Mathematical Sciences: Collaborative Research for Advanced Modeling and Numerical Simulation of Surfactant Enhanced Aquifer Remediation

摘要DMS-9634325非水相液体有机污染物在地下的迁移和归宿是近几年来深入研究的课题。现在普遍认识到，受污染地区普遍存在的NAPLS严重阻碍了含水层的恢复。鉴于传统的抽水和处理含水层补救方法的局限性，目前相当大的兴趣集中在制定替代补救战略上。这些替代战略之一是表面活性剂强化含水层修复(SEAR)。与成功的SEAR项目设计相关的三个突出问题。首先，对SEAR中流体流动的数学模型的关注相对较少。其次，由于含水层空间范围的采样有限，流体流动和运移模型在存在非均质性的情况下必然会有很大的不确定性。第三，模拟SEAR过程所涉及的非常大的计算量要求算法既可靠又高效。由于SEAR过程涉及的复杂性，拟议的研究将汇集几个学科的专业知识，即地球科学研究、石油工程和应用数学。研究人员建议开发模型和数值算法，以模拟有机污染物的初始扩散和后来通过表面活性剂驱进行清理的过程。这些数值算法将使用复杂的多相流模型、最先进的地质统计学方法和现代数值技术，如自适应网格细化、物性动态放大和面向对象编程。计算将在工作站和采用并行处理的超级计算机上进行。将开发图形用户界面和交互式可视化技术。

ABSTRACT DMS-9634325 The migration and fate of nonaqueous phase liquid (NAPL) organic contaminants in the subsurface has been the subject of intensive investigation in the past few years. It is now generally recognized that the prevalence of NAPLs at contaminated sites is a significant impediment to aquifer restoration. Based upon the perceived limitations of conventional pump-and-treat methods for aquifer remediation, considerable interest is currently focused on the development of alternative remediation strategies. One of these alternative strategies is surfactant enhanced aquifer remediation (SEAR). There are three outstanding problems related to the design of successful SEAR projects. First, relatively little attention has been focused on the mathematical modeling of fluid flow in SEAR. Secondly, because of the limited sampling over the spatial extent of an aquifer, fluid flow and transport models will necessarily have large uncertainty in the presence of heterogeneity. Thirdly, the very large computations involved in simulation of the SEAR process require algorithms that are both reliable and efficient. Because of the complexities involved in the SEAR process, the proposed research will bring together the expertise from several disciplines, namely geosciences research, petroleum engineering and applied mathematics. The investigators propose to develop models and numerical algorithms to simulate the initial dispersal of organic contaminants and later cleanup by means of' surfactant floods. These numerical algorithms will employ complex multi-phase flow models, state-of-the-art geostatistical methods and modem numerical techniques such as adaptive mesh refinement, dynamic upscaling of physical properties and object-oriented programming. The computations will be performed on workstations, and on supercomputers employing parallel processing. Graphical user interfaces and interactive visualization techniques will be developed.