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

项目标题：运输路径的高分辨率动态表征：提供对地下过程的新见解团队1提案07-38955主要研究人员：James Butler，Geoffrey Bohling，和Gaisheng Liu研究所：大学。KansasTeam 2提案07-38938首席调查员：David Hyndman和Remke Van Dam研究所：密歇根州立大学。Team 3提案07-38960首席调查员：春苗郑研究所：大学。阿拉巴马项目的大量理论和实验研究已经确定，水力传导度(K)的空间分布是控制地下溶质运移的最重要因素。以往的工作表明，对非均质含水层的详细描述对于开发预测模型和提高我们对运移行为的理解是必要的。虽然许多研究表明，经典的平流-弥散模型可以合理地描述轻度非均质含水层中的现场尺度溶质运移，但在高度非均质含水层中开发预测运移模型的努力并未取得成功。最近的模拟研究表明，水力传导性的小范围变化可能是在这种含水层中观察到的高度不对称示踪剂羽流的主要原因。然而，当前一代的现场方法不能以预测运移建模所需的详细程度来描述这些变化。在这个项目中，我们将开发新的方法来表征和模拟非均质含水层中的运移。通过将一种新的直推剖面法与新的“全分辨率”3D探地雷达方法相结合，我们将描述在以前无法达到的垂直和横向分辨率下K的空间分布。我们将在广泛研究的MADE地点应用我们的方法，并通过预测性地模拟用延时地球物理监测的盐水示踪试验，以及通过重新评估以前进行的大规模示踪试验，来证明这种详细表征的价值。Made场地的高分辨率3DK描述将用于评估替代的溶质运移模拟方法，并开发对高度非均质含水层中的运移过程的新见解。我们将在美国和德国的更多地点展示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更广泛的影响。MADE现场前所未有的水力传导性表征水平将提供必要的细节，以解决有关高度非均质地层中溶质运移的一系列基本问题。这些数据集将提高我们对通过此类系统的溶质传输的概念性理解和建模能力。这项研究中提出的见解和方法也将对应用水文地质学具有重要价值；将其纳入实际调查应能极大地提高预测模型的质量，从而导致更可靠的风险评估和更有效地分配用于场地特征和补救活动的资源。我们将开发我们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不同的环境中探索地下传输现象的能力。

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.