Evaluating the sesoil model for benzene leaching assessment in Alaska. Special report

Technical Report · Wed May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1996

OSTI ID:402092

Brar, G S

SESOIL is a seasonal soil compartment model. A one-dimensional vertical transport model is designed to predict seasonal solute distribution in the soil profile and watershed. CRREL received a request from the U.S. Army Engineer District, Alaska, Environmental Technical Engineering Office, to provide technical assistance in evaluating the SESOIL model for helping to assess benzene leaching in the Alaskan environment. The major tasks outlined in the request were as follows: work an example problem for a diesel contaminated site, do analytical checks and do manual SESOIL analytical calculations for one cycle. The SESOIL model requires 57 input variables supplied by the user. An additional 8 parameters are required for the execution file. This study did sensitivity analyses on soil bulk density, intrinsic permeability, disconnectedness index, porosity, organic carbon, adsorption coefficient on organic carbon, and biodegradation rates of solid and liquid phases. The model is very sensitive to all the parameters studied. Despite its several difficulties, the model is popular among regulators and users because of its simplicity compared to research models. It can be used as a screening level tool in assessing chemical movement in the soil column with considerable site specific calibrations.

• Research Organization: Cold Regions Research and Engineering Lab., Hanover, NH (United States)
• OSTI ID: 402092
• Report Number(s): AD-A--311199/4/XAB; CRREL-SR--96-11
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
BENZENE
COMPUTER CALCULATIONS
DETECTION
DIESEL FUELS
LAND POLLUTION
LEACHING
WATERSHEDS