Collaborative Research: CMG: Mathematical and Experimental Analysis of Transport Phenomena in Highly Heterogeneous Porous Media

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PROJECT ABSTRACTCollaborative Research: Mathematical and Experimental Analysis of Transport Phenomena in Highly Heterogeneous Porous MediaThis project is focused on the description of solute spreading in highly heterogeneous porous media. Conventional models often capture the net movement and spreading of solutes, but they do not typically capture the 'tails' of solute plumes as they move through the subsurface. Usually, tailing arises because of the interaction between two or more kinds of geologic material that have distinctly different physical properties. Such media are often represented by physicists and hydrologists as containing two or more types of discrete regions.The research will integrate theory and experiment for understanding solute transport through highly heterogeneous porous media, with a particular focus on tailing phenomena. Often the development of theory and subsequent experimental validation is conducted by entirely separate groups of researchers. In contrast, this research team consists of members who have a proven record of integrating new mathematical theory and carefully-controlled laboratory experiments. This work also provides an opportunity to increase the sparse database of well-characterized solute transport experiments available to the hydrology and mathematics communities for the purposes of testing and validating descriptive theories of solute transport in heterogeneous subsurface systems. The broad objective of the research is to develop an improved understanding of tailing phenomena in highly heterogeneous porous media. The problems to be addressed in this project are truly interdisciplinary, and require new and substantive basic research to be conducted at the intersection of mathematics and geosciences. The interdisciplinary research team (involving members representing mathematics, geosciences, statistics, and engineering) brings a balanced perspective on modern data collection technology; subsurface hydrology; upscaling methods; statistics; stochastic processes; numerical methods; and the partial differential equations of mass, momentum, and energy transport. The results from our research are intended to provide substantial contributions to both mathematics and to geosciences.The proposed research will have the following broader impacts. Benefits to society. Subsurface contamination is a serious problem that poses threats to public health and to our continuing access to fresh water for drinking, agriculture, and industry. This research seeks to improve our basic scientific understanding of transport processes relevant to the effective design of subsurface remediation schemes. Promoting training and learning. Understanding and managing subsurface heterogeneity is one of the most challenging concepts for students and practitioners to master in groundwater hydrology. The proposed research provides multiple opportunities to improve both undergraduate and graduate learning in an exciting and focused interdisciplinary environment. Enhancing networks and partnerships. This proposal expands on existing collaborations and focuses an interdisciplinary group of geoscientists and mathematicians with a wide variety of expertise. Support of the proposed research will provide the unique opportunity for the PI's to collaborate across disciplinary lines on problems of mutual interest.