A Constitutive Model for Air-NAPL-Water Flow in the Vadose Zone Accounting for Immobile, Non-Occluded (Residual) NAPL in Strongly Water-Wet Porous Media

Journal Article · Thu Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 2004 · Journal Contaminant Hydrology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jconhyd.2003.10.014· OSTI ID:912242

Lenhard, R J; Oostrom, M; Dane, J H

A hysteretic constitutive model describing relations among relative permeabilities, saturations, and pressures in fluid systems consisting of air, nonaqueous-phase liquid (NAPL), and water is modified to account for NAPL that is postulated to be immobile in small pores and pore wedges and as films or lenses on water surfaces. A direct outcome of the model is prediction of the NAPL saturation that remains in the vadose zone after long drainage periods (residual NAPL). Using the modified model, water and NAPL (free, entrapped by water, and residual) saturations can be predicted from the capillary pressures and the water and total-liquid saturation-path histories. Relations between relative permeabilities and saturations are modified to account for the residual NAPL by adjusting the limits of integration in the integral expression used for predicting the NAPL relative permeability. When all of the NAPL is either residual or entrapped (i.e., no free NAPL), then the NAPL relative permeability will be zero. We model residual NAPL using concepts similar to those used to model residual water. As an initial test of the constitutive model, we compare predictions to published measurements of residual NAPL. Furthermore, we present results using the modified constitutive theory for a scenario involving NAPL imbibition and drainage.

• Research Organization: Idaho National Laboratory (INL)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC07-99ID13727
• OSTI ID: 912242
• Report Number(s): INEEL/JOU-03-01340
• Journal Information: Journal Contaminant Hydrology, Journal Name: Journal Contaminant Hydrology Journal Issue: 1-4 Vol. 71
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AIR
Constitutive theory
DRAINAGE
FORECASTING
LENSES
NAPL flow
PERMEABILITY
Relative permeability relations
Residual NAPL
SATURATION
Three-phase flow
WATER