TY - JOUR
T1 - Numerical analysis of water and solute transport in variably-saturated fractured clayey till
AU - Rosenbom, Annette E.
AU - Therrien, Rene
AU - Refsgaard, Jens Christian
AU - Jensen, Karsten H.
AU - Ernstsen, Vibeke
AU - Klint, Knud Erik S.
N1 - Funding Information:
The work presented here has been mainly funded by GEUS. We also thank the DONG Corporation for partly funding the collaboration between Université Laval and the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) for funding R. Therrien. The authors thank Nicholas Jarvis (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) and Søren Hansen (Faculty of Life Science, University of Copenhagen) for commenting on an early version of the manuscript.
PY - 2009/2/16
Y1 - 2009/2/16
N2 - This study numerically investigates the influence of initial water content and rain intensities on the preferential migration of two fluorescent tracers, Acid Yellow 7 (AY7) and Sulforhodamine B (SB), through variably-saturated fractured clayey till. The simulations are based on the numerical model HydroGeoSphere, which solves 3D variably-saturated flow and solute transport in discretely-fractured porous media. Using detailed knowledge of the matrix, fracture, and biopore properties, the numerical model is calibrated and validated against experimental high-resolution tracer images/data collected under dry and wet soil conditions and for three different rain events. The model could reproduce reasonably well the observed preferential migration of AY7 and SB through the fractured till, although it did not capture the exact depth of migration and the negligible impact of the dead-end biopores in a near-saturated matrix. A sensitivity analysis suggests fast flow mechanisms and dynamic surface coating in the biopores, and the presence of a plough pan in the till.
AB - This study numerically investigates the influence of initial water content and rain intensities on the preferential migration of two fluorescent tracers, Acid Yellow 7 (AY7) and Sulforhodamine B (SB), through variably-saturated fractured clayey till. The simulations are based on the numerical model HydroGeoSphere, which solves 3D variably-saturated flow and solute transport in discretely-fractured porous media. Using detailed knowledge of the matrix, fracture, and biopore properties, the numerical model is calibrated and validated against experimental high-resolution tracer images/data collected under dry and wet soil conditions and for three different rain events. The model could reproduce reasonably well the observed preferential migration of AY7 and SB through the fractured till, although it did not capture the exact depth of migration and the negligible impact of the dead-end biopores in a near-saturated matrix. A sensitivity analysis suggests fast flow mechanisms and dynamic surface coating in the biopores, and the presence of a plough pan in the till.
KW - Biopore
KW - Clayey till
KW - Fluorescence tracer
KW - Fracture
KW - HydroGeoSphere
KW - Preferential flow
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=58149483773&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jconhyd.2008.09.001
DO - 10.1016/j.jconhyd.2008.09.001
M3 - Article
SN - 0169-7722
VL - 104
SP - 137
EP - 152
JO - Journal of Contaminant Hydrology
JF - Journal of Contaminant Hydrology
IS - 1-4
ER -