Experimental visualization of solute transport and mass transfer processes in two-dimensional conductivity fields with connected regions of high conductivity.

Abstract

Solute transport displaying mass transfer behavior (i.e., tailing) occurs in many aquifers and soils. Spatial patterns of hydraulic conductivity may play a role because of both advection and diffusion through isolated low conductivity areas. We demonstrated such processes in laboratory experiments designed to visualize solute transport through a thin chamber (40 cm x 20 cm x 0.64 cm thick) packed with glass beads and containing circular emplacements of smaller glass beads with lower conductivity. The experiments used three different contrasts of conductivity between the large-bead matrix and the emplacements, targeting three different regimes of solute transport: low contrast, targeting macrodispersion; intermediate contrast, targeting advection-dominated mass transfer between the high-conductivity regions and the emplacements; and high contrast, targeting diffusion-dominated mass transfer. Use of a strong light source, a high-resolution CCD camera, and a colorimetric dye produced images with a spatial resolution of about 400 microm and a concentration range of approximately 2 orders of magnitude. These images confirm the existence of the three different regimes, and we observed tailing driven by both advection and diffusion. Outflow concentration measured by spectrophotometer achieved 3 orders of magnitude in concentration range and showed good agreement with known models in the case of dispersion and diffusive mass transfer, with estimated parameters close to a priori predictions. Existing models for diffusive mass transfer did notfitthe breakthrough curves from the intermediate-contrast chamber, but a model of slow advection through cylinders did. Thus, both breakthrough curves and chamber images confirm that different contrasts in small-scale K lead to different regimes of solute transport and thus require different models of upscaled solute transport.