Publications

To properly characterize the transport of contaminants from the sediments beneath the Hanford Site into the Columbia River, a suite of In Situ Permeable Flow Sensors was deployed to accurately characterize the hydrologic regime in the banks of the river. The three dimensional flow velocity was recorded on an hourly basis from mid May to mid July, 1994 and for one week in September. The first data collection interval coincided with the seasonal high water level in the river while the second interval reflected conditions during relatively low seasonal river stage. Two flow sensors located approximately 50 feet from the river recorded flow directions which correlated very well with river stage, both on seasonal and diurnal time scales. During time intervals characterized by falling river stage, the flow sensors recorded flow toward the river while flow away from the river was recorded during times of rising river stage. The flow sensor near the river in the Hanford Formation recorded a component of flow oriented vertically downward, probably reflecting the details of the hydrostratigraphy in close proximity to the probe. The flow sensor near the river in the Ringold Formation recorded an upward component of flow which dominated the horizontal components most of the time. The upward flow in the Ringold probably reflects regional groundwater flow into the river. The magnitudes of the flow velocities recorded by the flow sensors were lower than expected, probably as a result of drilling induced disturbance of the hydraulic properties of the sediments around the probes. The probes were installed with resonant sonic drilling which may have compacted the sediments immediately surrounding the probes, thereby reducing the hydraulic conductivity adjacent to the probes and diverting the groundwater flow away from the sensors.

In 1992, a sinkhole was discovered above a Strategic Petroleum Reserve storage facility at Weeks Island, Louisiana. The oil is stored in an old salt mine located within a salt dome. In order to assess the hydrologic significance of the sink hole, an In Situ Permeable Flow Sensor was deployed within a sand-filled conduit in the salt dome directly beneath the sinkhole. The flow sensor is a recently developed instrument which uses a thermal perturbation technique to measure the magnitude and direction of the full 3-dimensional groundwater flow velocity vector in saturated, permeable materials. The flow sensor measured substantial groundwater flow directed vertically downward into the salt dome. The data obtained with the flow sensor provided critical evidence which was instrumental in assessing the significance of the sinkhole in terms of the integrity of the oil storage facility.

A suite of In Situ Permeable Flow Sensors was deployed at the site of the Savannah River Integrated Demonstration to monitor the interaction between the groundwater flow regime and air injected into the saturated subsurface through a horizontal well. One of the goals of the experiment was to determine if a groundwater circulation system was induced by the air injection process. The data suggest that no such circulation system was established, perhaps due to the heterogeneous nature of the sediments through which the injected gas has to travel. The steady state and transient groundwater flow patterns observed suggest that the injected air followed high permeability pathways from the injection well to the water table. The preferential pathways through the essentially horizontal impermeable layers appear to have been created by drilling activities at the site.

A new technology called the In Situ Permeable Flow Sensor has been developed at Sandia National Laboratories. These sensors use a thermal perturbation technique to directly measure the direction and magnitude of the full three dimensional groundwater flow velocity vector in unconsolidated, saturated, porous media. The velocity measured is an average value characteristic of an approximately 1 cubic meter volume of the subsurface. During a test at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, two flow sensors were deployed in a confined aquifer in close proximity to a well which was screened over the entire vertical extent of the aquifer and the well was pumped at four different pumping rates. In this situation horizontal flow which is radially directed toward the pumping well is expected. The flow sensors measured horizontal flow which was directed toward the pumping well, within the uncertainty in the measurements. The observed magnitude of the horizontal component of the flow velocity increased linearly with pumping rate, as predicted by theoretical considerations. The measured horizontal component of the flow velocity differed from the predicted flow velocity, which was calculated with the assumptions that the hydraulic properties of the aquifer were radially homogeneous and isotropic, by less than a factor of two. Drawdown data obtained from other wells near the pumping well during the pump test indicate that the hydraulic properties of the aquifer are probably not radially homogeneous but the effect of the inhomogeneity on the flow velocity field around the pumping well was not modeled because the degree and distribution of the inhomogeneity are unknown. Grain size analysis of core samples from wells in the area were used to estimate the vertical distribution of hydraulic conductivity.

The In Situ Permeable Flow Sensor, a new technology which uses a thermal perturbation technique to directly measure the 3-dimensional groundwater flow velocity vector at a point in permeable, unconsolidated geologic formations, has been used to monitor changes in the groundwater flow regime around an experimental air stripping waste remediation activity. While design flaws in the first version of the technology, which were used during the experiment being reported here, precluded measurements of the horizontal component of the flow velocity, measurements of the vertical component of the flow velocity were obtained. Results indicate that significant changes in the vertical flow velocity were induced by the air injection system. One flow sensor, MHM6, measured a vertical flow velocity of 4 m/yr or less when the air injection system was not operating and 25 m/yr when the air injection system was on. This may be caused by air bubbles moving past the probes or may be the result of the establishment of a more widespread flow regime in the groundwater induced by the air injection system. In the latter case, significantly more groundwater would be remediated by the air stripping operation since groundwater would be circulated through the zone of influence of the air injection system. Newly designed flow sensors, already in the ground at Savannah River to monitor Phase II of the project, are capable of measuring horizontal as well as vertical components of flow velocity.