. We show that the addition of this nonlinear model term leads to improved predictions of the energy spectra of rotating homogeneous isotropic turbulence as well as of the Reynolds stress anisotropy in spanwise-rotating plane-channel flows. This work is financed by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) under Project Number 613.001.212.

Bacterial transformation and biodegradation processes simulation in horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands using CWM1-RETRASO.

Science.gov (United States)

Llorens, Esther; Saaltink, Maarten W; Poch, Manel; García, Joan

2011-01-01

The performance and reliability of the CWM1-RETRASO model for simulating processes in horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands (HSSF CWs) and the relative contribution of different microbial reactions to organic matter (COD) removal in a HSSF CW treating urban wastewater were evaluated. Various different approaches with diverse influent configurations were simulated. According to the simulations, anaerobic processes were more widespread in the simulated wetland and contributed to a higher COD removal rate [72-79%] than anoxic [0-1%] and aerobic reactions [20-27%] did. In all the cases tested, the reaction that most contributed to COD removal was methanogenesis [58-73%]. All results provided by the model were in consonance with literature and experimental field observations, suggesting a good performance and reliability of CWM1-RETRASO. According to the good simulation predictions, CWM1-RETRASO is the first mechanistic model able to successfully simulate the processes described by the CWM1 model in HSSF CWs. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Tetracycline Resistance in the Subsurface of a Poultry Farm: Influence of Poultry Wastes

Science.gov (United States)

You, Y.; Ball, W. P.; Ward, M. J.; Hilpert, M.

2007-12-01

Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are considered to be important man-made reservoir of antibiotic resistant bacteria. Using the electromagnetic induction (EMI) method of geophysical characterization, we measured the apparent subsurface electrical conductivity (ECa) at a CAFO site in order to assess the movement of pollutants associated with animal waste. The map of ECa and other available data suggest that (1) soil surrounding a poultry litter storage shed is contaminated by poultry waste, (2) a contamination plume in the subsurface emanates from that shed, and (3) the development of that plume is due to groundwater flow. We focused on understanding the spread of tetracycline resistance (Tc\\tiny R), because tetracycline is one of the most frequently used antibiotics in food animal production and therefore probably used at our field site. Microbiological experiments show the presence of Tc\\tiny R bacteria in the subsurface and indicate higher concentrations in the top soil than in the aquifer. Environmental DNA was extracted to identify CAFO- associated Tc\\tiny R genes and to explore a link between the presence of Tc\\tiny R and CAFO practices. A "shot-gun" cloning approach is under development to target the most prevalent Tc\\tiny R gene. This gene will be monitored in future experiments, in which we will study the transmission of Tc\\tiny R to naive E.~coli under selective pressure of Tc. Experimental results will be used to develop a mathematical/numerical model in order to describe the transmission process and to subsequently make estimates regarding the large-scale spread of antibiotic resistance.

FFTF scale-model characterization of flow-induced vibrational response of reactor internals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ryan, J.A.; Julyk, L.J.

1977-01-01

As an integral part of the Fast Test Reactor Vibration Program for Reactor Internals, the flow-induced vibrational characteristics of scaled Fast Test Reactor core internal and peripheral components were assessed under scaled and simulated prototype flow conditions in the Hydraulic Core Mockup. The Hydraulic Core Mockup, a 0.285 geometric scale model, was designed to model the vibrational and hydraulic characteristics of the Fast Test Reactor. Model component vibrational characteristics were measured and determined over a range of 36 percent to 111 percent of the scaled prototype design flow. Selected model and prototype components were shaker tested to establish modal characteristics. The dynamic response of the Hydraulic Core Mockup components exhibited no anomalous flow-rate dependent or modal characteristics, and prototype response predictions were adjudged acceptable

FFTF scale-model characterization of flow induced vibrational response of reactor internals

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ryan, J A; Julyk, L J [Hanford Engineering Development Laboratory, Richland, WA (United States)

1977-12-01

As an integral part of the Fast Test Reactor Vibration Program for Reactor Internals, the flow-induced vibrational characteristics of scaled Fast Test Reactor core internal and peripheral components were assessed under scaled and simulated prototype flow conditions in the Hydraulic Core Mockup. The Hydraulic Core Mockup, a 0.285 geometric scale model, was designed to model the vibrational and hydraulic characteristics of the Fast Test Reactor. Model component vibrational characteristics were measured and determined over a range of 36% to 111% of the scaled prototype design flow. Selected model and prototype components were shaker tested to establish modal characteristics. The dynamic response of the Hydraulic Core Mockup components exhibited no anomalous flow-rate dependent or modal characteristics, and prototype response predictions were adjudged acceptable. (author)

FFTF scale-model characterization of flow induced vibrational response of reactor internals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ryan, J.A.; Julyk, L.J.

1977-01-01

As an integral part of the Fast Test Reactor Vibration Program for Reactor Internals, the flow-induced vibrational characteristics of scaled Fast Test Reactor core internal and peripheral components were assessed under scaled and simulated prototype flow conditions in the Hydraulic Core Mockup. The Hydraulic Core Mockup, a 0.285 geometric scale model, was designed to model the vibrational and hydraulic characteristics of the Fast Test Reactor. Model component vibrational characteristics were measured and determined over a range of 36% to 111% of the scaled prototype design flow. Selected model and prototype components were shaker tested to establish modal characteristics. The dynamic response of the Hydraulic Core Mockup components exhibited no anomalous flow-rate dependent or modal characteristics, and prototype response predictions were adjudged acceptable. (author)

The Mojave vadose zone: a subsurface biosphere analogue for Mars.

Science.gov (United States)

Abbey, William; Salas, Everett; Bhartia, Rohit; Beegle, Luther W

2013-07-01

If life ever evolved on the surface of Mars, it is unlikely that it would still survive there today, but as Mars evolved from a wet planet to an arid one, the subsurface environment may have presented a refuge from increasingly hostile surface conditions. Since the last glacial maximum, the Mojave Desert has experienced a similar shift from a wet to a dry environment, giving us the opportunity to study here on Earth how subsurface ecosystems in an arid environment adapt to increasingly barren surface conditions. In this paper, we advocate studying the vadose zone ecosystem of the Mojave Desert as an analogue for possible subsurface biospheres on Mars. We also describe several examples of Mars-like terrain found in the Mojave region and discuss ecological insights that might be gained by a thorough examination of the vadose zone in these specific terrains. Examples described include distributary fans (deltas, alluvial fans, etc.), paleosols overlain by basaltic lava flows, and evaporite deposits.

Summary report on close-coupled subsurface barrier technology: Initial field trials to full-scale demonstration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heiser, J.H.

1997-09-01

The primary objective of this project was to develop and demonstrate the installation and measure the performance of a close-coupled barrier for the containment of subsurface waste or contaminant migration. A close-coupled barrier is produced by first installing a conventional, low-cost, cement-grout containment barrier followed by a thin lining of a polymer grout. The resultant barrier is a cement-polymer composite that has economic benefits derived from the cement and performance benefits from the durable and resistant polymer layer. The technology has matured from a regulatory investigation of the issues concerning the use of polymers to laboratory compatibility and performance measurements of various polymer systems to a pilot-scale, single column injection at Sandia to full-scale demonstration. The feasibility of the close-coupled barrier concept was proven in a full-scale cold demonstration at Hanford, Washington and then moved to the final stage with a full-scale demonstration at an actual remediation site at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). At the Hanford demonstration the composite barrier was emplaced around and beneath a 20,000 liter tank. The secondary cement layer was constructed using conventional jet grouting techniques. Drilling was completed at a 45 degree angle to the ground, forming a cone-shaped barrier. The primary barrier was placed by panel jet-grouting with a dual-wall drill stem using a two part polymer grout. The polymer chosen was a high molecular weight acrylic. At the BNL demonstration a V-trough barrier was installed using a conventional cement grout for the secondary layer and an acrylic-gel polymer for the primary layer. Construction techniques were identical to the Hanford installation. This report summarizes the technology development from pilot- to full-scale demonstrations and presents some of the performance and quality achievements attained

A Two-Scale Reduced Model for Darcy Flow in Fractured Porous Media

KAUST Repository

Chen, Huangxin

2016-06-01

In this paper, we develop a two-scale reduced model for simulating the Darcy flow in two-dimensional porous media with conductive fractures. We apply the approach motivated by the embedded fracture model (EFM) to simulate the flow on the coarse scale, and the effect of fractures on each coarse scale grid cell intersecting with fractures is represented by the discrete fracture model (DFM) on the fine scale. In the DFM used on the fine scale, the matrix-fracture system are resolved on unstructured grid which represents the fractures accurately, while in the EFM used on the coarse scale, the flux interaction between fractures and matrix are dealt with as a source term, and the matrix-fracture system can be resolved on structured grid. The Raviart-Thomas mixed finite element methods are used for the solution of the coupled flows in the matrix and the fractures on both fine and coarse scales. Numerical results are presented to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed model for simulation of flow in fractured porous media.

Determination and removal of antibiotics in secondary effluent using a horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetland.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Chunhui; Ning, Ke; Zhang, Wenwen; Guo, Yuanjie; Chen, Jun; Liang, Chen

2013-04-01

Increased attention is currently being directed towards the potential negative effects of antibiotics and other PPCPs discharged into the aquatic environment via municipal WWTP secondary effluents. A number of analytical methods, such as high performance liquid chromatography technologies, including a high performance liquid chromatography-fluorescence method (HPLC-FLD), high performance liquid chromatography-UV detection method (HPLC-UV) and high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry method (HPLC-MS), have been suggested as determination technologies for antibiotic residues in water. In this study, we implement a HPLC-MS/MS combined method to detect and analyze antibiotics in WWTP secondary effluent and apply a horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetland (CW) as an advanced wastewater treatment for removing antibiotics in the WWTP secondary effluent. The results show that there were 2 macrolides, 2 quinolones and 5 sulfas in WWTP secondary effluent among all the 22 antibiotics considered. After the CW advanced treatment, the concentration removal efficiencies and removal loads of 9 antibiotics were 53-100% and 0.004-0.7307 μg m(-2) per day, respectively.

Efficient Bayesian inference of subsurface flow models using nested sampling and sparse polynomial chaos surrogates

KAUST Repository

Elsheikh, Ahmed H.

2014-02-01

An efficient Bayesian calibration method based on the nested sampling (NS) algorithm and non-intrusive polynomial chaos method is presented. Nested sampling is a Bayesian sampling algorithm that builds a discrete representation of the posterior distributions by iteratively re-focusing a set of samples to high likelihood regions. NS allows representing the posterior probability density function (PDF) with a smaller number of samples and reduces the curse of dimensionality effects. The main difficulty of the NS algorithm is in the constrained sampling step which is commonly performed using a random walk Markov Chain Monte-Carlo (MCMC) algorithm. In this work, we perform a two-stage sampling using a polynomial chaos response surface to filter out rejected samples in the Markov Chain Monte-Carlo method. The combined use of nested sampling and the two-stage MCMC based on approximate response surfaces provides significant computational gains in terms of the number of simulation runs. The proposed algorithm is applied for calibration and model selection of subsurface flow models. © 2013.

Electrical Resistance Tomography for Subsurface Imaging. Innovative Technology Summary Report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

None

2000-01-01

Electrical Resistance Tomography (ERT) noninvasively maps the 3-D resistivity field in the subsurface. It can be used on a scale from feet to kilometers. The 3-D resistivity field can be used to infer subsurface hydrogeological features and provides good resolution mapping of confining layers of various types. ERT imaging has been used for real-time monitoring and process control of remediation processes such as soil heating, pump and treat, steam injection, electrokinetics, Dynamic Underground Stripping (TechID 7), Hydrous Pyrolysis/Oxidation (TechID 1519) and more. ERT can be deployed via rapid and inexpensive installation of electrodes using a Cone Penetrometer (TechID 243). Additional applications are described under TechID 140 (Tanks) and TechID 2120 (Injected Subsurface Barriers); see also the related technology TechID 2121 (EIT)

Flow through a Two-Scale Porosity Material

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. G. Andersson

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Flow through a two-scale porous medium is here investigated by a unique comparison between simulations performed with computational fluid dynamics and the boundary element method with microparticle image velocimetry in model geometries.

Subsurface defects structural evolution in nano-cutting of single crystal copper

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Quanlong; Bai, Qingshun; Chen, Jiaxuan; Sun, Yazhou; Guo, Yongbo; Liang, Yingchun

2015-01-01

Highlights: • An innovative analysis method is adopted to analyze nano-cutting process accurately. • A characteristic SFT and stair-rod dislocation are found in subsurface defect layer. • The formation mechanism of stair-rod dislocation is investigated. • The local atomic structure of subsurface defects is introduced. - Abstract: In this work, molecular dynamics simulation is performed to study the subsurface defects structural distribution and its evolution during nano-cutting process of single crystal copper. The formation mechanism of chip and machined surface is interviewed by analyzing the dislocation evolution and atomic migration. The centro-symmetry parameter and spherical harmonics method are adopted to characterize the distribution and evolution of the subsurface defect structures and local atomic structures. The results show that stacking faults, dislocation loops, “V-shaped” dislocation loops, and plenty of point defects are formed during the machined surface being formed in shear-slip zone. In subsurface damage layers, stair-rod dislocation, stacking fault tetrahedra, atomic cluster defect, and vacancy defect are formed. And the formation mechanism of stair-rod dislocation is investigated by atomic-scale structure evolution. The local atomic structures of subsurface defects are icosahedrons, hexagonal close packed, body-centered cubic, and defect face center cubic, and the variations of local atomic structures are investigated

Subsurface defects structural evolution in nano-cutting of single crystal copper

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Quanlong [School of Mechatronics Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001 (China); Center for Precision Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001 (China); Bai, Qingshun [School of Mechatronics Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001 (China); Chen, Jiaxuan, E-mail: wangquanlong0@hit.edu.cn [Center for Precision Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001 (China); Sun, Yazhou [School of Mechatronics Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001 (China); Guo, Yongbo [Center for Precision Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001 (China); Liang, Yingchun [School of Mechatronics Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001 (China)

2015-07-30

Highlights: • An innovative analysis method is adopted to analyze nano-cutting process accurately. • A characteristic SFT and stair-rod dislocation are found in subsurface defect layer. • The formation mechanism of stair-rod dislocation is investigated. • The local atomic structure of subsurface defects is introduced. - Abstract: In this work, molecular dynamics simulation is performed to study the subsurface defects structural distribution and its evolution during nano-cutting process of single crystal copper. The formation mechanism of chip and machined surface is interviewed by analyzing the dislocation evolution and atomic migration. The centro-symmetry parameter and spherical harmonics method are adopted to characterize the distribution and evolution of the subsurface defect structures and local atomic structures. The results show that stacking faults, dislocation loops, “V-shaped” dislocation loops, and plenty of point defects are formed during the machined surface being formed in shear-slip zone. In subsurface damage layers, stair-rod dislocation, stacking fault tetrahedra, atomic cluster defect, and vacancy defect are formed. And the formation mechanism of stair-rod dislocation is investigated by atomic-scale structure evolution. The local atomic structures of subsurface defects are icosahedrons, hexagonal close packed, body-centered cubic, and defect face center cubic, and the variations of local atomic structures are investigated.

Applications of electrical resistance tomography to subsurface environmental restoration

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ramirez, A.L. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States); Daily, W.D.

1994-11-15

We are developing a new imaging technique, Electrical Resistance Tomography (ERT), to map subsurface liquids as flow occurs during natural or clean-up processes and to map geologic structure. Natural processes (such as surface water infiltrating the vadose zone) and man-induced processes (such as tank leaks and clean-up processes such as steam injection), can create changes in a soil`s electrical properties that are readily measured. We have conducted laboratory and a variety of field experiments to investigate the capabilities and limitations of ERT for imaging underground structures and processes. In the last four years we have used ERT to successfully monitor several field processes including: a subsurface steam injection process (for VOC removal), an air injection process (below the water table) for VOC removal, water infiltration through the vadose zone, radio-frequency heating, ohmic heating, and tank and pond leaks. The information derived from ERT can be used by remediation projects to: detect and locate leaks, determine the effectiveness of clean-up processes, select appropriate clean-up alternatives, and to verify the installation and performance of subsurface barriers.

Subsurface structures in the northern Mare Imbrium measured by Chang'E-3 and SELENE

Science.gov (United States)

Kumamoto, A.; Ishiyama, K.; Feng, J.

2016-12-01

Subsurface structures in the northern Mare Imbrium measured by Chang'E-3 and SELENE have been compared. In Chang'E-3 mission, subsurface radar sounding at (19.51W, 44.12N) was performed by Lunar Penetrating Radar (LPR) onboard the Yutu rover. The LPR was pulse radar operated at two frequencies: 60 MHz and 500 MHz. During its operation period from December 2013 to January 2014, the LPR observed subsurface echoes along the rover's track with total distance of 114 m. From the observation in 60 MHz, the subsurface echoes from buried regolith layers at depths of 35, 50, 140, 240, and 360 m were reported (Xiao et al., 2015). In SELENE mission, global subsurface radar sounding of the moon was performed by Lunar Radar Sounder (LRS) onboard the SELENE (Kaguya) spacecraft from the polar orbit with an altitude of 100 km. The LRS was chirp radar operated in a frequency range from 4-6 MHz. So the range resolution of LRS was 75 m in vacuum. During operation period from December 2007 to September 2008, subsurface echoes from all areas of the Moon was observed with a lateral resolution of 76 m. From the global observation, the subsurface echoes from the buried regolith layers in the neraside maria including Mare Imbrium at depths of several hundred meters were reported (Ono et al., 2009).In the present study, we focus on SELENE/LRS data obtained at (19.50W, 44.12N) which is the nearest to the Chang'E-3 landing site. While clear and large-scale subsurface reflectors, as found in Ono et al. (2009), are not found in it, we can identify some echo components from the depths of 140 ( 2000 ns), 240 ( 4000 ns), and 360 m ( 6000 ns). Further analyses utilizing high-resolution data from Chang'E-3/LPR and large-scale data from SELENE/LRS, we will be able to determine the thickness and large-scale structures of the buried regolith layers found by the both radars, and discuss their formation processes in volcanic history of Mare Imbrium.

Subsurface Contamination Control

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Y. Yuan

2001-12-12

There are two objectives of this report, ''Subsurface Contamination Control''. The first is to provide a technical basis for recommending limiting radioactive contamination levels (LRCL) on the external surfaces of waste packages (WP) for acceptance into the subsurface repository. The second is to provide an evaluation of the magnitude of potential releases from a defective WP and the detectability of the released contents. The technical basis for deriving LRCL has been established in ''Retrieval Equipment and Strategy for Wp on Pallet'' (CRWMS M and O 2000g, 6.3.1). This report updates the derivation by incorporating the latest design information of the subsurface repository for site recommendation. The derived LRCL on the external surface of WPs, therefore, supercede that described in CRWMS M and O 2000g. The derived LRCL represent the average concentrations of contamination on the external surfaces of each WP that must not be exceeded before the WP is to be transported to the subsurface facility for emplacement. The evaluation of potential releases is necessary to control the potential contamination of the subsurface repository and to detect prematurely failed WPs. The detection of failed WPs is required in order to provide reasonable assurance that the integrity of each WP is intact prior to MGR closure. An emplaced WP may become breached due to manufacturing defects or improper weld combined with failure to detect the defect, by corrosion, or by mechanical penetration due to accidents or rockfall conditions. The breached WP may release its gaseous and volatile radionuclide content to the subsurface environment and result in contaminating the subsurface facility. The scope of this analysis is limited to radioactive contaminants resulting from breached WPs during the preclosure period of the subsurface repository. This report: (1) documents a method for deriving LRCL on the external surfaces of WP for acceptance into the

Large-scale structures in turbulent Couette flow

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Jung Hoon; Lee, Jae Hwa

2016-11-01

Direct numerical simulation of fully developed turbulent Couette flow is performed with a large computational domain in the streamwise and spanwise directions (40 πh and 6 πh) to investigate streamwise-scale growth mechanism of the streamwise velocity fluctuating structures in the core region, where h is the channel half height. It is shown that long streamwise-scale structures (> 3 h) are highly energetic and they contribute to more than 80% of the turbulent kinetic energy and Reynolds shear stress, compared to previous studies in canonical Poiseuille flows. Instantaneous and statistical analysis show that negative-u' structures on the bottom wall in the Couette flow continuously grow in the streamwise direction due to mean shear, and they penetrate to the opposite moving wall. The geometric center of the log layer is observed in the centerline with a dominant outer peak in streamwise spectrum, and the maximum streamwise extent for structure is found in the centerline, similar to previous observation in turbulent Poiseuille flows at high Reynolds number. Further inspection of time-evolving instantaneous fields clearly exhibits that adjacent long structures combine to form a longer structure in the centerline. This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF-2014R1A1A2057031).

Boomerang RG flows in M-theory with intermediate scaling

Science.gov (United States)

Donos, Aristomenis; Gauntlett, Jerome P.; Rosen, Christopher; Sosa-Rodriguez, Omar

2017-07-01

We construct novel RG flows of D=11 supergravity that asymptotically approach AdS 4 × S 7 in the UV with deformations that break spatial translations in the dual field theory. In the IR the solutions return to exactly the same AdS 4 × S 7 vacuum, with a renormalisation of relative length scales, and hence we refer to the flows as `boomerang RG flows'. For sufficiently large deformations, on the way to the IR the solutions also approach two distinct intermediate scaling regimes, each with hyperscaling violation. The first regime is Lorentz invariant with dynamical exponent z = 1 while the second has z = 5/2. Neither ofthe two intermediatescaling regimesare associatedwith exact hyperscaling violation solutions of D = 11 supergravity. The RG flow solutions are constructed using the four dimensional N = 2 STU gauged supergravity theory with vanishing gauge fields, but non-vanishing scalar and pseudoscalar fields. In the ABJM dual field theory the flows are driven by spatially modulated deformation parameters for scalar and fermion bilinear operators.

Sparse calibration of subsurface flow models using nonlinear orthogonal matching pursuit and an iterative stochastic ensemble method

KAUST Repository

Elsheikh, Ahmed H.

2013-06-01

We introduce a nonlinear orthogonal matching pursuit (NOMP) for sparse calibration of subsurface flow models. Sparse calibration is a challenging problem as the unknowns are both the non-zero components of the solution and their associated weights. NOMP is a greedy algorithm that discovers at each iteration the most correlated basis function with the residual from a large pool of basis functions. The discovered basis (aka support) is augmented across the nonlinear iterations. Once a set of basis functions are selected, the solution is obtained by applying Tikhonov regularization. The proposed algorithm relies on stochastically approximated gradient using an iterative stochastic ensemble method (ISEM). In the current study, the search space is parameterized using an overcomplete dictionary of basis functions built using the K-SVD algorithm. The proposed algorithm is the first ensemble based algorithm that tackels the sparse nonlinear parameter estimation problem. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

Debris flow hazard modelling on medium scale: Valtellina di Tirano, Italy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Blahut

2010-11-01

Full Text Available Debris flow hazard modelling at medium (regional scale has been subject of various studies in recent years. In this study, hazard zonation was carried out, incorporating information about debris flow initiation probability (spatial and temporal, and the delimitation of the potential runout areas. Debris flow hazard zonation was carried out in the area of the Consortium of Mountain Municipalities of Valtellina di Tirano (Central Alps, Italy. The complexity of the phenomenon, the scale of the study, the variability of local conditioning factors, and the lacking data limited the use of process-based models for the runout zone delimitation. Firstly, a map of hazard initiation probabilities was prepared for the study area, based on the available susceptibility zoning information, and the analysis of two sets of aerial photographs for the temporal probability estimation. Afterwards, the hazard initiation map was used as one of the inputs for an empirical GIS-based model (Flow-R, developed at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland. An estimation of the debris flow magnitude was neglected as the main aim of the analysis was to prepare a debris flow hazard map at medium scale. A digital elevation model, with a 10 m resolution, was used together with landuse, geology and debris flow hazard initiation maps as inputs of the Flow-R model to restrict potential areas within each hazard initiation probability class to locations where debris flows are most likely to initiate. Afterwards, runout areas were calculated using multiple flow direction and energy based algorithms. Maximum probable runout zones were calibrated using documented past events and aerial photographs. Finally, two debris flow hazard maps were prepared. The first simply delimits five hazard zones, while the second incorporates the information about debris flow spreading direction probabilities, showing areas more likely to be affected by future debris flows. Limitations of the modelling arise

Subsurface urban heat islands in German cities.

Science.gov (United States)

Menberg, Kathrin; Bayer, Peter; Zosseder, Kai; Rumohr, Sven; Blum, Philipp

2013-01-01

Little is known about the intensity and extension of subsurface urban heat islands (UHI), and the individual role of the driving factors has not been revealed either. In this study, we compare groundwater temperatures in shallow aquifers beneath six German cities of different size (Berlin, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Karlsruhe and Darmstadt). It is revealed that hotspots of up to +20K often exist, which stem from very local heat sources, such as insufficiently insulated power plants, landfills or open geothermal systems. When visualizing the regional conditions in isotherm maps, mostly a concentric picture is found with the highest temperatures in the city centers. This reflects the long-term accumulation of thermal energy over several centuries and the interplay of various factors, particularly in heat loss from basements, elevated ground surface temperatures (GST) and subsurface infrastructure. As a primary indicator to quantify and compare large-scale UHI intensity the 10-90%-quantile range UHII(10-90) of the temperature distribution is introduced. The latter reveals, in comparison to annual atmospheric UHI intensities, an even more pronounced heating of the shallow subsurface. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A detailed model for simulation of catchment scale subsurface hydrologic processes

Science.gov (United States)

Paniconi, Claudio; Wood, Eric F.

1993-01-01

A catchment scale numerical model is developed based on the three-dimensional transient Richards equation describing fluid flow in variably saturated porous media. The model is designed to take advantage of digital elevation data bases and of information extracted from these data bases by topographic analysis. The practical application of the model is demonstrated in simulations of a small subcatchment of the Konza Prairie reserve near Manhattan, Kansas. In a preliminary investigation of computational issues related to model resolution, we obtain satisfactory numerical results using large aspect ratios, suggesting that horizontal grid dimensions may not be unreasonably constrained by the typically much smaller vertical length scale of a catchment and by vertical discretization requirements. Additional tests are needed to examine the effects of numerical constraints and parameter heterogeneity in determining acceptable grid aspect ratios. In other simulations we attempt to match the observed streamflow response of the catchment, and we point out the small contribution of the streamflow component to the overall water balance of the catchment.

Composition and structure of the shallow subsurface of Ceres revealed by crater morphology

Science.gov (United States)

Bland, Michael T.; Carol A. Raymond,; Schenk, Paul M.; Roger R. Fu,; Thomas Kneisl,; Hendrick Pasckert, Jan; Hiesinger, Harald; Frank Preusker,; Ryan S. Park,; Simone Marchi,; Scott King,; Castillo-Rogez, Julie C.; Christopher T. Russell,

2016-01-01

Before NASA’s Dawn mission, the dwarf planet Ceres was widely believed to contain a substantial ice-rich layer below its rocky surface. The existence of such a layer has significant implications for Ceres’s formation, evolution, and astrobiological potential. Ceres is warmer than icy worlds in the outer Solar System and, if its shallow subsurface is ice-rich, large impact craters are expected to be erased by viscous flow on short geologic timescales. Here we use digital terrain models derived from Dawn Framing Camera images to show that most of Ceres’s largest craters are several kilometres deep, and are therefore inconsistent with the existence of an ice-rich subsurface. We further show from numerical simulations that the absence of viscous relaxation over billion-year timescales implies a subsurface viscosity that is at least one thousand times greater than that of pure water ice. We conclude that Ceres’s shallow subsurface is no more than 30% to 40% ice by volume, with a mixture of rock, salts and/or clathrates accounting for the other 60% to 70%. However, several anomalously shallow craters are consistent with limited viscous relaxation and may indicate spatial variations in subsurface ice content.

Multi-scale viscosity model of turbulence for fully-developed channel flows

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kriventsev, V.; Yamaguchi, A.; Ninokata, H.

2001-01-01

The full text follows. Multi-Scale Viscosity (MSV) model is proposed for estimation of the Reynolds stresses in turbulent fully-developed flow in a straight channel of an arbitrary shape. We assume that flow in an ''ideal'' channel is always stable, i.e. laminar, but turbulence is developing process of external perturbations cased by wall roughness and other factors. We also assume that real flows are always affected by perturbations of every scale lower than the size of the channel. And the turbulence is generated in form of internal, or ''turbulent'' viscosity increase to preserve stability of ''disturbed'' flow. The main idea of MSV can be expressed in the following phenomenological rule: A local deformation of axial velocity can generate the turbulence with the intensity that keeps the value of local turbulent Reynolds number below some critical value. Here, the local turbulent Reynolds number is defined as a product of value of axial velocity deformation for a given scale and generic length of this scale divided by accumulated value of laminar and turbulent viscosity of lower scales. In MSV, the only empirical parameter is the critical Reynolds number that is estimated to be around 100. It corresponds for the largest scale which is hydraulic diameter of the channel and, therefore represents the regular Reynolds number. Thus, the value Re=100 corresponds to conditions when turbulent flow can appear in case of ''significant'' (comparable with size of channel) velocity disturbance in boundary and/or initial conditions for velocity. Of course, most of real flows in channels with relatively smooth walls remain laminar for this small Reynolds number because of absence of such ''significant'' perturbations. MSV model has been applied to the fully-developed turbulent flows in straight channels such as a circular tube and annular channel. Friction factor and velocity profiles predicted with MSV are in a very good agreement with numerous experimental data. Position of

Dynamic fluid connectivity during steady-state multiphase flow in a sandstone.

Science.gov (United States)

Reynolds, Catriona A; Menke, Hannah; Andrew, Matthew; Blunt, Martin J; Krevor, Samuel

2017-08-01

The current conceptual picture of steady-state multiphase Darcy flow in porous media is that the fluid phases organize into separate flow pathways with stable interfaces. Here we demonstrate a previously unobserved type of steady-state flow behavior, which we term "dynamic connectivity," using fast pore-scale X-ray imaging. We image the flow of N 2 and brine through a permeable sandstone at subsurface reservoir conditions, and low capillary numbers, and at constant fluid saturation. At any instant, the network of pores filled with the nonwetting phase is not necessarily connected. Flow occurs along pathways that periodically reconnect, like cars controlled by traffic lights. This behavior is consistent with an energy balance, where some of the energy of the injected fluids is sporadically converted to create new interfaces.

Scale-model characterization of flow-induced vibrational response of FFTF reactor internals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ryan, J.A.; Mahoney, J.J.

1980-10-01

Fast Test Reactor core internal and peripheral components were assessed for flow-induced vibrational characteristics under scaled and simulated prototype flow conditions in the Hydraulic Core Mockup as an integral part of the Fast Test Reactor Vibration Program. The Hydraulic Core Mockup was an 0.285 geometric scale model of the Fast Test Reactor internals designed to simulate prototype vibrational and hydraulic characteristics. Using water to simulate sodium coolant, vibrational characteristics were measured and determined for selected model components over the scaled flow range of 36 to 110%. Additionally, in-situ shaker tests were conducted on selected Hydraulic Core Mockup outlet plenum components to establish modal characteristics. Most components exhibited resonant response at all test flow rates; however, the measured dynamic response was neither abnormal nor anomalously flow-rate dependent, and the predicted prototype components' response were deemed acceptable

Field-scale measurements for separation of catchment discharge into flow route contributions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Velde, Y. van der; Rozemeijer, J.C.; Rooij, G.H. de; Geer, F.C. van; Broers, H.P.

2010-01-01

Agricultural pollutants in catchments are transported toward the discharging stream through various flow routes such as tube drain flow, groundwater flow, interflow, and overland flow. Direct measurements of flow route contributions are difficult and often impossible. We developed a field-scale

Field-Scale Measurements for Separation of Catchment Discharge into Flow Route Contributions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Velde, van der Y.; Rozemeijer, J.; Rooij, de G.H.; Geer, van F.C.; Broers, H.P.

2010-01-01

Agricultural pollutants in catchments are transported toward the discharging stream through various flow routes such as tube drain flow, groundwater flow, interflow, and overland flow. Direct measurements of flow route contributions are difficult and often impossible. We developed a field-scale

Field-scale measurements for separation of catchment discharge into flow route contributions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Velde, Ype; Rozemeijer, Joachim C.; de Rooij, Gerrit H.; van Geer, Frans C.; Broers, Hans Peter

Agricultural pollutants in catchments are transported toward the discharging stream through various flow routes such as tube drain flow, groundwater flow, interflow, and overland flow. Direct measurements of flow route contributions are difficult and often impossible. We developed a field-scale

Flow Induced segregation in full scale castings with SCC

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thrane, Lars Nyholm; Stang, Henrik; Geiker, Mette Rica

2007-01-01

induced segregation is a major risk during casting and it is not yet clear how this phenomenon should be modelled. In this paper testing and numerical simulations of full-scale wall castings are compared. Two different SCCs and three different filling methods were applied resulting in different flow...... patterns during form filling. Results show that the flow patterns have a major influence on the risk of flow induced segregation and the surface finish of the hardened concrete. A hypothesis for the mechanism of flow induced segregation is put forth....

Groundwater flow analysis on local scale. Setting boundary conditions of groundwater flow analysis on site scale model in the former part of the step 3

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Onoe, Hironori; Saegusa, Hiromitsu

2005-07-01

Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute has been conducting a wide range of geoscientific research in order to build a foundation for multidisciplinary studies of the deep geological environment as a basis of research and development for geological disposal of nuclear wastes. Ongoing geoscientific research programs include the Regional Hydrogeological Study (RHS) project and Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory (MIU) project in the Tono region, Gifu Prefecture. The main goal of these projects is to establish comprehensive techniques for investigation, analysis, and assessment of the deep geological environment at several spatial scales. The RHS project is a local scale study for understanding the groundwater flow system from the recharge area to the discharge area. The Surface-based Investigation Phase of the MIU project is a mainly site scale study for understanding the deep geological environment immediately surrounding the MIU construction site using a multiphase, iterative approach. In this study, the hydrogeological modeling and groundwater flow analysis on the Local scale were carried out in order to set boundary conditions of the site scale model based on the data obtained from surface-based investigations in the former part of the Step 3 in site scale of the MIU project. As a result of the study, the uncertainty of hydrogeological model of the local scale and boundary conditions for the site scale model is decreased as stepwise investigation, and boundary conditions for groundwater flow analysis on the site scale model for the former part of the Step 3 could be obtained. (author)

Subsurface Ventilation System Description Document

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Eric Loros

2001-07-25

The Subsurface Ventilation System supports the construction and operation of the subsurface repository by providing air for personnel and equipment and temperature control for the underground areas. Although the system is located underground, some equipment and features may be housed or located above ground. The system ventilates the underground by providing ambient air from the surface throughout the subsurface development and emplacement areas. The system provides fresh air for a safe work environment and supports potential retrieval operations by ventilating and cooling emplacement drifts. The system maintains compliance within the limits established for approved air quality standards. The system maintains separate ventilation between the development and waste emplacement areas. The system shall remove a portion of the heat generated by the waste packages during preclosure to support thermal goals. The system provides temperature control by reducing drift temperature to support potential retrieval operations. The ventilation system has the capability to ventilate selected drifts during emplacement and retrieval operations. The Subsurface Facility System is the main interface with the Subsurface Ventilation System. The location of the ducting, seals, filters, fans, emplacement doors, regulators, and electronic controls are within the envelope created by the Ground Control System in the Subsurface Facility System. The Subsurface Ventilation System also interfaces with the Subsurface Electrical System for power, the Monitored Geologic Repository Operations Monitoring and Control System to ensure proper and safe operation, the Safeguards and Security System for access to the emplacement drifts, the Subsurface Fire Protection System for fire safety, the Emplacement Drift System for repository performance, and the Backfill Emplacement and Subsurface Excavation Systems to support ventilation needs.

Subsurface Ventilation System Description Document

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2000-10-12

The Subsurface Ventilation System supports the construction and operation of the subsurface repository by providing air for personnel and equipment and temperature control for the underground areas. Although the system is located underground, some equipment and features may be housed or located above ground. The system ventilates the underground by providing ambient air from the surface throughout the subsurface development and emplacement areas. The system provides fresh air for a safe work environment and supports potential retrieval operations by ventilating and cooling emplacement drifts. The system maintains compliance within the limits established for approved air quality standards. The system maintains separate ventilation between the development and waste emplacement areas. The system shall remove a portion of the heat generated by the waste packages during preclosure to support thermal goals. The system provides temperature control by reducing drift temperature to support potential retrieval operations. The ventilation system has the capability to ventilate selected drifts during emplacement and retrieval operations. The Subsurface Facility System is the main interface with the Subsurface Ventilation System. The location of the ducting, seals, filters, fans, emplacement doors, regulators, and electronic controls are within the envelope created by the Ground Control System in the Subsurface Facility System. The Subsurface Ventilation System also interfaces with the Subsurface Electrical System for power, the Monitored Geologic Repository Operations Monitoring and Control System to ensure proper and safe operation, the Safeguards and Security System for access to the emplacement drifts, the Subsurface Fire Protection System for fire safety, the Emplacement Drift System for repository performance, and the Backfill Emplacement and Subsurface Excavation Systems to support ventilation needs.

Libration-driven flows in ellipsoidal shells

Science.gov (United States)

Lemasquerier, D.; Grannan, A. M.; Vidal, J.; Cébron, D.; Favier, B.; Le Bars, M.; Aurnou, J. M.

2017-09-01

Planets and satellites can undergo physical librations, which consist of forced periodic variations in their rotation rate induced by gravitational interactions with nearby bodies. This mechanical forcing may drive turbulence in interior fluid layers such as subsurface oceans and metallic liquid cores through a libration-driven elliptical instability (LDEI) that refers to the resonance of two inertial modes with the libration-induced base flow. LDEI has been studied in the case of a full ellipsoid. Here we address for the first time the question of the persistence of LDEI in the more geophysically relevant ellipsoidal shell geometries. In the experimental setup, an ellipsoidal container with spherical inner cores of different sizes is filled with water. Direct side view flow visualizations are made in the librating frame using Kalliroscope particles. A Fourier analysis of the light intensity fluctuations extracted from recorded movies shows that the presence of an inner core leads to spatial heterogeneities but does not prevent LDEI. Particle image velocimetry and direct numerical simulations are performed on selected cases to confirm our results. Additionally, our survey at a fixed forcing frequency and variable rotation period (i.e., variable Ekman number, E) shows that the libration amplitude at the instability threshold varies as ˜E0.65. This scaling is explained by a competition between surface and bulk dissipation. When extrapolating to planetary interior conditions, this leads to the E1/2 scaling commonly considered. We argue that Enceladus' subsurface ocean and the core of the exoplanet 55 CnC e should both be unstable to LDEI.

Subsurface Facility System Description Document

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eric Loros

2001-01-01

The Subsurface Facility System encompasses the location, arrangement, size, and spacing of the underground openings. This subsurface system includes accesses, alcoves, and drifts. This system provides access to the underground, provides for the emplacement of waste packages, provides openings to allow safe and secure work conditions, and interfaces with the natural barrier. This system includes what is now the Exploratory Studies Facility. The Subsurface Facility System physical location and general arrangement help support the long-term waste isolation objectives of the repository. The Subsurface Facility System locates the repository openings away from main traces of major faults, away from exposure to erosion, above the probable maximum flood elevation, and above the water table. The general arrangement, size, and spacing of the emplacement drifts support disposal of the entire inventory of waste packages based on the emplacement strategy. The Subsurface Facility System provides access ramps to safely facilitate development and emplacement operations. The Subsurface Facility System supports the development and emplacement operations by providing subsurface space for such systems as ventilation, utilities, safety, monitoring, and transportation

Spatial and temporal variation of residence time and storage volume of subsurface water evaluated by multi-tracers approach in mountainous headwater catchments

Science.gov (United States)

Tsujimura, Maki; Yano, Shinjiro; Abe, Yutaka; Matsumoto, Takehiro; Yoshizawa, Ayumi; Watanabe, Ysuhito; Ikeda, Koichi

2015-04-01

Headwater catchments in mountainous region are the most important recharge area for surface and subsurface waters, additionally time and stock information of the water is principal to understand hydrological processes in the catchments. However, there have been few researches to evaluate variation of residence time and storage volume of subsurface water in time and space at the mountainous headwaters especially with steep slope. We performed an investigation on age dating and estimation of storage volume using simple water budget model in subsurface water with tracing of hydrological flow processes in mountainous catchments underlain by granite, Paleozoic and Tertiary, Yamanashi and Tsukuba, central Japan. We conducted hydrometric measurements and sampling of spring, stream and ground waters in high-flow and low-flow seasons from 2008 through 2012 in the catchments, and CFCs, stable isotopic ratios of oxygen-18 and deuterium, inorganic solute constituent concentrations were determined on all water samples. Residence time of subsurface water ranged from 11 to 60 years in the granite catchments, from 17 to 32 years in the Paleozoic catchments, from 13 to 26 years in the Tertiary catchments, and showed a younger age during the high-flow season, whereas it showed an older age in the low-flow season. Storage volume of subsurface water was estimated to be ranging from 10 ^ 4 to 10 ^ 6 m3 in the granite catchments, from 10 ^ 5 to 10 ^ 7 m3 in the Paleozoic catchments, from 10 ^ 4 to 10 ^ 6 m3 in the Tertiary catchments. In addition, seasonal change of storage volume in the granite catchments was the highest as compared with those of the Paleozoic and the Tertiary catchments. The results suggest that dynamic change of hydrological process seems to cause a larger variation of the residence time and storage volume of subsurface water in time and space in the granite catchments, whereas higher groundwater recharge rate due to frequent fissures or cracks seems to cause larger

Continuous Passive Sampling of Solutes from Agricultural Subsurface Drainage Tubes

Science.gov (United States)

Lindblad Vendelboe, Anders; de Jonge, Hubert; Rozemeijer, Joachim; Wollesen de Jonge, Lis

2015-04-01

Agricultural subsurface tube drain systems play an important role in water and solute transport. One study, focusing on lowland agricultural catchments, showed that subsurface tube drainage contributed up to 80% of the annual discharge and 90% of the annual NO3 load from agricultural fields to the receiving water bodies. Knowledge of e.g. nutrient loads and drainage volumes, based on measurements and modelling, are important for adequate water quality management. Despite the importance of tube drain transport of solutes, monitoring data are scarce. This scarcity is a result of the existing monitoring techniques for flow and contaminant load from tube drains being expensive and labor-extensive. The study presented here aimed at developing a cheap, simple, and robust method to monitor solute loads from tube drains. The method is based on the newly developed Flowcap, which can be attached to existing tube drain outlets and can measure total flow, contaminant load and flow-averaged concentrations of solutes in the drainage. The Flowcap builds on the existing Sorbicell principle, a passive sampling system that measures average concentrations over longer periods of time (days to months) for various compounds. The Sorbicell consists of two compartments permeable to water. One compartment contains an adsorbent and one contains a tracer. When water passes through the Sorbicell the compound of interest is absorbed while a tracer is released. Using the tracer loss to calculate the volume of water that has passed the Sorbicell it is possible to calculate the average concentration of the compound. When mounting Sorbicells in the Flowcap, a flow-proportional part of the drainage is sampled from the main stream. To accommodate the wide range of drainage flow rates two Flowcaps with different capacities were tested in the laboratory: one with a capacity of 25 L min-1 (Q25) and one with a capacity of 256 L min-1 (Q256). In addition, Sorbicells with two different hydraulic

Ibuprofen removal in horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands: treatment performance and fungal community dynamics.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Dongqing; Luo, Jinxue; Lee, Zarraz May Ping; Gersberg, Richard M; Liu, Yu; Tan, Soon Keat; Ng, Wun Jern

2016-01-01

The treatment performance of ibuprofen (IBP)-enriched wastewater by horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands planted with cattail (Typha angustifolia) and unplanted control mesocosms was investigated. Removal efficiencies of IBP were significantly (p fungal community in these wetland systems. The overall diversity of the fungal community was reduced under the IBP exposure. Taxonomic analysis revealed that 62.2% of the fungal sequences were affiliated with Basidiomycota, followed by Ascomycota (37.4%) at the phylum level. Uncultured fungus (48.2%), Chaetomium sp. (14.2%), Aspergillus sp. (12.4%), Trichoderma sp. (5.7%), Cladosporium sp. (5.4%), and Emericellopsis sp. (5.2%) were identified as dominant genera. At the genus level, a distinct profile of the fungal community in the IBP-enriched mesocosms was observed as compared to the control beds, and as well specific fungal genera were enhanced in the planted beds, regardless of IBP enrichment. However, despite these differences, the composition of the fungal community (as measured by Bray-Curtis similarity) was mostly unaffected by the significant IBP enrichment. On the other hand, a consistent similarity pattern of fungal community structure in the planted mesocosms suggests that the presence of higher macrophytes in the wetland systems may well help shape the fungal community structure.

Laminar flow and convective transport processes scaling principles and asymptotic analysis

CERN Document Server

Brenner, Howard

1992-01-01

Laminar Flow and Convective Transport Processes: Scaling Principles and Asymptotic Analysis presents analytic methods for the solution of fluid mechanics and convective transport processes, all in the laminar flow regime. This book brings together the results of almost 30 years of research on the use of nondimensionalization, scaling principles, and asymptotic analysis into a comprehensive form suitable for presentation in a core graduate-level course on fluid mechanics and the convective transport of heat. A considerable amount of material on viscous-dominated flows is covered.A unique feat

Intelligent SUBsurface Quality : Intelligent use of subsurface infrastructure for surface quality

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hooimeijer, F.L.; Kuzniecow Bacchin, T.; Lafleur, F.; van de Ven, F.H.M.; Clemens, F.H.L.R.; Broere, W.; Laumann, S.J.; Klaassen, R.G.; Marinetti, C.

2016-01-01

This project focuses on the urban renewal of (delta) metropolises and concentrates on the question how to design resilient, durable (subsurface) infrastructure in urban renewal projects using parameters of the natural system – linking in an efficient way (a) water cycle, (b) soil and subsurface

Measurements of pore-scale flow through apertures

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chojnicki, Kirsten [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2017-09-01

Pore-scale aperture effects on flow in pore networks was studied in the laboratory to provide a parameterization for use in transport models. Four cases were considered: regular and irregular pillar/pore alignment with and without an aperture. The velocity field of each case was measured and simulated, providing quantitatively comparable results. Two aperture effect parameterizations were considered: permeability and transmission. Permeability values varied by an order of magnitude between the cases with and without apertures. However, transmission did not correlate with permeability. Despite having much greater permeability the regular aperture case permitted less transmission than the regular case. Moreover, both irregular cases had greater transmission than the regular cases, a difference not supported by the permeabilities. Overall, these findings suggest that pore-scale aperture effects on flow though a pore-network may not be adequately captured by properties such as permeability for applications that are interested in determining particle transport volume and timing.

Finite size scaling analysis on Nagel-Schreckenberg model for traffic flow

Science.gov (United States)

Balouchi, Ashkan; Browne, Dana

2015-03-01

The traffic flow problem as a many-particle non-equilibrium system has caught the interest of physicists for decades. Understanding the traffic flow properties and though obtaining the ability to control the transition from the free-flow phase to the jammed phase plays a critical role in the future world of urging self-driven cars technology. We have studied phase transitions in one-lane traffic flow through the mean velocity, distributions of car spacing, dynamic susceptibility and jam persistence -as candidates for an order parameter- using the Nagel-Schreckenberg model to simulate traffic flow. The length dependent transition has been observed for a range of maximum velocities greater than a certain value. Finite size scaling analysis indicates power-law scaling of these quantities at the onset of the jammed phase.

Heat flow anomalies and their interpretation

Science.gov (United States)

Chapman, David S.; Rybach, Ladislaus

1985-12-01

geothermal systems have thermal anomalies 10 1 km wide and are capable of producing hundreds of megawatts of thermal energy. The smallest scale addressed in this paper is 10 1 km. Worldwide interest in exploiting geothermal systems has been responsible for a recent accumulation of heat flow data on the smallest of scales considered here. The exploration nature of the surveys involve 10's of drillholes and reveal thermal anomalies having widths of 10 0 km. These are almost certainly connected to surface and subsurface fluid discharge systems which, in spite of their restricted size, are typically delivering 10 MW of heat to the near surface environment.

Enhanced Geothermal Systems Research and Development: Models of Subsurface Chemical Processes Affecting Fluid Flow

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moller, Nancy; Weare J. H.

2008-05-29

Successful exploitation of the vast amount of heat stored beneath the earth’s surface in hydrothermal and fluid-limited, low permeability geothermal resources would greatly expand the Nation’s domestic energy inventory and thereby promote a more secure energy supply, a stronger economy and a cleaner environment. However, a major factor limiting the expanded development of current hydrothermal resources as well as the production of enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) is insufficient knowledge about the chemical processes controlling subsurface fluid flow. With funding from past grants from the DOE geothermal program and other agencies, we successfully developed advanced equation of state (EOS) and simulation technologies that accurately describe the chemistry of geothermal reservoirs and energy production processes via their free energies for wide XTP ranges. Using the specific interaction equations of Pitzer, we showed that our TEQUIL chemical models can correctly simulate behavior (e.g., mineral scaling and saturation ratios, gas break out, brine mixing effects, down hole temperatures and fluid chemical composition, spent brine incompatibilities) within the compositional range (Na-K-Ca-Cl-SO4-CO3-H2O-SiO2-CO2(g)) and temperature range (T < 350°C) associated with many current geothermal energy production sites that produce brines with temperatures below the critical point of water. The goal of research carried out under DOE grant DE-FG36-04GO14300 (10/1/2004-12/31/2007) was to expand the compositional range of our Pitzer-based TEQUIL fluid/rock interaction models to include the important aluminum and silica interactions (T < 350°C). Aluminum is the third most abundant element in the earth’s crust; and, as a constituent of aluminosilicate minerals, it is found in two thirds of the minerals in the earth’s crust. The ability to accurately characterize effects of temperature, fluid mixing and interactions between major rock-forming minerals and hydrothermal and

Using NMR decay-time measurements to monitor and characterize DNAPL and moisture in subsurface porous media

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Timothy A. White; Russel C. Hertzog; Christian Straley

2007-01-01

Knowing how environmental properties affect dense nonaqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) solvent flow in the subsurface is essential for developing models of flow and transport in the vadose zone necessary for designing remediation and long-term stewardship strategies. For example, one must know if solvents are flowing in water-wetted or solvent-wetted environments, the pore-size distribution of the region containing DNAPLs, and the impact of contaminated plumes and their transport mechanisms in porous media. Our research investigates the capability and limitations of low-field proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) relaxation decay-rate measurements for determining environmental properties affecting DNAPL solvent flow in the subsurface. The measurements that can be performed with the laboratory low-field system can also be performed in situ in the field with the current generation of commercial borehole logging tools. The oil and gas industry uses NMR measurements in deep subsurface, consolidated formations to determine porosity and hydrocarbon content and to estimate formation permeability. These determinations rely on the ability of NMR to distinguish between water and hydrocarbons in the pore space and to obtain the distribution of pore sizes from relaxation decay-rate distributions. In this paper we will show how NMR measurement techniques can be used to characterize, monitor, and evaluate the dynamics of mixed-fluids (water-DNAPL) in unconsolidated near-surface porous environments and describe the use of proton NMR T2 (spin-spin relaxation time) measurements in unconsolidated sandy-soil samples to identify and characterize the presence of DNAPLs in these environments. The potential of NMR decay-rate distributions for characterizing DNAPL fluids in the subsurface and understanding their flow mechanisms has not previously been exploited; however, near-surface unsaturated vadose zone environments do provide unique challenges for using NMR measurements. These

Spatial Variation of Phosphorous Retention Capacity in Subsurface Flow Constructed Wetlands: Effect of Wetland Type and Inflow Loading.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guangwei Yu

Full Text Available For verification of spatial distribution of phosphorous retention capacity in constructed wetlands systems(CWs, two horizontal subsurface flow(HSSF CWs and two vertical subsurface flow(VSSF CWs, using sand as substrate and Typha latifolia as wetland plants, were constructed and put into use for synthetic wastewater treatment. Five months later, significant spatial variations of TP and inorganic phosphorus(Ca-P, Fe-P and Al-P were observed, which were found to be greatly affected by CWs type and hydraulic loading. The results revealed that though spatial distribution of Fe-P and Al-P displayed a similar order of substrate content as "rhizosphere" > "near-rhizosphere" > "non-rhizosphere" and "inflow section" > "outflow section" regardless of types and loading, the distribution of Ca-P was positively correlated to that of Fe-P and Al-P in HSSF CWs, while negative correlation was shown in VSSF CWs. As a result, TP spatial distribution in HSSF CWs demonstrated a greater dissimilarity than that in VSSF CWs. For HSSF CWs with low hydraulic loading, the lowest TP content was found in non-rhizosphere substrate of outflow section, while the highest one was discovered in rhizonsphere substrate of inflow section. The values in 6 parts of areas ranged from 0.138 g·kg-1 to 2.710 g·kg-1, which also were from -33.5% to 1209% compared to the control value. On contrast, spatial difference of TP content in substrates of VSSF CWs was insignificant, with a variation ranging from 0.776 g·kg-1 to 1.080 g·kg-1, that was 275% to 421% higher than the control value. In addition, when hydraulic loading was increased, TP content in VSSF CWs sharply decreased, ranging from 0.210 g·kg-1 to 0.634 g·kg-1. Meanwhile, dissimilarity of TP spatial distribution in HSSF CWs was reduced, with TP content ranging from 0.258 g·kg-1 to 2.237 g·kg-1. The results suggested that P spatial distribution should be taken into account for CWs design and operation.

Subsurface barrier design alternatives for confinement and controlled advection flow

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Phillips, S.J.; Stewart, W.E.; Alexander, R.G.; Cantrell, K.J.; McLaughlin, T.J.

1994-02-01

Various technologies and designs are being considered to serve as subsurface barriers to confine or control contaminant migration from underground waste storage or disposal structures containing radioactive and hazardous wastes. Alternatives including direct-coupled flood and controlled advection designs are described as preconceptual examples. Prototype geotechnical equipment for testing and demonstration of these alternative designs tested at the Hanford Geotechnical Development and Test Facility and the Hanford Small-Tube Lysimeter Facility include mobile high-pressure injectors and pumps, mobile transport and pumping units, vibratory and impact pile drivers, and mobile batching systems. Preliminary laboratory testing of barrier materials and additive sequestering agents have been completed and are described

Site Recommendation Subsurface Layout

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

C.L. Linden

2000-01-01

The purpose of this analysis is to develop a Subsurface Facility layout that is capable of accommodating the statutory capacity of 70,000 metric tons of uranium (MTU), as well as an option to expand the inventory capacity, if authorized, to 97,000 MTU. The layout configuration also requires a degree of flexibility to accommodate potential changes in site conditions or program requirements. The objective of this analysis is to provide a conceptual design of the Subsurface Facility sufficient to support the development of the Subsurface Facility System Description Document (CRWMS M andO 2000e) and the ''Emplacement Drift System Description Document'' (CRWMS M andO 2000i). As well, this analysis provides input to the Site Recommendation Consideration Report. The scope of this analysis includes: (1) Evaluation of the existing facilities and their integration into the Subsurface Facility design. (2) Identification and incorporation of factors influencing Subsurface Facility design, such as geological constraints, thermal loading, constructibility, subsurface ventilation, drainage control, radiological considerations, and the Test and Evaluation Facilities. (3) Development of a layout showing an available area in the primary area sufficient to support both the waste inventories and individual layouts showing the emplacement area required for 70,000 MTU and, if authorized, 97,000 MTU

Movable shark scales act as a passive dynamic micro-roughness to control flow separation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lang, Amy W; Bradshaw, Michael T; Smith, Jonathon A; Wheelus, Jennifer N; Motta, Philip J; Habegger, Maria L; Hueter, Robert E

2014-01-01

Shark scales on fast-swimming sharks have been shown to be movable to angles in excess of 50°, and we hypothesize that this characteristic gives this shark skin a preferred flow direction. During the onset of separation, flow reversal is initiated close to the surface. However, the movable scales would be actuated by the reversed flow thereby causing a greater resistance to any further flow reversal and this mechanism would disrupt the process leading to eventual flow separation. Here we report for the first time experimental evidence of the separation control capability of real shark skin through water tunnel testing. Using skin samples from a shortfin mako Isurus oxyrinchus, we tested a pectoral fin and flank skin attached to a NACA 4412 hydrofoil and separation control was observed in the presence of movable shark scales under certain conditions in both cases. We hypothesize that the scales provide a passive, flow-actuated mechanism acting as a dynamic micro-roughness to control flow separation. (paper)

Adaptive discontinuous Galerkin methods for non-linear reactive flows

CERN Document Server

Uzunca, Murat

2016-01-01

The focus of this monograph is the development of space-time adaptive methods to solve the convection/reaction dominated non-stationary semi-linear advection diffusion reaction (ADR) equations with internal/boundary layers in an accurate and efficient way. After introducing the ADR equations and discontinuous Galerkin discretization, robust residual-based a posteriori error estimators in space and time are derived. The elliptic reconstruction technique is then utilized to derive the a posteriori error bounds for the fully discrete system and to obtain optimal orders of convergence. As coupled surface and subsurface flow over large space and time scales is described by (ADR) equation the methods described in this book are of high importance in many areas of Geosciences including oil and gas recovery, groundwater contamination and sustainable use of groundwater resources, storing greenhouse gases or radioactive waste in the subsurface.

The role of zonal flows in the saturation of multi-scale gyrokinetic turbulence

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Staebler, G. M.; Candy, J. [General Atomics, San Diego, California 92186 (United States); Howard, N. T. [Oak Ridge Institute for Science Education (ORISE), Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831 (United States); Holland, C. [University of California San Diego, San Diego, California 92093 (United States)

2016-06-15

The 2D spectrum of the saturated electric potential from gyrokinetic turbulence simulations that include both ion and electron scales (multi-scale) in axisymmetric tokamak geometry is analyzed. The paradigm that the turbulence is saturated when the zonal (axisymmetic) ExB flow shearing rate competes with linear growth is shown to not apply to the electron scale turbulence. Instead, it is the mixing rate by the zonal ExB velocity spectrum with the turbulent distribution function that competes with linear growth. A model of this mechanism is shown to be able to capture the suppression of electron-scale turbulence by ion-scale turbulence and the threshold for the increase in electron scale turbulence when the ion-scale turbulence is reduced. The model computes the strength of the zonal flow velocity and the saturated potential spectrum from the linear growth rate spectrum. The model for the saturated electric potential spectrum is applied to a quasilinear transport model and shown to accurately reproduce the electron and ion energy fluxes of the non-linear gyrokinetic multi-scale simulations. The zonal flow mixing saturation model is also shown to reproduce the non-linear upshift in the critical temperature gradient caused by zonal flows in ion-scale gyrokinetic simulations.

An Improved Scale-Adaptive Simulation Model for Massively Separated Flows

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yue Liu

2018-01-01

Full Text Available A new hybrid modelling method termed improved scale-adaptive simulation (ISAS is proposed by introducing the von Karman operator into the dissipation term of the turbulence scale equation, proper derivation as well as constant calibration of which is presented, and the typical circular cylinder flow at Re = 3900 is selected for validation. As expected, the proposed ISAS approach with the concept of scale-adaptive appears more efficient than the original SAS method in obtaining a convergent resolution, meanwhile, comparable with DES in visually capturing the fine-scale unsteadiness. Furthermore, the grid sensitivity issue of DES is encouragingly remedied benefiting from the local-adjusted limiter. The ISAS simulation turns out to attractively represent the development of the shear layers and the flow profiles of the recirculation region, and thus, the focused statistical quantities such as the recirculation length and drag coefficient are closer to the available measurements than DES and SAS outputs. In general, the new modelling method, combining the features of DES and SAS concepts, is capable to simulate turbulent structures down to the grid limit in a simple and effective way, which is practically valuable for engineering flows.

EFFECTS OF PORE STRUCTURE CHANGE AND MULTI-SCALE HETEROGENEITY ON CONTAMINANT TRANSPORT AND REACTION RATE UPSCALING

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Peters, Catherine A [Princeton University

2013-05-15

This project addressed the scaling of geochemical reactions to core and field scales, and the interrelationship between reaction rates and flow in porous media. We targeted reactive transport problems relevant to the Hanford site specifically the reaction of highly caustic, radioactive waste solutions with subsurface sediments, and the immobilization of 90Sr and 129I through mineral incorporation and passive flow blockage, respectively. We addressed the correlation of results for pore-scale fluid-soil interaction with field-scale fluid flow, with the specific goals of (i) predicting attenuation of radionuclide concentration; (ii) estimating changes in flow rates through changes of soil permeabilities; and (iii) estimating effective reaction rates. In supplemental work, we also simulated reactive transport systems relevant to geologic carbon sequestration. As a whole, this research generated a better understanding of reactive transport in porous media, and resulted in more accurate methods for reaction rate upscaling and improved prediction of permeability evolution. These scientific advancements will ultimately lead to better tools for management and remediation of DOE legacy waste problems.

Preferential flow and mixing process in the chemical recharge in subsurface catchments: observations and modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Gascuel-Odoux, C.; Rouxel, M.; Molenat, J.; Ruiz, L.; Aquilina, L.; Faucheux, M.; Labasque, T.; Sebilo, M.

2012-04-01

Shallow groundwater that develops on hillslopes is the main compartment in headwater catchments for flow and solute transport to rivers. Although spatial and temporal variations in its chemical composition are reported in the literature, there is no coherent description of the way these variations are organized, nor is there an accepted conceptual model for the recharge mechanisms and flows in the groundwater involved. We instrumented an intensive farming and subsurface dominant catchment located in Oceanic Western Europe (Kerbernez, Brittany, France), a headwater catchment included in the Observatory for Research on Environment AgrHyS (Agro-Hydro-System) and a part of the French Network of catchments for environmental research (SOERE RBV focused on the Critical Zone). These systems are strongly constrained by anthropogenic pressures (agriculture) and are characterized by a clear non-equilibrium status. A network of 42 nested piezometers was installed along a 200 m hillslope allowing water sampling along two transects in the permanent water table as well as in what we call the "fluctuating zone", characterized by seasonal alternance of saturated and unsaturated conditions. Water composition was monitored at high frequency (weekly) over a 3-year period for major anion composition and over a one year period for detailed 15N, CFC, SF6 and other dissolved gases. The results demonstrated that (i) the anionic composition in water table fluctuation zone varied significantly compared to deeper portions of the aquifer on the hillslope, confirming that this layer constitutes a main compartment for the mixing of new recharge water and old groundwater, (ii) seasonally, the variations of 15N and CFC are much higher during the recharge period than during the recession period, confirming the preferential flow during early recharge events, iii) variations of nitrate 15N and O18 composition was suggesting any significant denitrification process in the fluctuating zone, confirming

Site-scale groundwater flow modelling of Beberg

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gylling, B.; Walker, D.; Hartley, L.

1999-08-01

The Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company (SKB) Safety Report for 1997 (SR 97) study is a comprehensive performance assessment illustrating the results for three hypothetical repositories in Sweden. In support of SR 97, this study examines the hydrogeologic modelling of the hypothetical site called Beberg, which adopts input parameters from the SKB study site near Finnsjoen, in central Sweden. This study uses a nested modelling approach, with a deterministic regional model providing boundary conditions to a site-scale stochastic continuum model. The model is run in Monte Carlo fashion to propagate the variability of the hydraulic conductivity to the advective travel paths from representative canister positions. A series of variant cases addresses uncertainties in the inference of parameters and the boundary conditions. The study uses HYDRASTAR, the SKB stochastic continuum (SC) groundwater modelling program, to compute the heads, Darcy velocities at each representative canister position, and the advective travel times and paths through the geosphere. The Base Case simulation takes its constant head boundary conditions from a modified version of the deterministic regional scale model of Hartley et al. The flow balance between the regional and site-scale models suggests that the nested modelling conserves mass only in a general sense, and that the upscaling is only approximately valid. The results for 100 realisation of 120 starting positions, a flow porosity of ε f 10 -4 , and a flow-wetted surface of a r = 1.0 m 2 /(m 3 rock) suggest the following statistics for the Base Case: The median travel time is 56 years. The median canister flux is 1.2 x 10 -3 m/year. The median F-ratio is 5.6 x 10 5 year/m. The travel times, flow paths and exit locations were compatible with the observations on site, approximate scoping calculations and the results of related modelling studies. Variability within realisations indicates that the change in hydraulic gradient

Scaling up debris-flow experiments on a centrifuge

Science.gov (United States)

Hung, C.; Capart, H.; Crone, T. J.; Grinspum, E.; Hsu, L.; Kaufman, D.; Li, L.; Ling, H.; Reitz, M. D.; Smith, B.; Stark, C. P.

2013-12-01

Boundary forces generated by debris flows can be powerful enough to erode bedrock and cause considerable damage to infrastructure during runout. Formulation of an erosion-rate law for debris flows is therefore a high priority, and it makes sense to build such a law around laboratory experiments. However, running experiments big enough to generate realistic boundary forces is a logistical challenge to say the least [1]. One alternative is to run table-top simulations with unnaturally weak but fast-eroding pseudo-bedrock, another is to extrapolate from micro-erosion of natural substrates driven by unnaturally weak impacts; hybrid-scale experiments have also been conducted [2]. Here we take a different approach in which we scale up granular impact forces by running our experiments under enhanced gravity in a geotechnical centrifuge [3]. Using a 40cm-diameter rotating drum [2] spun at up to 100g, we generate debris flows with an effective depth of over several meters. By varying effective gravity from 1g to 100g we explore the scaling of granular flow forces and the consequent bed and wall erosion rates. The velocity and density structure of these granular flows is monitored using laser sheets, high-speed video, and particle tracking [4], and the progressive erosion of the boundary surfaces is measured by laser scanning. The force structures and their fluctuations within the granular mass and at the boundaries are explored with contact dynamics numerical simulations that mimic the lab experimental conditions [5]. In this presentation we summarize these results and discuss how they can contribute to the formulation of debris-flow erosion law. [1] Major, J. J. (1997), Journal of Geology 105: 345-366, doi:10.1086/515930 [2] Hsu, L. (2010), Ph.D. thesis, University of California, Berkeley [3] Brucks, A., et al (2007), Physical Review E 75, 032301, doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.75.032301 [4] Spinewine, B., et al (2011), Experiments in Fluids 50: 1507-1525, doi: 10.1007/s00348

Characterization of sand lenses and their role for subsurface transport in low-permeability clay tills

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kessler, Timo Christian; Klint, K. E.; Nilsson, B.

2011-01-01

Glacial sediments dominate large parts of the geological topology in Denmark. They predominantly consist of lowpermeability tills, but fractures and sand-lenses constitute zones of enhanced permeability facilitating preferential flow. This study focuses on characterization of sand deposits with r...... the sand lenses in hydro-geological models to successfully characterize subsurface flow and transport, e.g. for remediation activities....

Hydrogen-Bromine Flow Battery: Hydrogen Bromine Flow Batteries for Grid Scale Energy Storage

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

2010-10-01

GRIDS Project: LBNL is designing a flow battery for grid storage that relies on a hydrogen-bromine chemistry which could be more efficient, last longer and cost less than today’s lead-acid batteries. Flow batteries are fundamentally different from traditional lead-acid batteries because the chemical reactants that provide their energy are stored in external tanks instead of inside the battery. A flow battery can provide more energy because all that is required to increase its storage capacity is to increase the size of the external tanks. The hydrogen-bromine reactants used by LBNL in its flow battery are inexpensive, long lasting, and provide power quickly. The cost of the design could be well below $100 per kilowatt hour, which would rival conventional grid-scale battery technologies.

Utilizing High-Performance Computing to Investigate Parameter Sensitivity of an Inversion Model for Vadose Zone Flow and Transport

Science.gov (United States)

Fang, Z.; Ward, A. L.; Fang, Y.; Yabusaki, S.

2011-12-01

High-resolution geologic models have proven effective in improving the accuracy of subsurface flow and transport predictions. However, many of the parameters in subsurface flow and transport models cannot be determined directly at the scale of interest and must be estimated through inverse modeling. A major challenge, particularly in vadose zone flow and transport, is the inversion of the highly-nonlinear, high-dimensional problem as current methods are not readily scalable for large-scale, multi-process models. In this paper we describe the implementation of a fully automated approach for addressing complex parameter optimization and sensitivity issues on massively parallel multi- and many-core systems. The approach is based on the integration of PNNL's extreme scale Subsurface Transport Over Multiple Phases (eSTOMP) simulator, which uses the Global Array toolkit, with the Beowulf-Cluster inspired parallel nonlinear parameter estimation software, BeoPEST in the MPI mode. In the eSTOMP/BeoPEST implementation, a pre-processor generates all of the PEST input files based on the eSTOMP input file. Simulation results for comparison with observations are extracted automatically at each time step eliminating the need for post-process data extractions. The inversion framework was tested with three different experimental data sets: one-dimensional water flow at Hanford Grass Site; irrigation and infiltration experiment at the Andelfingen Site; and a three-dimensional injection experiment at Hanford's Sisson and Lu Site. Good agreements are achieved in all three applications between observations and simulations in both parameter estimates and water dynamics reproduction. Results show that eSTOMP/BeoPEST approach is highly scalable and can be run efficiently with hundreds or thousands of processors. BeoPEST is fault tolerant and new nodes can be dynamically added and removed. A major advantage of this approach is the ability to use high-resolution geologic models to preserve

Observation to Theory in Deep Subsurface Microbiology Research: Can We Piece It Together?

Science.gov (United States)

Colwell, F. S.; Thurber, A. R.

2016-12-01

Three decades of observations of microbes in deep environments have led to startling discoveries of life in the subsurface. Now, a few theoretical frameworks exist that help to define Stygian life. Temperature, redox gradients, productivity (e.g., in the overlying ocean), and microbial power requirements are thought to determine the distribution of microbes in the subsurface. Still, we struggle to comprehend the spatial and temporal spectra of Earth processes that define how deep microbe communities survive. Stommel diagrams, originally used to guide oceanographic sampling, may be useful in depicting the subsurface where microbial communities are impacted by co-occurring spatial and temporal phenomena that range across exponential scales. Spatially, the geological settings that influence the activity and distribution of microbes range from individual molecules or minerals all the way up to the planetary-scale where geological formations, occupying up to 105 km3, dictate the bio- and functional geography of microbial communities. Temporally, life in the subsurface may respond in time units familiar to humans (e.g., seconds to days) or to events that unfold over hundred millennial time periods. While surface community dynamics are underpinned by solar and lunar cycles, these cycles only fractionally dictate survival underground where phenomena like tectonic activity, isostatic rebound, and radioactive decay are plausible drivers of microbial life. Geological or planetary processes that occur on thousand or million year cycles could be uniquely important to microbial viability in the subsurface. Such an approach aims at a holistic comprehension of the interaction of Earth system dynamics with microbial ecology.

Scale modeling flow-induced vibrations of reactor components

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mulcahy, T.M.

1982-06-01

Similitude relationships currently employed in the design of flow-induced vibration scale-model tests of nuclear reactor components are reviewed. Emphasis is given to understanding the origins of the similitude parameters as a basis for discussion of the inevitable distortions which occur in design verification testing of entire reactor systems and in feature testing of individual component designs for the existence of detrimental flow-induced vibration mechanisms. Distortions of similitude parameters made in current test practice are enumerated and selected example tests are described. Also, limitations in the use of specific distortions in model designs are evaluated based on the current understanding of flow-induced vibration mechanisms and structural response

Scaling of two-phase flow transients using reduced pressure system and simulant fluid

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kocamustafaogullari, G.; Ishii, M.

1987-01-01

Scaling criteria for a natural circulation loop under single-phase flow conditions are derived. Based on these criteria, practical applications for designing a scaled-down model are considered. Particular emphasis is placed on scaling a test model at reduced pressure levels compared to a prototype and on fluid-to-fluid scaling. The large number of similarty groups which are to be matched between modell and prototype makes the design of a scale model a challenging tasks. The present study demonstrates a new approach to this clasical problen using two-phase flow scaling parameters. It indicates that a real time scaling is not a practical solution and a scaled-down model should have an accelerated (shortened) time scale. An important result is the proposed new scaling methodology for simulating pressure transients. It is obtained by considerung the changes of the fluid property groups which appear within the two-phase similarity parameters and the single-phase to two-phase flow transition prameters. Sample calculations are performed for modeling two-phase flow transients of a high pressure water system by a low-pressure water system or a Freon system. It is shown that modeling is possible for both cases for simulation pressure transients. However, simulation of phase change transitions is not possible by a reduced pressure water system without distortion in either power or time. (orig.)

Assessing the Ability of Vegetation Indices to Identify Shallow Subsurface Water Flow Pathways from Hyperspectral Imagery Using Machine Learning: Application

Science.gov (United States)

Doctor, K.; Byers, J. M.

2017-12-01

Shallow underground water flow pathways expressed as slight depressions are common in the land surface. Under conditions of saturated overland flow, such as during heavy rain or snow melt, these areas of preferential flow might appear on the surface as very shallow flowing streams. When there is no water flowing in these ephemeral channels it can be difficult to identify them. It is especially difficult to discern the slight depressions above the subsurface water flow pathways (SWFP) when the area is covered by vegetation. Since the soil moisture content in these SWFP is often greater than the surrounding area, the vegetation growing on top of these channels shows different vigor and moisture content than the vegetation growing above the non-SWFP area. Vegetation indices (VI) are used in visible and near infrared (VNIR) hyperspectral imagery to enhance biophysical properties of vegetation, and so the brightness values between vegetation atop SWFP and the surrounding vegetation were highlighted. We performed supervised machine learning using ground-truth class labels to determine the conditional probability of a SWFP at a given pixel given either the spectral distribution or VI at that pixel. The training data estimates the probability distributions to a determined finite sampling accuracy for a binary Naïve Bayes classifier between SWFP and non-SWFP. The ground-truth data provides a test bed for understanding the ability to build SWFP classifiers using hyperspectral imagery. SWFP were distinguishable in the imagery within corn and grass fields and in areas with low-lying vegetation. However, the training data is limited to particular types of terrain and vegetation cover in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia and this would limit the resulting classifier. Further training data could extend its use to other environments.

A saturated zone site-scale flow model for Yucca mountain

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Eddebbarh, Al Aziz [Los Alamos National Laboratory

2008-01-01

A saturated zone site-scale flow model (YMSZFM) was developed for licensing requirements for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository to incorporate recent data and analyses including recent stratigraphic and water-level data from Nye County wells, single-and multiple-well hydraulic testing data, and recent hydrochemistry data. Analyses include use of data from the 2004 transient Death Valley Regional (ground-water) Flow System (DVRFS) model, the 2003 unsaturated zone flow model, and the latest hydrogeologic framework model (HFM). This model includes: (1) the latest understanding of SZ flow, (2) enhanced model validation and uncertainty analyses, (3) improved locations and definitions of fault zones, (4) refined grid resolution (500-to 250-m grid spacing), and (5) use of new data. The flow model was completed using the three-dimensional, Finite-Element Heat and Mass Transfer computer code (FEHM). The SZ site-scale flow model was calibrated with the commercial parameter estimation code, PEST to achieve a minimum difference between observed water levels and predicted water levels, and also between volumetric/mass flow rates along specific boundary segments as supplied by the DVRFS. A total of 161 water level and head measurements with varied weights were used for calibration. A comparison between measured water-level data and the potentiometric surface yielded an RMSE of 20.7 m (weighted RMSE of 8.8 m). The calibrated model was used to generate flow paths and specific discharge predictions. Model confidence was built by comparing: (l) calculated to observed hydraulic heads, and (2) calibrated to measured permeabilities (and therefore specific discharge). In addition, flowpaths emanating from below the repository footprint are consistent with those inferred both from gradients of measured head and from independent water-chemistry data. Uncertainties in the SZ site-scale flow model were quantified because all uncertainty contributes to inaccuracy in system

A saturated zone site-scale flow model for Yucca Mountain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eddebbarh, Al Aziz

2008-01-01

A saturated zone site-scale flow model (YMSZFM) was developed for licensing requirements for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository to incorporate recent data and analyses including recent stratigraphic and water-level data from Nye County wells, single-and multiple-well hydraulic testing data, and recent hydrochemistry data. Analyses include use of data from the 2004 transient Death Valley Regional (ground-water) Flow System (DVRFS) model, the 2003 unsaturated zone flow model, and the latest hydrogeologic framework model (HFM). This model includes: (1) the latest understanding of SZ flow, (2) enhanced model validation and uncertainty analyses, (3) improved locations and definitions of fault zones, (4) refined grid resolution (500-to 250-m grid spacing), and (5) use of new data. The flow model was completed using the three-dimensional, Finite-Element Heat and Mass Transfer computer code (FEHM). The SZ site-scale flow model was calibrated with the commercial parameter estimation code, PEST to achieve a minimum difference between observed water levels and predicted water levels, and also between volumetric/mass flow rates along specific boundary segments as supplied by the DVRFS. A total of 161 water level and head measurements with varied weights were used for calibration. A comparison between measured water-level data and the potentiometric surface yielded an RMSE of 20.7 m (weighted RMSE of 8.8 m). The calibrated model was used to generate flow paths and specific discharge predictions. Model confidence was built by comparing: (l) calculated to observed hydraulic heads, and (2) calibrated to measured permeabilities (and therefore specific discharge). In addition, flowpaths emanating from below the repository footprint are consistent with those inferred both from gradients of measured head and from independent water-chemistry data. Uncertainties in the SZ site-scale flow model were quantified because all uncertainty contributes to inaccuracy in system

Estimation of groundwater recharge from the subsurface to the rock mass. A case study of Tono Mine Area, Gifu Prefecture

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kobayashi, Koichi; Nakano, Katushi; Koide, Kaoru

1996-01-01

The groundwater flow analysis involve the groundwater recharge from the subsurface to the rock mass. According to water balance method, annual groundwater recharge is calculated by the remainder of annual evapotranspirator and river flow from annual precipitation. In this estimation, hydrological and meteorological data observed for 5 years on the watershed in Tono mine area is used. Annual precipitation ranges from 1,000 to 1,900 mm and annual river flow ranges from 400 to 1,300 mm, then river flow depends critically on precipitation. Annual evapotranspiration calculated by Penman method ranges from 400 to 500 mm. It is less fluctuant than annual precipitation. As the result of examination of water balance in subsurface zone estimated, annual ground water recharge ranges from 10 to 200 mm in this watershed. (author)

Data on the solute concentration within the subsurface flows of Little Lost Man Creek in response to a transport experiment, Redwood National Park, northwest California

Science.gov (United States)

Zellweger, Gary W.; Kennedy, V.C.; Bencala, K.E.; Avanzino, R.J.; Jackman, A.P.; Triska, F.J.

1986-01-01

A solute transport experiment was conducted on a 327-m reach of Little Lost Man Creek, a small stream in Humboldt County, California. Solutes were injected for 20 days. Chloride was used as a conservative tracer; lithium, potassium, and strontium were used as reactive tracers. In addition, nitrate and phosphate were added as biological reactants. Eighteen shallow wells were dug along the length of the study reach, 1-10 m laterally from the edge of the stream. The wells and sites in the stream were monitored for the injected solutes during and after the injection. Solute concentrations in the wells and stream are indicative of transport properties of stream and subsurface channel flow. This report presents the results of the analyses of the well samples and chemical data relevant to the interpretation of hydrological and chemical interaction between the stream and adjacent channel subsurface flows in the streambed. Calculations of the percentage of streamwater in the wellwater were made from conservative tracer measurements. The composition of wellwater ranged from 47% to 100% streamwater with most values above 90%. The time for water to travel from the beginning of the study reach to the wells was approximately three times as great as the travel time in the stream at the same distance down the reach. The three conclusions that can be drawn are (1) water in the stream exchanges extensively with water in the rest of the channel; (2) the interstitial water in the channel gravels achieves almost the same composition as the stream; and (3) under low flow conditions the stream gravels contain a significant portion of the stream volume. Plots of normalized chloride, lithium, and strontium concentrations at three stream sites are included. (Author 's abstract)

Step scaling and the Yang-Mills gradient flow

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lüscher, Martin

2014-01-01

The use of the Yang-Mills gradient flow in step-scaling studies of lattice QCD is expected to lead to results of unprecedented precision. Step scaling is usually based on the Schrödinger functional, where time ranges over an interval [0,T] and all fields satisfy Dirichlet boundary conditions at time 0 and T. In these calculations, potentially important sources of systematic errors are boundary lattice effects and the infamous topology-freezing problem. The latter is here shown to be absent if Neumann instead of Dirichlet boundary conditions are imposed on the gauge field at time 0. Moreover, the expectation values of gauge-invariant local fields at positive flow time (and of other well localized observables) that reside in the center of the space-time volume are found to be largely insensitive to the boundary lattice effects.

Physical modelling of granular flows at multiple-scales and stress levels

Science.gov (United States)

Take, Andy; Bowman, Elisabeth; Bryant, Sarah

2015-04-01

The rheology of dry granular flows is an area of significant focus within the granular physics, geoscience, and geotechnical engineering research communities. Studies performed to better understand granular flows in manufacturing, materials processing or bulk handling applications have typically focused on the behavior of steady, continuous flows. As a result, much of the research on relating the fundamental interaction of particles to the rheological or constitutive behaviour of granular flows has been performed under (usually) steady-state conditions and low stress levels. However, landslides, which are the primary focus of the geoscience and geotechnical engineering communities, are by nature unsteady flows defined by a finite source volume and at flow depths much larger than typically possible in laboratory experiments. The objective of this paper is to report initial findings of experimental studies currently being conducted using a new large-scale landslide flume (8 m long, 2 m wide slope inclined at 30° with a 35 m long horizontal base section) and at elevated particle self-weight in a 10 m diameter geotechnical centrifuge to investigate the granular flow behavior at multiple-scales and stress levels. The transparent sidewalls of the two flumes used in the experimental investigation permit the combination of observations of particle-scale interaction (using high-speed imaging through transparent vertical sidewalls at over 1000 frames per second) with observations of the distal reach of the landslide debris. These observations are used to investigate the applicability of rheological models developed for steady state flows (e.g. the dimensionless inertial number) in landslide applications and the robustness of depth-averaged approaches to modelling dry granular flow at multiple scales. These observations indicate that the dimensionless inertial number calculated for the flow may be of limited utility except perhaps to define a general state (e.g. liquid

Possible effects of small-scale intermittency in turbulent reacting flows

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sreenivasan, K.R.

2006-12-01

It is now well established that quantities such as energy dissipation, scalar dissipation and enstrophy possess huge fluctuations in turbulent flows, and that the fluctuations become increasingly stronger with increasing Reynolds number of the flow. The effects of this small-scale 'intermittency' on various aspects of reacting flows have not been addressed fully. This paper draws brief attention to a few possible effects on reaction rates, flame extinction, flamelet approximation, conditional moment closure methods, and so forth, besides commenting on possible effects on the resolution requirements of direct numerical simulations of turbulence. We also discuss the likelihood that large-amplitude events in a given class of shear flows are characteristic of that class, and that, plausible estimates of such quantities cannot be made, in general, on the hypothesis that large and small scales are independent. Finally, we briefly describe some ideas from multifractals as a potentially useful tool for an economical handling of a few of the problems touched upon here. (author)

Catchment organisation, free energy dynamics and network control on critical zone water flows

Science.gov (United States)

Zehe, E.; Ehret, U.; Kleidon, A.; Jackisch, C.; Scherer, U.; Blume, T.

2012-04-01

From a functional point of view the catchment system is compiled by patterns of permeable and less permeable textural elements - soils and mother rock. Theses textural elements provide a mechanical stabile matrix for growth of terrestrial biota and soil formation. They furthermore organize subsurface storage of water against gravity, dissolved nutrients and heat. Storage against gravity is only possible because water acts as wetting fluid and is thus attracted by capillary forces in the pores space. Capillarity increases non-linearly with decreasing pore size and is zero at local saturation. The pore size distribution of a soil is thus characteristic of its capability to store water against losses such as drainage, evaporation and root extraction and at the same time a fingerprint of the work that has been performed by physical, chemical and biological processes to weather solid mother rock and form a soil. A strong spatial covariance of soil hydraulic properties within the same soil type is due to a fingerprint of strong spatial organization at small scales. Spatial organization at the hillslope scale implies the existence of a typical soil catena i.e. that hillslopes exhibit the same/ downslope sequence of different soils types. Textural storage elements are separated by strikingly self-similar network like structures, we name them flow structures. These flow structures are created in a self-reinforcing manner by work performed either by biota like earth worms and plant roots or by dissipative processes such as soil cracking and water/fluvial erosion. Regardless of their different origin connected flow structures exhibit a highly similar functioning and similar characteristics: they allow for high mass flows at small driving potential gradients because specific flow resistance along the network is continuously very small. This implies temporal stability even during small extremes, due to the small amount of local momentum dissipation per unit mass flow, as well

Scaled Rocket Testing in Hypersonic Flow

Science.gov (United States)

Dufrene, Aaron; MacLean, Matthew; Carr, Zakary; Parker, Ron; Holden, Michael; Mehta, Manish

2015-01-01

NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) uses four clustered liquid rocket engines along with two solid rocket boosters. The interaction between all six rocket exhaust plumes will produce a complex and severe thermal environment in the base of the vehicle. This work focuses on a recent 2% scale, hot-fire SLS base heating test. These base heating tests are short-duration tests executed with chamber pressures near the full-scale values with gaseous hydrogen/oxygen engines and RSRMV analogous solid propellant motors. The LENS II shock tunnel/Ludwieg tube tunnel was used at or near flight duplicated conditions up to Mach 5. Model development was strongly based on the Space Shuttle base heating tests with several improvements including doubling of the maximum chamber pressures and duplication of freestream conditions. Detailed base heating results are outside of the scope of the current work, rather test methodology and techniques are presented along with broader applicability toward scaled rocket testing in supersonic and hypersonic flow.

An efficient permeability scaling-up technique applied to the discretized flow equations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Urgelli, D.; Ding, Yu [Institut Francais du Petrole, Rueil Malmaison (France)

1997-08-01

Grid-block permeability scaling-up for numerical reservoir simulations has been discussed for a long time in the literature. It is now recognized that a full permeability tensor is needed to get an accurate reservoir description at large scale. However, two major difficulties are encountered: (1) grid-block permeability cannot be properly defined because it depends on boundary conditions; (2) discretization of flow equations with a full permeability tensor is not straightforward and little work has been done on this subject. In this paper, we propose a new method, which allows us to get around both difficulties. As the two major problems are closely related, a global approach will preserve the accuracy. So, in the proposed method, the permeability up-scaling technique is integrated in the discretized numerical scheme for flow simulation. The permeability is scaled-up via the transmissibility term, in accordance with the fluid flow calculation in the numerical scheme. A finite-volume scheme is particularly studied, and the transmissibility scaling-up technique for this scheme is presented. Some numerical examples are tested for flow simulation. This new method is compared with some published numerical schemes for full permeability tensor discretization where the full permeability tensor is scaled-up through various techniques. Comparing the results with fine grid simulations shows that the new method is more accurate and more efficient.

Outer region scaling using the freestream velocity for nonuniform open channel flow over gravel

Science.gov (United States)

Stewart, Robert L.; Fox, James F.

2017-06-01

The theoretical basis for outer region scaling using the freestream velocity for nonuniform open channel flows over gravel is derived and tested for the first time. Owing to the gradual expansion of the flow within the nonuniform case presented, it is hypothesized that the flow can be defined as an equilibrium turbulent boundary layer using the asymptotic invariance principle. The hypothesis is supported using similarity analysis to derive a solution, followed by further testing with experimental datasets. For the latter, 38 newly collected experimental velocity profiles across three nonuniform flows over gravel in a hydraulic flume are tested as are 43 velocity profiles previously published in seven peer-reviewed journal papers that focused on fluid mechanics of nonuniform open channel over gravel. The findings support the nonuniform flows as equilibrium defined by the asymptotic invariance principle, which is reflective of the consistency of the turbulent structure's form and function within the expanding flow. However, roughness impacts the flow structure when comparing across the published experimental datasets. As a secondary objective, we show how previously published mixed scales can be used to assist with freestream velocity scaling of the velocity deficit and thus empirically account for the roughness effects that extend into the outer region of the flow. One broader finding of this study is providing the theoretical context to relax the use of the elusive friction velocity when scaling nonuniform flows in gravel bed rivers; and instead to apply the freestream velocity. A second broader finding highlighted by our results is that scaling of nonuniform flow in gravel bed rivers is still not fully resolved theoretically since mixed scaling relies to some degree on empiricism. As researchers resolve the form and function of macroturbulence in the outer region, we hope to see the closing of this research gap.

Impact of large scale flows on turbulent transport

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sarazin, Y [Association Euratom-CEA, CEA/DSM/DRFC centre de Cadarache, 13108 St-Paul-Lez-Durance (France); Grandgirard, V [Association Euratom-CEA, CEA/DSM/DRFC centre de Cadarache, 13108 St-Paul-Lez-Durance (France); Dif-Pradalier, G [Association Euratom-CEA, CEA/DSM/DRFC centre de Cadarache, 13108 St-Paul-Lez-Durance (France); Fleurence, E [Association Euratom-CEA, CEA/DSM/DRFC centre de Cadarache, 13108 St-Paul-Lez-Durance (France); Garbet, X [Association Euratom-CEA, CEA/DSM/DRFC centre de Cadarache, 13108 St-Paul-Lez-Durance (France); Ghendrih, Ph [Association Euratom-CEA, CEA/DSM/DRFC centre de Cadarache, 13108 St-Paul-Lez-Durance (France); Bertrand, P [LPMIA-Universite Henri Poincare Nancy I, Boulevard des Aiguillettes BP239, 54506 Vandoe uvre-les-Nancy (France); Besse, N [LPMIA-Universite Henri Poincare Nancy I, Boulevard des Aiguillettes BP239, 54506 Vandoe uvre-les-Nancy (France); Crouseilles, N [IRMA, UMR 7501 CNRS/Universite Louis Pasteur, 7 rue Rene Descartes, 67084 Strasbourg (France); Sonnendruecker, E [IRMA, UMR 7501 CNRS/Universite Louis Pasteur, 7 rue Rene Descartes, 67084 Strasbourg (France); Latu, G [LSIIT, UMR 7005 CNRS/Universite Louis Pasteur, Bd Sebastien Brant BP10413, 67412 Illkirch (France); Violard, E [LSIIT, UMR 7005 CNRS/Universite Louis Pasteur, Bd Sebastien Brant BP10413, 67412 Illkirch (France)

2006-12-15

The impact of large scale flows on turbulent transport in magnetized plasmas is explored by means of various kinetic models. Zonal flows are found to lead to a non-linear upshift of turbulent transport in a 3D kinetic model for interchange turbulence. Such a transition is absent from fluid simulations, performed with the same numerical tool, which also predict a much larger transport. The discrepancy cannot be explained by zonal flows only, despite they being overdamped in fluids. Indeed, some difference remains, although reduced, when they are artificially suppressed. Zonal flows are also reported to trigger transport barriers in a 4D drift-kinetic model for slab ion temperature gradient (ITG) turbulence. The density gradient acts as a source drive for zonal flows, while their curvature back stabilizes the turbulence. Finally, 5D simulations of toroidal ITG modes with the global and full-f GYSELA code require the equilibrium density function to depend on the motion invariants only. If not, the generated strong mean flows can completely quench turbulent transport.

Impact of large scale flows on turbulent transport

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sarazin, Y; Grandgirard, V; Dif-Pradalier, G; Fleurence, E; Garbet, X; Ghendrih, Ph; Bertrand, P; Besse, N; Crouseilles, N; Sonnendruecker, E; Latu, G; Violard, E

2006-01-01

The impact of large scale flows on turbulent transport in magnetized plasmas is explored by means of various kinetic models. Zonal flows are found to lead to a non-linear upshift of turbulent transport in a 3D kinetic model for interchange turbulence. Such a transition is absent from fluid simulations, performed with the same numerical tool, which also predict a much larger transport. The discrepancy cannot be explained by zonal flows only, despite they being overdamped in fluids. Indeed, some difference remains, although reduced, when they are artificially suppressed. Zonal flows are also reported to trigger transport barriers in a 4D drift-kinetic model for slab ion temperature gradient (ITG) turbulence. The density gradient acts as a source drive for zonal flows, while their curvature back stabilizes the turbulence. Finally, 5D simulations of toroidal ITG modes with the global and full-f GYSELA code require the equilibrium density function to depend on the motion invariants only. If not, the generated strong mean flows can completely quench turbulent transport

Theoretical analysis of non-Gaussian heterogeneity effects on subsurface flow and transport

Science.gov (United States)

Riva, Monica; Guadagnini, Alberto; Neuman, Shlomo P.

2017-04-01

Much of the stochastic groundwater literature is devoted to the analysis of flow and transport in Gaussian or multi-Gaussian log hydraulic conductivity (or transmissivity) fields, Y(x)=ln\\func K(x) (x being a position vector), characterized by one or (less frequently) a multiplicity of spatial correlation scales. Yet Y and many other variables and their (spatial or temporal) increments, ΔY, are known to be generally non-Gaussian. One common manifestation of non-Gaussianity is that whereas frequency distributions of Y often exhibit mild peaks and light tails, those of increments ΔY are generally symmetric with peaks that grow sharper, and tails that become heavier, as separation scale or lag between pairs of Y values decreases. A statistical model that captures these disparate, scale-dependent distributions of Y and ΔY in a unified and consistent manner has been recently proposed by us. This new "generalized sub-Gaussian (GSG)" model has the form Y(x)=U(x)G(x) where G(x) is (generally, but not necessarily) a multiscale Gaussian random field and U(x) is a nonnegative subordinator independent of G. The purpose of this paper is to explore analytically, in an elementary manner, lead-order effects that non-Gaussian heterogeneity described by the GSG model have on the stochastic description of flow and transport. Recognizing that perturbation expansion of hydraulic conductivity K=eY diverges when Y is sub-Gaussian, we render the expansion convergent by truncating Y's domain of definition. We then demonstrate theoretically and illustrate by way of numerical examples that, as the domain of truncation expands, (a) the variance of truncated Y (denoted by Yt) approaches that of Y and (b) the pdf (and thereby moments) of Yt increments approach those of Y increments and, as a consequence, the variogram of Yt approaches that of Y. This in turn guarantees that perturbing Kt=etY to second order in σYt (the standard deviation of Yt) yields results which approach those we obtain

Spatial variation in herbicide leaching from a marine clay soil via subsurface drains

Science.gov (United States)

Ulén, Barbro M; Larsbo, Mats; Kreuger, Jenny K; Svanbäck, Annika

2013-01-01

Background Subsurface transport via tile drains can significantly contribute to pesticide contamination of surface waters. The spatial variation in subsurface leaching of normally applied herbicides was examined together with phosphorus losses in 24 experimental plots with water sampled flow-proportionally. The study site was a flat, tile-drained area with 60% marine clay in the topsoil in southeast Sweden. The objectives were to quantify the leaching of frequently used herbicides from a tile drained cracking clay soil and to evaluate the variation in leaching within the experimental area and relate this to topsoil management practices (tillage method and structure liming). Results In summer 2009, 0.14, 0.22 and 1.62%, respectively, of simultaneously applied amounts of MCPA, fluroxypyr and clopyralid were leached by heavy rain five days after spraying. In summer 2011, on average 0.70% of applied bentazone was leached by short bursts of intensive rain 12 days after application. Peak flow concentrations for 50% of the treated area for MCPA and 33% for bentazone exceeded the Swedish no-effect guideline values for aquatic ecosystems. Approximately 0.08% of the glyphosate applied was leached in dissolved form in the winters of 2008/2009 and 2010/2011. Based on measurements of glyphosate in particulate form, total glyphosate losses were twice as high (0.16%) in the second winter. The spatial inter-plot variation was large (72–115%) for all five herbicides studied, despite small variations (25%) in water discharge. Conclusions The study shows the importance of local scale soil transport properties for herbicide leaching in cracking clay soils. © 2013 The Authors. Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry. PMID:23658148

Compressor Performance Scaling in the Presence of Non-Uniform Flow

Science.gov (United States)

Hill, David Jarrod

Fuselage-embedded engines in future aircraft will see increased flow distortions due to the ingestion of airframe boundary layers. This reduces the required propulsive power compared to podded engines. Inlet flow distortions mean that localized regions of flow within the fan and first stage compressor are operating at off-design conditions. It is important to weigh the benefit of increased vehicle propulsive efficiency against the resultant reduction in engine efficiency. High computational cost has limited most past research to single distortion studies. The objective of this thesis is to extract scaling laws for transonic compressor performance in the presence of various distortion patterns and intensities. The machine studied is the NASA R67 transonic compressor. Volumetric source terms are used to model rotor and stator blade rows. The modelling approach is an innovative combination of existing flow turning and loss models, combined with a compressible flow correction. This approach allows for a steady calculation to capture distortion transfer; as a result, the computational cost is reduced by two orders of magnitude. At peak efficiency, the rotor work coefficient and isentropic efficiency are matched within 1.4% of previously published experimental results. A key finding of this thesis is that, in non-uniform flow, the state-of-the-art loss model employed is unable to capture the impact of variations in local flow coefficient, limiting the analysis of local entropy generation. New insight explains the mechanism governing the interaction between a total temperature distortion and a compressor rotor. A parametric study comprising 16 inlet distortions reveals that for total temperature distortions, upstream flow redistribution and rotor diffusion factor changes are shown to scale linearly with distortion severity. Linear diffusion factor scaling does not hold true for total pressure distortions. For combined total temperature and total pressure distortions, the

Appraising options to reduce shallow groundwater tables and enhance flow conditions over regional scales in an irrigated alluvial aquifer system

Science.gov (United States)

Morway, Eric D.; Gates, Timothy K.; Niswonger, Richard G.

2013-01-01

Some of the world’s key agricultural production systems face big challenges to both water quantity and quality due to shallow groundwater that results from long-term intensive irrigation, namely waterlogging and salinity, water losses, and environmental problems. This paper focuses on water quantity issues, presenting finite-difference groundwater models developed to describe shallow water table levels, non-beneficial groundwater consumptive use, and return flows to streams across two regions within an irrigated alluvial river valley in southeastern Colorado, USA. The models are calibrated and applied to simulate current baseline conditions in the alluvial aquifer system and to examine actions for potentially improving these conditions. The models provide a detailed description of regional-scale subsurface unsaturated and saturated flow processes, thereby enabling detailed spatiotemporal description of groundwater levels, recharge to infiltration ratios, partitioning of ET originating from the unsaturated and saturated zones, and groundwater flows, among other variables. Hybrid automated and manual calibration of the models is achieved using extensive observations of groundwater hydraulic head, groundwater return flow to streams, aquifer stratigraphy, canal seepage, total evapotranspiration, the portion of evapotranspiration supplied by upflux from the shallow water table, and irrigation flows. Baseline results from the two regional-scale models are compared to model predictions under variations of four alternative management schemes: (1) reduced seepage from earthen canals, (2) reduced irrigation applications, (3) rotational lease fallowing (irrigation water leased to municipalities, resulting in temporary dry-up of fields), and (4) combinations of these. The potential for increasing the average water table depth by up to 1.1 and 0.7 m in the two respective modeled regions, thereby reducing the threat of waterlogging and lowering non-beneficial consumptive use

SUBSURFACE REPOSITORY INTEGRATED CONTROL SYSTEM DESIGN

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Randle, D.C.

2000-01-01

The primary purpose of this document is to develop a preliminary high-level functional and physical control system architecture for the potential repository at Yucca Mountain. This document outlines an overall control system concept that encompasses and integrates the many diverse process and communication systems being developed for the subsurface repository design. This document presents integrated design concepts for monitoring and controlling the diverse set of subsurface operations. The Subsurface Repository Integrated Control System design will be composed of a series of diverse process systems and communication networks. The subsurface repository design contains many systems related to instrumentation and control (I andC) for both repository development and waste emplacement operations. These systems include waste emplacement, waste retrieval, ventilation, radiological and air monitoring, rail transportation, construction development, utility systems (electrical, lighting, water, compressed air, etc.), fire protection, backfill emplacement, and performance confirmation. Each of these systems involves some level of I andC and will typically be integrated over a data communications network throughout the subsurface facility. The subsurface I andC systems will also interface with multiple surface-based systems such as site operations, rail transportation, security and safeguards, and electrical/piped utilities. In addition to the I andC systems, the subsurface repository design also contains systems related to voice and video communications. The components for each of these systems will be distributed and linked over voice and video communication networks throughout the subsurface facility. The scope and primary objectives of this design analysis are to: (1) Identify preliminary system-level functions and interfaces (Section 6.2). (2) Examine the overall system complexity and determine how and on what levels the engineered process systems will be monitored

Instrumented Moles for Planetary Subsurface Regolith Studies

Science.gov (United States)

Richter, L. O.; Coste, P. A.; Grzesik, A.; Knollenberg, J.; Magnani, P.; Nadalini, R.; Re, E.; Romstedt, J.; Sohl, F.; Spohn, T.

2006-12-01

Soil-like materials, or regolith, on solar system objects provide a record of physical and/or chemical weathering processes on the object in question and as such possess significant scientific relevance for study by landed planetary missions. In the case of Mars, a complex interplay has been at work between impact gardening, aeolian as well as possibly fluvial processes. This resulted in regolith that is texturally as well as compositionally layered as hinted at by results from the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) missions which are capable of accessing shallow subsurface soils by wheel trenching. Significant subsurface soil access on Mars, i.e. to depths of a meter or more, remains to be accomplished on future missions. This has been one of the objectives of the unsuccessful Beagle 2 landed element of the ESA Mars Express mission having been equipped with the Planetary Underground Tool (PLUTO) subsurface soil sampling Mole system capable of self-penetration into regolith due to an internal electro-mechanical hammering mechanism. This lightweight device of less than 900 g mass was designed to repeatedly obtain and deliver to the lander regolith samples from depths down to 2 m which would have been analysed for organic matter and, specifically, organic carbon from potential extinct microbial activity. With funding from the ESA technology programme, an evolved Mole system - the Instrumented Mole System (IMS) - has now been developed to a readiness level of TRL 6. The IMS is to serve as a carrier for in situ instruments for measurements in planetary subsurface soils. This could complement or even eliminate the need to recover samples to the surface. The Engineering Model hardware having been developed within this effort is designed for accommodating a geophysical instrument package (Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package, HP3) that would be capable of measuring regolith physical properties and planetary heat flow. The chosen design encompasses a two-body Mole

Site-scale groundwater flow modelling of Beberg

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gylling, B. [Kemakta Konsult AB, Stockholm (Sweden); Walker, D. [Duke Engineering and Services (United States); Hartley, L. [AEA Technology, Harwell (United Kingdom)

1999-08-01

The Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company (SKB) Safety Report for 1997 (SR 97) study is a comprehensive performance assessment illustrating the results for three hypothetical repositories in Sweden. In support of SR 97, this study examines the hydrogeologic modelling of the hypothetical site called Beberg, which adopts input parameters from the SKB study site near Finnsjoen, in central Sweden. This study uses a nested modelling approach, with a deterministic regional model providing boundary conditions to a site-scale stochastic continuum model. The model is run in Monte Carlo fashion to propagate the variability of the hydraulic conductivity to the advective travel paths from representative canister positions. A series of variant cases addresses uncertainties in the inference of parameters and the boundary conditions. The study uses HYDRASTAR, the SKB stochastic continuum (SC) groundwater modelling program, to compute the heads, Darcy velocities at each representative canister position, and the advective travel times and paths through the geosphere. The Base Case simulation takes its constant head boundary conditions from a modified version of the deterministic regional scale model of Hartley et al. The flow balance between the regional and site-scale models suggests that the nested modelling conserves mass only in a general sense, and that the upscaling is only approximately valid. The results for 100 realisation of 120 starting positions, a flow porosity of {epsilon}{sub f} 10{sup -4}, and a flow-wetted surface of a{sub r} = 1.0 m{sup 2}/(m{sup 3} rock) suggest the following statistics for the Base Case: The median travel time is 56 years. The median canister flux is 1.2 x 10{sup -3} m/year. The median F-ratio is 5.6 x 10{sup 5} year/m. The travel times, flow paths and exit locations were compatible with the observations on site, approximate scoping calculations and the results of related modelling studies. Variability within realisations indicates

Coupling a three-dimensional subsurface flow and transport model with a land surface model to simulate stream–aquifer–land interactions (CP v1.0

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. Bisht

2017-12-01

Full Text Available A fully coupled three-dimensional surface and subsurface land model is developed and applied to a site along the Columbia River to simulate three-way interactions among river water, groundwater, and land surface processes. The model features the coupling of the Community Land Model version 4.5 (CLM4.5 and a massively parallel multiphysics reactive transport model (PFLOTRAN. The coupled model, named CP v1.0, is applied to a 400 m × 400 m study domain instrumented with groundwater monitoring wells along the Columbia River shoreline. CP v1.0 simulations are performed at three spatial resolutions (i.e., 2, 10, and 20 m over a 5-year period to evaluate the impact of hydroclimatic conditions and spatial resolution on simulated variables. Results show that the coupled model is capable of simulating groundwater–river-water interactions driven by river stage variability along managed river reaches, which are of global significance as a result of over 30 000 dams constructed worldwide during the past half-century. Our numerical experiments suggest that the land-surface energy partitioning is strongly modulated by groundwater–river-water interactions through expanding the periodically inundated fraction of the riparian zone, and enhancing moisture availability in the vadose zone via capillary rise in response to the river stage change. Meanwhile, CLM4.5 fails to capture the key hydrologic process (i.e., groundwater–river-water exchange at the site, and consequently simulates drastically different water and energy budgets. Furthermore, spatial resolution is found to significantly impact the accuracy of estimated the mass exchange rates at the boundaries of the aquifer, and it becomes critical when surface and subsurface become more tightly coupled with groundwater table within 6 to 7 meters below the surface. Inclusion of lateral subsurface flow influenced both the surface energy budget and subsurface transport processes as a result

Coupling a three-dimensional subsurface flow and transport model with a land surface model to simulate stream-aquifer-land interactions (CP v1.0)

Science.gov (United States)

Bisht, Gautam; Huang, Maoyi; Zhou, Tian; Chen, Xingyuan; Dai, Heng; Hammond, Glenn E.; Riley, William J.; Downs, Janelle L.; Liu, Ying; Zachara, John M.

2017-12-01

A fully coupled three-dimensional surface and subsurface land model is developed and applied to a site along the Columbia River to simulate three-way interactions among river water, groundwater, and land surface processes. The model features the coupling of the Community Land Model version 4.5 (CLM4.5) and a massively parallel multiphysics reactive transport model (PFLOTRAN). The coupled model, named CP v1.0, is applied to a 400 m × 400 m study domain instrumented with groundwater monitoring wells along the Columbia River shoreline. CP v1.0 simulations are performed at three spatial resolutions (i.e., 2, 10, and 20 m) over a 5-year period to evaluate the impact of hydroclimatic conditions and spatial resolution on simulated variables. Results show that the coupled model is capable of simulating groundwater-river-water interactions driven by river stage variability along managed river reaches, which are of global significance as a result of over 30 000 dams constructed worldwide during the past half-century. Our numerical experiments suggest that the land-surface energy partitioning is strongly modulated by groundwater-river-water interactions through expanding the periodically inundated fraction of the riparian zone, and enhancing moisture availability in the vadose zone via capillary rise in response to the river stage change. Meanwhile, CLM4.5 fails to capture the key hydrologic process (i.e., groundwater-river-water exchange) at the site, and consequently simulates drastically different water and energy budgets. Furthermore, spatial resolution is found to significantly impact the accuracy of estimated the mass exchange rates at the boundaries of the aquifer, and it becomes critical when surface and subsurface become more tightly coupled with groundwater table within 6 to 7 meters below the surface. Inclusion of lateral subsurface flow influenced both the surface energy budget and subsurface transport processes as a result of river-water intrusion into the

Characterizing Long-Term Groundwater Conditions and Lithology for the Design of Large-Scale Borehole Heat Exchangers

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, David Charles

Construction of large scale ground coupled heat pump (GCHP) systems that operate with hundreds or even thousands of boreholes for the borehole heat exchangers (BHE) has increased in recent years with many coming on line in the past 10 years. Many large institutions are constructing these systems because of their ability to store energy in the subsurface for indoor cooling during the warm summer months and extract that energy for heating during the cool winter months. Despite the increase in GCHP system systems constructed, there have been few long term studies on how these large systems interact with the subsurface. The thermal response test (TRT) is the industry standard for determining the thermal properties of the rock and soil. The TRT is limited in that it can only be used to determine the effective thermal conductivity over the whole length of a single borehole at the time that it is administered. The TRT cannot account for long-term changes in the aquifer saturation, changes in groundwater flow, or characterize different rock and soil units by effectiveness for heat storage. This study established new methods and also the need for the characterization of the subsurface for the purpose of design and long-term monitoring for GCHP systems. These new methods show that characterizing the long-term changes in aquifer saturation and groundwater flow, and characterizing different rock and soil units are an important part of the design and planning process of these systems. A greater understanding of how large-scale GCHP systems interact with the subsurface will result in designs that perform more efficiently over a longer period of time and expensive modifications due to unforeseen changes in system performance will be reduced.

Renormalization-group flow of the effective action of cosmological large-scale structures

CERN Document Server

Floerchinger, Stefan

2017-01-01

Following an approach of Matarrese and Pietroni, we derive the functional renormalization group (RG) flow of the effective action of cosmological large-scale structures. Perturbative solutions of this RG flow equation are shown to be consistent with standard cosmological perturbation theory. Non-perturbative approximate solutions can be obtained by truncating the a priori infinite set of possible effective actions to a finite subspace. Using for the truncated effective action a form dictated by dissipative fluid dynamics, we derive RG flow equations for the scale dependence of the effective viscosity and sound velocity of non-interacting dark matter, and we solve them numerically. Physically, the effective viscosity and sound velocity account for the interactions of long-wavelength fluctuations with the spectrum of smaller-scale perturbations. We find that the RG flow exhibits an attractor behaviour in the IR that significantly reduces the dependence of the effective viscosity and sound velocity on the input ...

Uncertainty Quantification in Scale-Dependent Models of Flow in Porous Media: SCALE-DEPENDENT UQ

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tartakovsky, A. M. [Computational Mathematics Group, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland WA USA; Panzeri, M. [Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile e Ambientale, Politecnico di Milano, Milano Italy; Tartakovsky, G. D. [Hydrology Group, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland WA USA; Guadagnini, A. [Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile e Ambientale, Politecnico di Milano, Milano Italy

2017-11-01

Equations governing flow and transport in heterogeneous porous media are scale-dependent. We demonstrate that it is possible to identify a support scale $\\eta^*$, such that the typically employed approximate formulations of Moment Equations (ME) yield accurate (statistical) moments of a target environmental state variable. Under these circumstances, the ME approach can be used as an alternative to the Monte Carlo (MC) method for Uncertainty Quantification in diverse fields of Earth and environmental sciences. MEs are directly satisfied by the leading moments of the quantities of interest and are defined on the same support scale as the governing stochastic partial differential equations (PDEs). Computable approximations of the otherwise exact MEs can be obtained through perturbation expansion of moments of the state variables in orders of the standard deviation of the random model parameters. As such, their convergence is guaranteed only for the standard deviation smaller than one. We demonstrate our approach in the context of steady-state groundwater flow in a porous medium with a spatially random hydraulic conductivity.

Up-Scaled Supercritical Flow Synthesis of Hybrid Materials

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hellstern, Henrik Christian; Becker, Jacob; Hald, Peter

A new, up-scaled supercritical flow synthesis apparatus is currently under construction in Aarhus. A module based system allows for a range of parameter studies with improved parameter control. The dual-reactor setup enables both single phase and core-shell nanoparticle synthesis, and the large...

Interconnection Studies of Subsurface River Between Bribin and Ngreneng by Using Radioisotope Tracer Iodium-131

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wibagiyo

2004-01-01

Interconnection Studies of Subsurface River Between Bribin and Ngreneng by Using Radioisotope Tracer Iodium-131, carried out in 2002, the similar studies was also conducted in 2000 from subsurface river in Jurang Jero sinkhole, where the radioactivity appeared at Bribin cave 4 hours and 8 hours at Ngreneng cave. There is a question whether a subsurface river is flowing from Jurang Jero sinkhole to Bribin cave and then to Ngreneng cave, or from Jurang Jero sinkhole there is junction to Bribin and to Ngreneng. in 2002 a Germany team founded junction on up stream of river in Bribin cave, from the junction was carried out tracing which monitoring in Ngreneng cave. Where the result a junction connecting with Ngreneng cave, but the main stream in Bribin not connecting with Ngreneng. (author)

Pore-scale mechanisms of gas flow in tight sand reservoirs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Silin, D.; Kneafsey, T.J.; Ajo-Franklin, J.B.; Nico, P.

2010-11-30

Tight gas sands are unconventional hydrocarbon energy resource storing large volume of natural gas. Microscopy and 3D imaging of reservoir samples at different scales and resolutions provide insights into the coaredo not significantly smaller in size than conventional sandstones, the extremely dense grain packing makes the pore space tortuous, and the porosity is small. In some cases the inter-granular void space is presented by micron-scale slits, whose geometry requires imaging at submicron resolutions. Maximal Inscribed Spheres computations simulate different scenarios of capillary-equilibrium two-phase fluid displacement. For tight sands, the simulations predict an unusually low wetting fluid saturation threshold, at which the non-wetting phase becomes disconnected. Flow simulations in combination with Maximal Inscribed Spheres computations evaluate relative permeability curves. The computations show that at the threshold saturation, when the nonwetting fluid becomes disconnected, the flow of both fluids is practically blocked. The nonwetting phase is immobile due to the disconnectedness, while the permeability to the wetting phase remains essentially equal to zero due to the pore space geometry. This observation explains the Permeability Jail, which was defined earlier by others. The gas is trapped by capillarity, and the brine is immobile due to the dynamic effects. At the same time, in drainage, simulations predict that the mobility of at least one of the fluids is greater than zero at all saturations. A pore-scale model of gas condensate dropout predicts the rate to be proportional to the scalar product of the fluid velocity and pressure gradient. The narrowest constriction in the flow path is subject to the highest rate of condensation. The pore-scale model naturally upscales to the Panfilov's Darcy-scale model, which implies that the condensate dropout rate is proportional to the pressure gradient squared. Pressure gradient is the greatest near the

Performance of entrained flow and fluidised bed biomass gasifiers on different scales

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tremel, Alexander; Becherer, Dominik; Fendt, Sebastian; Gaderer, Matthias; Spliethoff, Hartmut

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► Gasification of biomass in fluidised bed and entrained flow reactors is modelled. ► The systems are evaluated for a thermal input from 10 MW to 500 MW. ► Special attention is given to the preconditioning methods for biomass. ► Fluidised bed and entrained flow gasifiers are compared in terms of efficiency and costs. - Abstract: This biomass gasification process study compares the energetic and economic efficiencies of a dual fluidised bed and an oxygen-blown entrained flow gasifier from 10 MW th to 500 MW th . While fluidised bed gasification became the most applied technology for biomass in small and medium scale facilities, entrained flow gasification technology is still used exclusively for industrial scale coal gasification. Therefore, it is analysed whether and for which capacity the entrained flow technology is an energetically and economically efficient option for the thermo-chemical conversion of biomass. Special attention is given to the pre-conditioning methods for biomass to enable the application in an entrained flow gasifier. Process chains are selected for the two gasifier types and subsequently transformed to simulation models. The simulation results show that the performance of both gasifier types is similar for the production of a pressurised product gas (2.5 MPa). The cold gas efficiency of the fluidised bed is 76–79% and about 0.5–2 percentage points higher than for the entrained flow reactor. The net efficiencies of both technologies are similar and between 64% and 71% depending on scale. The auxiliary power consumption of the entrained flow reactor is caused mainly by the air separation unit, the oxygen compression, and the fuel pulverisation, whereas the fluidised bed requires additional power mainly for gas compression. The costs for the product gas are determined as between €4.2 cent/kWh (500 MW th ) and €7.4 cent/kWh (10 MW th ) in the economic analysis of both technologies. The study indicates that the

TensorFlow: A system for large-scale machine learning

OpenAIRE

Abadi, Martín; Barham, Paul; Chen, Jianmin; Chen, Zhifeng; Davis, Andy; Dean, Jeffrey; Devin, Matthieu; Ghemawat, Sanjay; Irving, Geoffrey; Isard, Michael; Kudlur, Manjunath; Levenberg, Josh; Monga, Rajat; Moore, Sherry; Murray, Derek G.

2016-01-01

TensorFlow is a machine learning system that operates at large scale and in heterogeneous environments. TensorFlow uses dataflow graphs to represent computation, shared state, and the operations that mutate that state. It maps the nodes of a dataflow graph across many machines in a cluster, and within a machine across multiple computational devices, including multicore CPUs, general-purpose GPUs, and custom designed ASICs known as Tensor Processing Units (TPUs). This architecture gives flexib...

Gridded Surface Subsurface Hydrologic Analysis (GSSHA) User's Manual; Version 1.43 for Watershed Modeling System 6.1

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Downer, Charles W; Ogden, Fred L

2006-01-01

The need to simulate surface water flows in watersheds with diverse runoff production mechanisms has led to the development of the physically-based hydrologic model Gridded Surface Subsurface Hydrologic Analysis (GSSHA...

A probabilistic approach to quantifying spatial patterns of flow regimes and network-scale connectivity

Science.gov (United States)

Garbin, Silvia; Alessi Celegon, Elisa; Fanton, Pietro; Botter, Gianluca

2017-04-01

The temporal variability of river flow regime is a key feature structuring and controlling fluvial ecological communities and ecosystem processes. In particular, streamflow variability induced by climate/landscape heterogeneities or other anthropogenic factors significantly affects the connectivity between streams with notable implication for river fragmentation. Hydrologic connectivity is a fundamental property that guarantees species persistence and ecosystem integrity in riverine systems. In riverine landscapes, most ecological transitions are flow-dependent and the structure of flow regimes may affect ecological functions of endemic biota (i.e., fish spawning or grazing of invertebrate species). Therefore, minimum flow thresholds must be guaranteed to support specific ecosystem services, like fish migration, aquatic biodiversity and habitat suitability. In this contribution, we present a probabilistic approach aiming at a spatially-explicit, quantitative assessment of hydrologic connectivity at the network-scale as derived from river flow variability. Dynamics of daily streamflows are estimated based on catchment-scale climatic and morphological features, integrating a stochastic, physically based approach that accounts for the stochasticity of rainfall with a water balance model and a geomorphic recession flow model. The non-exceedance probability of ecologically meaningful flow thresholds is used to evaluate the fragmentation of individual stream reaches, and the ensuing network-scale connectivity metrics. A multi-dimensional Poisson Process for the stochastic generation of rainfall is used to evaluate the impact of climate signature on reach-scale and catchment-scale connectivity. The analysis shows that streamflow patterns and network-scale connectivity are influenced by the topology of the river network and the spatial variability of climatic properties (rainfall, evapotranspiration). The framework offers a robust basis for the prediction of the impact of

Subsurface clade of Geobacteraceae that predominates in a diversity of Fe(III)-reducing subsurface environments

Science.gov (United States)

Holmes, Dawn E.; O'Neil, Regina A.; Vrionis, Helen A.; N'Guessan, Lucie A.; Ortiz-Bernad, Irene; Larrahondo, Maria J.; Adams, Lorrie A.; Ward, Joy A.; Nicoll , Julie S.; Nevin, Kelly P.; Chavan, Milind A.; Johnson, Jessica P.; Long, Philip E.; Lovely, Derek R.

2007-01-01

There are distinct differences in the physiology of Geobacter species available in pure culture. Therefore, to understand the ecology of Geobacter species in subsurface environments, it is important to know which species predominate. Clone libraries were assembled with 16S rRNA genes and transcripts amplified from three subsurface environments in which Geobacter species are known to be important members of the microbial community: (1) a uranium-contaminated aquifer located in Rifle, CO, USA undergoing in situ bioremediation; (2) an acetate-impacted aquifer that serves as an analog for the long-term acetate amendments proposed for in situ uranium bioremediation and (3) a petroleum-contaminated aquifer in which Geobacter species play a role in the oxidation of aromatic hydrocarbons coupled with the reduction of Fe(III). The majority of Geobacteraceae 16S rRNA sequences found in these environments clustered in a phylogenetically coherent subsurface clade, which also contains a number of Geobacter species isolated from subsurface environments. Concatamers constructed with 43 Geobacter genes amplified from these sites also clustered within this subsurface clade. 16S rRNA transcript and gene sequences in the sediments and groundwater at the Rifle site were highly similar, suggesting that sampling groundwater via monitoring wells can recover the most active Geobacter species. These results suggest that further study of Geobacter species in the subsurface clade is necessary to accurately model the behavior of Geobacter species during subsurface bioremediation of metal and organic contaminants.

Evaluating post-wildfire hydrologic recovery using ParFlow in southern California

Science.gov (United States)

Lopez, S. R.; Kinoshita, A. M.; Atchley, A. L.

2016-12-01

Wildfires are naturally occurring hazards that can have catastrophic impacts. They can alter the natural processes within a watershed, such as surface runoff and subsurface water storage. Generally, post-fire hydrologic models are either one-dimensional, empirically-based models, or two-dimensional, conceptually-based models with lumped parameter distributions. These models are useful in providing runoff measurements at the watershed outlet; however, do not provide distributed hydrologic simulation at each point within the watershed. This research demonstrates how ParFlow, a three-dimensional, distributed hydrologic model can simulate post-fire hydrologic processes by representing soil burn severity (via hydrophobicity) and vegetation recovery as they vary both spatially and temporally. Using this approach, we are able to evaluate the change in post-fire water components (surface flow, lateral flow, baseflow, and evapotranspiration). This model is initially developed for a hillslope in Devil Canyon, burned in 2003 by the Old Fire in southern California (USA). The domain uses a 2m-cell size resolution over a 25 m by 25 m lateral extent. The subsurface reaches 2 m and is assigned a variable cell thickness, allowing an explicit consideration of the soil burn severity throughout the stages of recovery and vegetation regrowth. Vegetation regrowth is incorporated represented by satellite-based Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) products. The pre- and post-fire surface runoff, subsurface storage, and surface storage interactions are evaluated and will be used as a basis for developing a watershed-scale model. Long-term continuous simulations will advance our understanding of post-fire hydrological partitioning between water balance components and the spatial variability of watershed processes, providing improved guidance for post-fire watershed management.

Flow pathways in the Slapton Wood catchment using temperature as a tracer

Science.gov (United States)

Birkinshaw, Stephen J.; Webb, Bruce

2010-03-01

SummaryThis study investigates the potential of temperature as a tracer to provide insights into flow pathways. The approach couples fieldwork and modelling experiments for the Eastergrounds Hollow within the Slapton Wood catchment, South Devon, UK. Measurements in the Eastergrounds Hollow were carried out for soil temperature, spring temperature, and the stream temperature and use was made of an existing 1989-1991 data set for the entire Slapton Wood catchment. The predominant flow in this hollow is a result of subsurface stormflow, and previous work has suggested that the water flows vertically down through the soil and then subsurface stormflow occurs at the soil/bedrock interface where the water is deflected laterally. The depth of the subsurface stormflow was previously thought to be around 2.2 m. However, analysis of the new spring, stream and soil temperature data suggests a deeper pathway for the subsurface stormflow. Modelling of water flow and heat transport was carried out using SHETRAN and this was calibrated to reproduce the water flow in the entire Slapton Wood catchment and soil temperatures in the Eastergrounds Hollow. The model was tested for the entire Eastergrounds Hollow with two different soil depths. A depth of 2.2 m, based on previous knowledge, was unable to reproduce the Eastergrounds spring temperature. A depth of 3.7 m produced an excellent comparison between measured and simulated stream and spring temperatures in the Eastergrounds Hollow. This work suggests that the depth of the flow pathways that produce the subsurface stormflow are deeper than previously thought. It also provides a demonstration on the use of temperature as a tracer to understand flow pathways.

Introduction: Scaling and structure in high Reynolds number wall-bounded flows

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McKeon, B.J.; Sreenivasan, K.R.

2007-05-01

The papers discussed in this report are dealing with the following aspects: Fundamental scaling relations for canonical flows and asymptotic approach to infinite Reynolds numbers; large and very large scales in near-wall turbulences; the influence of roughness and finite Reynolds number effects; comparison between internal and external flows and the universality of the near-wall region; qualitative and quantitative models of the turbulent boundary layer; the neutrally stable atmospheric surface layer as a model for a canonical zero-pressure-gradient boundary layer (author)

Hydrogeologic Framework Model for the Saturated-Zone Site-Scale Flow

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Z. Peterman

2003-03-05

Yucca Mountain is being evaluated as a potential site for development of a geologic repository for the permanent disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. Ground water is considered to be the principal means for transporting radionuclides that may be released from the potential repository to the accessible environment, thereby possibly affecting public health and safety. The ground-water hydrology of the region is a result of both the arid climatic conditions and the complex geology. Ground-water flow in the Yucca Mountain region generally can be described as consisting of two main components: a series of relatively shallow and localized flow paths that are superimposed on deeper regional flow paths. A significant component of the regional ground-water flow is through a thick, generally deep-lying, Paleozoic carbonate rock sequence. Locally within the potential repository area, the flow is through a vertical sequence of welded and nonwelded tuffs that overlie the carbonate aquifer. Downgradient from the site, these tuffs terminate in basin fill deposits that are dominated by alluvium. Throughout the system, extensive and prevalent faults and fractures may control ground-water flow. The purpose of this Analysis/Modeling Report (AMR) is to document the three-dimensional (3D) hydrogeologic framework model (HFM) that has been constructed specifically to support development of a site-scale ground-water flow and transport model. Because the HFM provides the fundamental geometric framework for constructing the site-scale 3D ground-water flow model that will be used to evaluate potential radionuclide transport through the saturated zone (SZ) from beneath the potential repository to down-gradient compliance points, the HFM is important for assessing potential repository system performance. This AMR documents the progress of the understanding of the site-scale SZ ground-water flow system framework at Yucca Mountain based on data through July 1999. The

Anomalous scaling of passive scalars in rotating flows.

Science.gov (United States)

Rodriguez Imazio, P; Mininni, P D

2011-06-01

We present results of direct numerical simulations of passive scalar advection and diffusion in turbulent rotating flows. Scaling laws and the development of anisotropy are studied in spectral space, and in real space using an axisymmetric decomposition of velocity and passive scalar structure functions. The passive scalar is more anisotropic than the velocity field, and its power spectrum follows a spectral law consistent with ~ k[Please see text](-3/2). This scaling is explained with phenomenological arguments that consider the effect of rotation. Intermittency is characterized using scaling exponents and probability density functions of velocity and passive scalar increments. In the presence of rotation, intermittency in the velocity field decreases more noticeably than in the passive scalar. The scaling exponents show good agreement with Kraichnan's prediction for passive scalar intermittency in two dimensions, after correcting for the observed scaling of the second-order exponent.

The Serpentinite Subsurface Microbiome

Science.gov (United States)

Schrenk, M. O.; Nelson, B. Y.; Brazelton, W. J.

2011-12-01

Microbial habitats hosted in ultramafic rocks constitute substantial, globally-distributed portions of the subsurface biosphere, occurring both on the continents and beneath the seafloor. The aqueous alteration of ultramafics, in a process known as serpentinization, creates energy rich, high pH conditions, with low concentrations of inorganic carbon which place fundamental constraints upon microbial metabolism and physiology. Despite their importance, very few studies have attempted to directly access and quantify microbial activities and distributions in the serpentinite subsurface microbiome. We have initiated microbiological studies of subsurface seeps and rocks at three separate continental sites of serpentinization in Newfoundland, Italy, and California and compared these results to previous analyses of the Lost City field, near the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. In all cases, microbial cell densities in seep fluids are extremely low, ranging from approximately 100,000 to less than 1,000 cells per milliliter. Culture-independent analyses of 16S rRNA genes revealed low-diversity microbial communities related to Gram-positive Firmicutes and hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria. Interestingly, unlike Lost City, there has been little evidence for significant archaeal populations in the continental subsurface to date. Culturing studies at the sites yielded numerous alkaliphilic isolates on nutrient-rich agar and putative iron-reducing bacteria in anaerobic incubations, many of which are related to known alkaliphilic and subsurface isolates. Finally, metagenomic data reinforce the culturing results, indicating the presence of genes associated with organotrophy, hydrogen oxidation, and iron reduction in seep fluid samples. Our data provide insight into the lifestyles of serpentinite subsurface microbial populations and targets for future quantitative exploration using both biochemical and geochemical approaches.

Microbial activity in the terrestrial subsurface

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kaiser, J.P.; Bollag, J.M.

1990-01-01

Little is known about the layers under the earth's crust. Only in recent years have techniques for sampling the deeper subsurface been developed to permit investigation of the subsurface environment. Prevailing conditions in the subsurface habitat such as nutrient availability, soil composition, redox potential, permeability and a variety of other factors can influence the microflora that flourish in a given environment. Microbial diversity varies between geological formations, but in general sandy soils support growth better than soils rich in clay. Bacteria predominate in subsurface sediments, while eukaryotes constitute only 1-2% of the microorganisms. Recent investigations revealed that most uncontaminated subsurface soils support the growth of aerobic heteroorganotrophic bacteria, but obviously anaerobic microorganisms also exist in the deeper subsurface habitat. The microorganisms residing below the surface of the earth are capable of degrading both natural and xenobiotic contaminants and can thereby adapt to growth under polluted conditions. (author) 4 tabs, 77 refs

Water-Level Data Analysis for the Saturated Zone Site-Scale Flow and Transport Model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

K. Rehfeldt

2004-01-01

This report is an updated analysis of water-level data performed to provide the ''Saturated Zone Site-Scale Flow Model'' (BSC 2004 [DIRS 170037]) (referred to as the saturated zone (SZ) site-scale flow model or site-scale SZ flow model in this report) with the configuration of the potentiometric surface, target water-level data, and hydraulic gradients for calibration of groundwater flow models. This report also contains an expanded discussion of uncertainty in the potentiometric-surface map. The analysis of the potentiometric data presented in Revision 00 of this report (USGS 2001 [DIRS 154625]) provides the configuration of the potentiometric surface, target heads, and hydraulic gradients for the calibration of the SZ site-scale flow model (BSC 2004 [DIRS 170037]). Revision 01 of this report (USGS 2004 [DIRS 168473]) used updated water-level data for selected wells through the year 2000 as the basis for estimating water-level altitudes and the potentiometric surface in the SZ site-scale flow and transport model domain based on an alternative interpretation of perched water conditions. That revision developed computer files containing: Water-level data within the model area (DTN: GS010908312332.002); A table of known vertical head differences (DTN: GS010908312332.003); and A potentiometric-surface map (DTN: GS010608312332.001) using an alternative concept from that presented by USGS (2001 [DIRS 154625]) for the area north of Yucca Mountain. The updated water-level data presented in USGS (2004 [DIRS 168473]) include data obtained from the Nye County Early Warning Drilling Program (EWDP) Phases I and II and data from Borehole USW WT-24. This document is based on Revision 01 (USGS 2004 [DIRS 168473]) and expands the discussion of uncertainty in the potentiometric-surface map. This uncertainty assessment includes an analysis of the impact of more recent water-level data and the impact of adding data from the EWDP Phases III and IV wells. In addition to being utilized

Drilling Specifications: Well Installations in the 300 Area to Support PNNL's Integrated Field-Scale Subsurface Research Challenge (IFC) Project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bjornstad, Bruce N.; Vermeul, Vince R.

2008-01-01

Part of the 300 Area Integrated Field-Scale Subsurface Research Challenge (IFC) will be installation of a network of high density borings and wells to monitor migration of fluids and contaminants (uranium), both in groundwater and vadose zone, away from an surface infiltration plot (Figure A-1). The infiltration plot will be located over an area of suspected contamination at the former 300 Area South Process Pond (SPP). The SPP is located in the southeastern portion of the Hanford Site, within the 300-FF-5 Operable Unit. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) with the support of FH shall stake the well locations prior to the start of drilling. Final locations will be based on accessibility and will avoid any surface or underground structures or hazards as well as surface contamination

Studies on scaling of flow noise received at the stagnation point of an axisymmetric body

Science.gov (United States)

Arakeri, V. H.; Satyanarayana, S. G.; Mani, K.; Sharma, S. D.

1991-05-01

A description of the studies related to the problem of scaling of flow noise received at the stagnation point of axisymmetric bodies is provided. The source of flow noise under consideration is the transitional/turbulent regions of the boundary layer flow on the axisymmetric body. Lauchle has recently shown that the noise measured in the laminar region (including the stagnation point) corresponds closely to the noise measured in the transition region, provided that the acoustic losses due to diffraction are accounted for. The present study includes experimental measurement of flow noise at the stagnation point of three different shaped axisymmetric headforms. One of the body shapes chosen is that used by Lauchle in similar studies. This was done to establish the effect of body size on flow noise. The results of the experimental investigations clearly show that the flow noise received at the stagnation point is a strong function of free stream velocity, a moderately strong function of body scale but a weak function of boundary layer thickness. In addition, there is evidence that when body scale change is involved, flow noise amplitude scales but no frequency shift is involved. A scaling procedure is proposed based on the present observations along with those of Lauchle. At a given frequency, the amplitude of noise level obtained under model testing conditions is first scaled to account for differences in the velocity and size corresponding to the prototype conditions; then a correction to this is applied to account for losses due to diffraction, which are estimated on the basis of the geometric theory of diffraction (GTD) with the source being located at the predicted position of turbulent transition. Use of the proposed scaling law to extrapolate presently obtained noise levels to two other conditions involving larger-scale bodies show good agreement with actually measured levels, in particular at higher frequencies. Since model scale results have been used

The Effect of Different Subsurface Drainage Systems on Improvement of Water Flow in Paddy fields

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

ghassem aghajani mazandarani

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Better use of water and soil resources in paddy fields, increase in rice production and farmer's income, installation of subsurface drainage system is necessary. The main goalof these systems, are aeration conditions improvement prevention of water logging, yield increase, land use increase and multiuse of the land. In different countries, installation of subsurface drainage cause yield increase and working condition on the land, but no research has been conducted in different depths and spacing. On the other hand, spacing and depth are the most important parameters in the installation of drainage systems, have a direct effect on incoming water into the drains. The aim of this research, is an investigation of the effect of subsurface drainage with different depths and spacing on discharge rate variation and water table fall, in order to analyze the improvement of water flow movement in the soil. Also, study the effect of different drainage systems on the increase of the canola yield as the second cultivation in these treatments have been compared. Materials and Methods: To measure hydraulic conductivity in different depths, the auger holes have been dug (excavated. The saturated hydraulic conductivity in these holes wasdetermined using Ernst method (1950 before installation of drainage systems. In the drainage pilot plot of Sari Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University three subsurface drainage systems with mineral envelope have been installed. 1- The first one with the 0.9 m depth and 30 m spacing (D90 L30, 2- The second one with 0.65 m depth and 15 m spacing (D0.65 L15 and 3- The third one with 0.65 m depth and spacing (D0.65 L30 and one bi-level system with mineral envelope including four drains of 15 m spacing with 0.9 m and 0.65 m depths were installed alternatively. After auger hole equipment installations, in the middle spacing of two subsurface and water table reading possible, the water table fluctuation and

Surface-subsurface turbulent interaction at the interface of a permeable bed: influence of the wall permeability

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, T.; Blois, G.; Best, J.; Christensen, K. T.

2017-12-01

Coarse-gravel river beds possess a high degree of permeability. Flow interactions between surface and subsurface flow across the bed interface is key to a number of natural processes occurring in the hyporheic zone. In fact, it is increasingly recognized that these interactions drive mass, momentum and energy transport across the interface, and consequently control biochemical processes as well as stability of sediments. The current study explores the role of the wall permeability in surface and subsurface flow interaction under controlled experimental conditions on a physical model of a gravel bed. The present wall model was constructed by five layers of cubically arranged spheres (d=25.4mm, where d is a diameter) providing 48% of porosity. Surface topography was removed by cutting half of a diameter on the top layer of spheres to render the flow surface smooth and highlight the impact of the permeability on the overlying flow. An impermeable smooth wall was also considered as a baseline of comparison for the permeable wall flow. To obtain basic flow statistics, low-frame-rate high-resolution PIV measurements were performed first in the streamwise-wall-normal (x-y) plane and refractive-index matching was employed to optically access the flow within the permeable wall. Time-resolved PIV experiments in the same facility were followed to investigate the flow interaction across the wall interface in sptaio-temporal domain. In this paper, a detailed analysis of the first and second order velocity statistics as well as the amplitude modulation for the flow overlying the permeable smooth wall will be presented.

Simulating flow around scaled model of a hypersonic vehicle in wind tunnel

Science.gov (United States)

Markova, T. V.; Aksenov, A. A.; Zhluktov, S. V.; Savitsky, D. V.; Gavrilov, A. D.; Son, E. E.; Prokhorov, A. N.

2016-11-01

A prospective hypersonic HEXAFLY aircraft is considered in the given paper. In order to obtain the aerodynamic characteristics of a new construction design of the aircraft, experiments with a scaled model have been carried out in a wind tunnel under different conditions. The runs have been performed at different angles of attack with and without hydrogen combustion in the scaled propulsion engine. However, the measured physical quantities do not provide all the information about the flowfield. Numerical simulation can complete the experimental data as well as to reduce the number of wind tunnel experiments. Besides that, reliable CFD software can be used for calculations of the aerodynamic characteristics for any possible design of the full-scale aircraft under different operation conditions. The reliability of the numerical predictions must be confirmed in verification study of the software. The given work is aimed at numerical investigation of the flowfield around and inside the scaled model of the HEXAFLY-CIAM module under wind tunnel conditions. A cold run (without combustion) was selected for this study. The calculations are performed in the FlowVision CFD software. The flow characteristics are compared against the available experimental data. The carried out verification study confirms the capability of the FlowVision CFD software to calculate the flows discussed.

Simulation for scale-up of a confined jet mixer for continuous hydrothermal flow synthesis of nanomaterials

OpenAIRE

Ma, CY; Liu, JJ; Zhang, Y; Wang, XZ

2015-01-01

Reactor performance of confined jet mixers for continuous hydrothermal flow synthesis of nanomaterials is investigated for the purpose of scale-up from laboratory scale to pilot-plant scale. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models were applied to simulate hydrothermal fluid flow, mixing and heat transfer behaviours in the reactors at different volumetric scale-up ratios (up to 26 times). The distributions of flow and heat transfer variables were obtained using ANSYS Fluent with the tracer c...

Multi-Scale Coupling Between Monte Carlo Molecular Simulation and Darcy-Scale Flow in Porous Media

KAUST Repository

Saad, Ahmed Mohamed

2016-06-01

In this work, an efficient coupling between Monte Carlo (MC) molecular simulation and Darcy-scale flow in porous media is presented. The cell centered finite difference method with non-uniform rectangular mesh were used to discretize the simulation domain and solve the governing equations. To speed up the MC simulations, we implemented a recently developed scheme that quickly generates MC Markov chains out of pre-computed ones, based on the reweighting and reconstruction algorithm. This method astonishingly reduces the required computational times by MC simulations from hours to seconds. To demonstrate the strength of the proposed coupling in terms of computational time efficiency and numerical accuracy in fluid properties, various numerical experiments covering different compressible single-phase flow scenarios were conducted. The novelty in the introduced scheme is in allowing an efficient coupling of the molecular scale and the Darcy\\'s one in reservoir simulators. This leads to an accurate description of thermodynamic behavior of the simulated reservoir fluids; consequently enhancing the confidence in the flow predictions in porous media.

Effects of forcing time scale on the simulated turbulent flows and turbulent collision statistics of inertial particles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rosa, B.; Parishani, H.; Ayala, O.; Wang, L.-P.

2015-01-01

In this paper, we study systematically the effects of forcing time scale in the large-scale stochastic forcing scheme of Eswaran and Pope [“An examination of forcing in direct numerical simulations of turbulence,” Comput. Fluids 16, 257 (1988)] on the simulated flow structures and statistics of forced turbulence. Using direct numerical simulations, we find that the forcing time scale affects the flow dissipation rate and flow Reynolds number. Other flow statistics can be predicted using the altered flow dissipation rate and flow Reynolds number, except when the forcing time scale is made unrealistically large to yield a Taylor microscale flow Reynolds number of 30 and less. We then study the effects of forcing time scale on the kinematic collision statistics of inertial particles. We show that the radial distribution function and the radial relative velocity may depend on the forcing time scale when it becomes comparable to the eddy turnover time. This dependence, however, can be largely explained in terms of altered flow Reynolds number and the changing range of flow length scales present in the turbulent flow. We argue that removing this dependence is important when studying the Reynolds number dependence of the turbulent collision statistics. The results are also compared to those based on a deterministic forcing scheme to better understand the role of large-scale forcing, relative to that of the small-scale turbulence, on turbulent collision of inertial particles. To further elucidate the correlation between the altered flow structures and dynamics of inertial particles, a conditional analysis has been performed, showing that the regions of higher collision rate of inertial particles are well correlated with the regions of lower vorticity. Regions of higher concentration of pairs at contact are found to be highly correlated with the region of high energy dissipation rate

Nitrogen and COD removal from domestic and synthetic wastewater in subsurface-flow constructed wetlands.

Science.gov (United States)

Collison, R S; Grismer, M E

2013-09-01

Comparisons of the performance of constructed-wetland systems (CWs) for treating domestic wastewater in the laboratory and field may use pathogen-free synthetic wastewater to avoid regulatory health concerns. However, little to no data are available describing the relative treatment efficiencies of CWs to both actual and synthetic domestic wastewaters so as to enable such comparison. To fill this gap, treatment performances with respect to organics (chemical organic demand; COD) and nitrogen (ammonium and nitrate) removal from domestic (septic tank) and a similar-strength synthetic wastewater under planted and non-planted subsurface-flow CWs are determined. One pair of CWs was planted with cattails in May 2008, whereas the adjacent system was non-planted. Collected septic tank or synthesized wastewater was allowed to gravity feed each CWs, and effluent samples were collected and tested for COD and nitrogen species regularly during four different periods over six months. Overall, statistically significant greater removal of COD (-12%) and nitrogen (-5%) occurred from the synthetic as compared with the domestic wastewater from the planted and non-planted CWs. Effluent BOD5/COD ratios from the synthetic wastewater CWs averaged nearly twice that from the domestic wastewater CWs (0.17 vs 0.10), reflecting greater concentrations of readily degraded compounds. That removal fractions were consistent across the mid-range loading rates to the CWs suggests that the synthetic wastewater can be used in testing laboratory CWs with reasonable success in application of their results to the field.

Two-phase flow in porous media: power-law scaling of effective permeability

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Groeva, Morten; Hansen, Alex, E-mail: Morten.Grova@ntnu.no, E-mail: Alex.Hansen@ntnu.no [Department of Physics, NTNU, NO-7491 Trondheim (Norway)

2011-09-15

A recent experiment has reported power-law scaling of effective permeability of two-phase flow with respect to capillary number for a two-dimensional model porous medium. In this paper, we consider the simultaneous flow of two phases through a porous medium under steady-state conditions, fixed total flow-rate and saturation, using a two-dimensional network simulator. We obtain power-law exponents for the scaling of effective permeability with respect to capillary number. The simulations are performed both for viscosity matched fluids and for a high viscosity ratio resembling that of air and water. Good power-law behaviour is found for both cases. Different exponents are found, depending on saturation.