Collaborative Research: High-resolution Dynamic Characterization of Transport Pathways: Providing New Insights into Subsurface Processes

项目名称：运输途径的高分辨率动态表征： 为地下工艺提供新的见解团队1提案07-38955主要研究者：James Butler、Geoffrey Bohling和Gaisheng Liu研究所： 堪萨斯大学团队2提案07-38938主要研究者：大卫海德曼和雷姆克货车大坝研究所： 密歇根州立大学第三队提案07-38960 主要研究者：郑春苗研究机构： 大量的理论和实验研究已经确定了水力传导系数（K）的空间分布是控制地下溶质运移的最重要因素。以前的工作表明，详细描述非均质含水层是必要的，以开发预测模型，提高我们的理解运输行为。虽然许多研究表明，经典的对流弥散模型可以合理地描述轻度非均匀含水层的现场规模的溶质运移，在高度非均匀含水层的预测输运模型的努力并没有取得成功。最近的模拟研究表明，水力传导率的小规模变化可能是在这种含水层中观察到的高度不对称示踪羽流的主要原因。然而，目前这一代的现场方法是不能够表征这些变化的预测运输modeling.In这个项目中，我们将开发新的方法来表征和模拟通过非均质含水层的运输所需的细节水平。通过结合一种新的直推剖面法与新的“全分辨率”三维探地雷达方法，我们将描述K的空间分布在以前无法达到的垂直和横向分辨率。我们将在广泛研究的MADE现场应用我们的方法，并通过预测模拟用延时地球物理学监测的盐水示踪剂测试，以及通过重新评估之前进行的大规模示踪剂测试，来证明这种详细表征的价值。高分辨率的3D K描述的MADE网站将被用来评估替代溶质运输建模方法，并开发新的见解运输过程中的高度异质性含水层。我们将在美国和德国的其他地点展示所开发的技术和原理的广泛适用性。该项目将在科学、实践和教育领域产生重大的广泛影响。在MADE网站的水力传导率的表征前所未有的水平将提供必要的细节，以解决一套关于溶质运移在高度异质性地层的基本问题。这些数据集将提高我们的概念性理解，并通过这样的系统，溶质运移建模能力。在这项研究中开发的见解和方法也将是应用水文地质学的巨大价值;他们纳入实际调查应显着提高预测模型的质量，导致更可靠的风险评估和更有效的资源分配的网站特性和补救活动。 我们将开发我们的结果的高分辨率沉浸式可视化，为从业者，研究人员和学生提供在高度异质环境中探索地下运输现象的能力。

Project Title: High-Resolution Dynamic Characterization of Transport Pathways: Providing New Insights into Subsurface ProcessesTeam 1 Proposal 07-38955 Principal Investigators: James Butler, Geoffrey Bohling, and Gaisheng Liu Institution: Univ. of KansasTeam 2 Proposal 07-38938 Principal Investigators: David Hyndman and Remke Van Dam Institution: Michigan State Univ.Team 3 Proposal 07-38960 Principal Investigator: Chunmiao Zheng Institution: Univ. of AlabamaProject AbstractA large body of theoretical and experimental research has identified the spatial distribution of hydraulic conductivity (K) as the most significant factor controlling subsurface solute transport. Previous work has shown that detailed characterization of heterogeneous aquifers is necessary to develop predictive models and improve our understanding of transport behavior. Although numerous studies have demonstrated that classic advection-dispersion models can reasonably describe field-scale solute transport in mildly heterogeneous aquifers, efforts to develop predictive transport models in highly heterogeneous aquifers have not met with success. Recent modeling studies have indicated that small-scale variations in hydraulic conductivity may be the primary cause of the highly asymmetric tracer plumes that have been observed in such aquifers. However, the current generation of field methods is not capable of characterizing these variations at the level of detail required for predictive transport modeling.In this project, we will develop new methods to characterize and simulate transport through heterogeneous aquifers. By combining a new direct-push profiling method with novel "full-resolution" 3D ground-penetrating radar methods, we will describe the spatial distribution of K at previously unattainable vertical and lateral resolutions. We will apply our approach at the extensively studied MADE site and demonstrate the value of such detailed characterization by predictively simulating saline tracer tests monitored with time-lapse geophysics, and through reassessment of a previously performed large-scale tracer test. The high-resolution 3D K description of the MADE site will be used to evaluate alternative solute-transport modeling approaches, and to develop new insights into transport processes in highly heterogeneous aquifers. We will demonstrate the broad applicability of the developed techniques and principles at additional sites in the United States and Germany.The project will have significant broader impacts in the areas of science, practice, and education. The unprecedented level of characterization of hydraulic conductivity at the MADE site will provide the necessary detail to address a suite of fundamental questions concerning solute transport in highly heterogeneous formations. These data sets will improve our conceptual understanding of, and modeling capabilities for, solute transport through such systems. The insights and methods developed in this research will also be of great value for applied hydrogeology; their incorporation into practical investigations should dramatically improve the quality of predictive models, leading to more reliable risk assessments and more efficient allocation of resources for site characterization and remediation activities. We will develop high-resolution immersive visualizations of our results to provide practitioners, researchers, and students with an ability to explore subsurface transport phenomena in a highly heterogeneous environment.