The Influence of Selected Liquid and Soil Properties on the Propagation of Spills over Flat Permeable Surfaces

Abstract

In an effort to determine spill characteristics, information about a spill's spatial distribution with time is being studied. For permeable surfaces, spill phenomenology is controlled by liquid and soil properties, the most relevant of which are presented in this report. The pertinent liquid and soil properties were tabulated for ten liquids and four soils. The liquids represented an array of organic compounds, some of which are or are soon to be documented in the liquid spectra library by the Environmental Molecular Science Laboratory at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The soils were chosen based on ongoing surface spectra work and to represent a range of relevant soil properties. The effect of the liquid and soil properties on spill phenomenology were explored using a spill model that couples overland flow described by gravity currents with the Green-Ampt infiltration model. From the simulations, liquid viscosity was found to be a controlling liquid property in determining the amount of time a spill remains on the surface, with the surface vanish time decreasing as viscosity decreased. This was attributed to decreasing viscosity increasing both the hydraulic conductivity of the soil and allowing for the spill to more quickly spread out onto an unsaturated soil surface. Soil permeability also controlled vanish times with the vanish times increasing as permeability decreased, corresponding to finer textured materials. Maximum spill area was found to be largely controlled by liquid viscosity on coarse, highly permeable soils. On the less permeable soils maximum spill area began to be controlled by the steady-area spill height due to the restricting of infiltration to the extent that the spill is then able to reach its steady-area spill height. Simulations performed with and without the inclusion of capillarity in the Green-Ampt infiltration model displayed the importance of capillarity in describing infiltration rate in fine textured soils. In coarse textured soils capillarity was found to be negligible in describing spill behavior both due to the soils limited capillarity and high permeability. Application of the spill model to a tanker road spill occurring in the summer of 2004 provides an example of application of spill modeling and limitations to performing such modeling when limited information is available. The soil and liquid properties presented in this report provide a basis for experimental work in which spill events are initiated under controlled settings and spill progression is monitored. Results from the experimental work will be used to validate our current conceptual model and improve the spill model presented in this report.