Groundwater flow numerical model to evaluate the water mass balance and flow patterns in Groundwater Circulation Wells (GCW) with varying aquifer parameters
Published: 12 September 2022
Abstract Views: 1721
PDF: 594
Publisher's note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
Authors
Groundwater Circulation Wells (GCW) can be an effective in-situ remediation option allowing high mass recovery of contaminants in cases where contamination hotspots are located in saturated soil having low hydraulic conductivity. Traditional treatment options such as Pump&Treat, Air Sparging (AS)/Soil Vapor Extraction (SVE) and Multi Phase Extraction (MPE) typically require long operation times and significant costs for long-term plume management. GCWs induce meaningful changes in the groundwater flow introducing vertical flows both downward and upward, generating a “circulation cell”, which facilitates contaminant desorption from the soil. This study aims to understand the effects of a GCW on an aquifer in terms of both groundwater flow directions and water balance. A groundwater numerical model was built using MODFLOW-2005 to simulate the effect of the hydraulic parameters of the aquifer on the hydraulic circulation pattern of the GCW. The use of particle tracking simulated by MODPATH 7 showed the circulation cells and the impact on groundwater directions induced by different configurations of hydraulic parameters. The water flowing into the cell comes from both the injection well and the surrounding aquifer and the model shows how the hydraulic parameters of the aquifer, in particular the horizontal and vertical hydraulic conductivity, have a paramount influence in determining the shape and dimension of the circulation cell. A water mass balance analysis was carried out. It allowed to predict the groundwater flows exchanges between the GCW system and the surrounding aquifer, and to verify the sensitivity of the water budget to specific aquifer parameters. The results of this study are useful for further understanding the hydraulics of a GCW remediation system in order to support the design and to predict its performance.
Altmetrics
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
Citations
Alesi EJ, Brinnel P, Herding B, Hirschberger F, Sick MR, Stamm J (1991) In situ groundwater remediation of strippable contaminants by vacuum vaporizer wells (UVB): operation of the well and report about cleaned industrial sites. Third Forum on Innovative Hazardous Waste Treatment Technologies: Domestic and International, Dallas, TX.
Alesi EJ, Veluvali Laxmipathy P, Abad Gonzales A, Altschuh P, Kneer A, Nestler B (2018) Groundwater remediation – numerical models and experiments, Forschung Aktuell, Page 59-63.
Brandenburg JP (2020), Geologic Frameworks for Groundwater Flow Models. The Groundwater Project, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, DOI: https://doi.org/10.21083/978-1-7770541-9-9
Berti D, Blumetti AM, Brustia E, Calca Terra S, Chiarolla D, Comerci V, Di Manna P, Gambino P, Guerrieri L, Iadanza C, Leoni G, Lu- Carini M, Niceforo D, Nisio S, Pompili R, Spizzichino D, Triglia A (2018) Pericolosità Geologiche “Geological Hazards” ISPRA-MIT.
Di Curzio D, Rotiroti M, Preziosi E (2022) Procedures for the environmental remediation of contaminated sites in Italy: food for thought from the Roundtable at Flowpath 2021 in Naples. Acque Sotterranee - Italian Journal of Groundwater, 11(1), 79–84. https://doi.org/10.7343/as-2022-562 DOI: https://doi.org/10.7343/as-2022-562
Elmore AC, DeAngelis L (2004) Modeling a ground water circulation well alternative. Groundwater Monitoring & Remediation, 2004,24.1: 66-73. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6592.2004.tb00706.x
Elmore AC, Hellman (2001) Model-predicted groundwater circulation well performance. Pract. Period. Hazard. Toxic Radioact. Waste Manage, 54, 203–210. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1090-025X(2001)5:4(203)
Formentin G, Terrenghi J, Vitiello M, Francioli A (2019). Evaluation of the performance of a hydraulic barrier by the Null space Monte Carlo method. Acque Sotterranee - Italian Journal of Groundwater, 8(4). https://doi.org/10.734/as-2019-420 DOI: https://doi.org/10.7343/as-2019-420
Freeze RA, Cherry JA (1979) Groundwater. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice-Hall.
Harbaugh AW (1990) A computer program for calculating subregional water budgets using results from the U.S. Geological Survey modular three-dimensional ground-water flow model: U.S. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr90392
Geological Survey Open-File Report 90-392, 46 p. Harbaugh AW (2005) MODFLOW-2005, the U.S. Geological Survey modular ground-water model - the Ground-Water Flow Process: U.S. Geological Survey Techniques and Methods 6-A16.
Herrling B, Beurmann W (1990) A new method for in-situ remediation of volatile contaminants in groundwater - numerical simulation of the flow regime. Proc. of the “VIII International Conference on Computational Methods in Water Resources”, Venice/Italy, June 11-15, 1990.
Herrling B, Beurmann W, Stamm J (1990) In-situ-beseitigung leichttluchtiger schadstoffe aus dem grundwasserbereich mit dem UVB-verfahren. Neuer stand der sanierungstechniken von atlasten. “In-situ removal of volatile pollutants from groundwater using the UVB method. New state of the art in remediation techniques for atlases”. IWSschritlenreihe, H.P. Luehr et al., eds., Erich Schmidt, Berlin, 71–99.
Herrling B, Stamm J (1991) Results of Modeling 3-D Circulation systems around special screened wells for physical or biological in situ ground-water remediation (UVB Technology) EOS, Transactions, Amer. Geophys. Union, Vol. 72, No. 44, p. 152.
Herrling B, Buermann W, Stamm J (1991) In situ groundwater remediation of strippable or volatile contamination using the UVB method. Proc., European Conf. Advances in Water Resources Technology, G. Tsakiris, ed., Balkema, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 315–321.
Herrling B, Stamm J (1992) Hydraulic Circulation System for In Situ Remediation of Strippable Contaminants and In Situ Bioreclamation (GZB/UVB Method). Proceedings “Hydrochemistry 1993” May 24 - 29, 1993 Rostov-on-Don, Russia.
Herrling B, Stamm J (1993) Numerische untersuchungen zum unterdruck-verdampfer-brunnen UVB and zum grundwasserzirkulations-brunnen GZB. “Numerical studies of the vacuum evaporator well UVB and the groundwater circulation well GZB”. Rep. No. 702, Institute for Hydromechanics, Univ. of Karlsruhe, Germany.
Johnson AI (1967) U.S. Geological Survey Water Supply, Government Printing Office, Washington, paper 1662-D
Johnson RL, Simon MA (2007) Evaluation of groundwater flow patterns around a dual-screened groundwater circulation well, Journal of Contaminant Hydrology 93, 188–202. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jconhyd.2007.02.003
Lakhwala FS, Mueller JG, Desrosiers RJ (1998) Demonstration of a Microbiologically Enhanced Vertical Ground Water Circulation Well Technology at a Superfund Site. Ground water monitoring and remediation 18, no. 2, 97-106. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6592.1998.tb00620.x
Li P, Karunanidhi D, Subramani T, Srinivasamoorthy K (2021) Sources and consequences of groundwater contamination. Archives of environmental contamination and toxicology, 80(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-020-00805-z DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-020-00805-z
McCarty PL, Goltz MN, Hopkins GD, Dolan ME, Allan JP, Kawakami BT, Carrothers TJ (1998). Full scale evaluation of in situ cometabolic degradation of trichloroethylene in groundwater through toluene injection. Environmental Science & Technology 32 (1), 88–100. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/es970322b
Miller PG, Roote, DS, 1997. In-well Vapor Stripping. GWRTAC Technology Overview Report TO-97-01.
Mohrlock U, Kirubaharan SC, Eldho TI (2010) Transport Characteristics in a 3D Groundwater Circulation Flow Field by Experimental and Numerical Investigations. Practice periodical of hazardous, toxic, and radioactive waste management. ASCE. Pages 185-194. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)HZ.1944-8376.0000032
Petrangeli Papini M, Majone M, Arjmand F, Silvestri D, Sagliaschi M, Sucato S, Alesi E (2016) First pilot test on integration of GCW (groundwater circulation well) with ENA (enhanced natural attenuation) for chlorinated solvents source remediation, Chemical Engineering Transactions, 49, 91-96.
Pierro L, Matturro B, Rossetti S, Sagliaschi M, Sucato S, Alesi EJ, Bartsch E, Arjmand F, Petrangeli Papini M (2016) Polyhydroxyalkanoate as a slow-release carbon source for in-situ bioremediation of contaminated aquifers: From laboratory investigation to pilot-scale testing in the field. New Biotechnology, Vol. 37, July 2017, pp 60-68. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nbt.2016.11.004
Pollock DW (2016). Extending the MODPATH algorithm to rectangular unstructured grids. Groundwater, 54(1), 121-125. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwat.12328 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/gwat.12328
Rumbaugh JO, Rumbaugh DB (2020) Groundwater Vistas version 8 manual. Environmental Simulations, Leesport, PA (2020). Semprini L, Roberts PV, Hopkins GD, McCarty PL (1990) A Field Evaluation of In-Situ Biodegradation of Chlorinated Ethenes: Part 2, Results of Biostimulation and Biotransformation Experiments, Ground Water 28 no.5 715-727. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6584.1990.tb01987.x
Stamm J, Scholz M, Loseke M (1996) 3D vertical circulation flows around groundwater circulation wells (GZB) for aquifer remediation: Numerical calculations and field experiments. Contaminated soil, W. J. van den Brink, R. Bosman, and F. Arendt, eds., Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 171–181. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-0415-9_26
Stamm J (1997) Numerische berechnung dreidimensionaler strömungsvorgänge um grundwasser-zirkulations-brunnen zur insitugrundwassersanierung. “Numerical calculation of three-dimensional flow processes around groundwater circulation wells for in-situ groundwater remediation”. Ph.D. thesis, Univ. of Karlsruhe, Germany, Reihe 15, VDI-Verlag, Düsseldorf.
Stefania GA, Rotiroti M, Fumagalli L, Zanotti C, Bonomi T (2018). Numerical modeling of remediation scenarios of a groundwater Cr (VI) plume in an alpine valley aquifer. Geosciences, 8(6), 209. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences8060209
Tatti F, Petrangeli Papini M, Torretta V, Mancini G, Boni MR, Viotti P (2019) Experimental and numerical evaluation of Groundwater Circulation Wells as a remediation technology for persistent, low permeability contaminant source zones. J Contam Hydrol.; 222:89-100. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jconhyd.2019.03.001
Zlotnik VA, Cardenas MB, Toundykov D (2011) Effects of multiscale anisotropy on basin and hyporheic groundwater flow. Ground Water, 49(4):576-83. doi: 10.1111/j.1745-6584.2010.00775.x. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6584.2010.00775.x
How to Cite
Groundwater flow numerical model to evaluate the water mass balance and flow patterns in Groundwater Circulation Wells (GCW) with varying aquifer parameters. (2022). Acque Sotterranee - Italian Journal of Groundwater, 11(4), 9-19. https://doi.org/10.7343/as-2022-515
Copyright (c) 2022 the Author(s)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
PAGEPress has chosen to apply the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) to all manuscripts to be published.
