Contaminant transport in a largely-deformed aquitard affected by delayed drainage

Abstract

This paper employed a one-dimensional large-deformation model in consideration of the coupling of mechanical consolidation and solute transport, to study the transport of contaminants in a largely-deformed aquitard. An analytical solution has been derived to describe the drawdown variation in a largely-deformed aquitard which is subjected to abrupt hydraulic head decline in adjacent confined aquifers. The pore water flux and void ratio variation were obtained on the basis of the analytical solution. The equation for transient contaminant flux was solved by the finite difference method. A hypothetical case study was done to explore the effect of consolidation on the contaminant transport in a largely-deformed aquitard. The transit time of contaminant transport in the aquitard is mainly determined by the hydraulic conductivity, thickness, partitioning coefficient, void ratio and effective diffusion coefficients of aquitard, as well as the drawdown in the adjacent confined aquifer. The impact of delayed drainage on the contaminant transport in the largely-deformed aquitard is mainly controlled by two factors: the transient water flow and the decrease of aquitard thickness, in the process of aquitard consolidation. The former increases the breakthrough time of contaminant transport in the aquitard, and the latter gives rise to an opposite case with its effect decreasing with increasing contaminant partitioning coefficient for soil particles sorption. A larger deformation, which may be induced by a larger thickness, higher specific storativity of aquitard or a larger drawdown of the adjacent confined aquifer, and a lower hydraulic conductivity of aquitard cause a more significant impact of delayed drainage on the contaminant transport in an aquitard.