Journal of the Korean Society of Mineral and Energy Resources Engineers ISSN:2288-0291(Print) 2288-2790(Online) 한국자원공학회지

A numerical study was performed to examine the potential of groundwater and soil gas contamination resulting from an immobile nonaqueous phase liquid(NAPL) introduced into the subsurface. The multiphase flow model was coupled with contaminant transport models considering dispersion, advection, and interphase mass transfer. Dissolution, volatilization, and gas-water partition from an immobilized trichloroethylene(TCE) residual locating on the water table is included as a volatile organic contamination source. Simulations were performed for a hypothetical two-dimensional laboratory-scale domain in order to gain a better understanding of factors which affect the development of contaminant plumes in both aqueous and gaseous plumes. For various combinations of soil texture, source size, and hydraulic gradient, sizes of contaminant plumes were compared. The simulation results illustrate hydraulic properties of soil have a profound influence on the generation and spreading of gaseous and aqueous plumes. Considerable variation in an aqueous plume also results from the changes in the size of the contamination source and hydraulic gradient in the saturated zone, especially for a highly-permeable soil. Relatively small variation was observed in a gaseous plume for all cases considered.