A Simple Pneumatic Device and Technique for Performing Rising Water Level Slug Tests

Transmissivity can be estimated by several well documented methods employing data from rising water level slug tests in wells. A very simple and relatively inexpensive system can be constructed to lower the water level in a well. Compressed air is injected through a sealed device called a well head manifold, which screws onto the casing top and contains an air pressure gauge, an air entry valve, a quick release valve and a multi-channel water level indicator or a pressure transducer. Either of the latter is lowered into the well prior to pressurization.
Compressed air is injected into the casing at a low rate through the manifold, depressing the water level a desired amount. After stabilization, the quick release valve is opened and the air pressure inside the casing is reduced to atmospheric pressure instantaneously; the water level then starts to rise. Successive elevations of the rising water level are determined with the indicator or transducer and their elapsed times from valve opening are recorded. Plots of water level recovery vs. time can then be used to estimate transmissivity by the published methods of Cooper, Bredehoeft and Papadopulos (1967), Ferris and Knowles (1954) and Hvorslev(1951).
All of the items used for construction, with the exception of the quick release valve, can be bought off the shelf. The valve can be easily constructed in a machine shop. The total cost of the device, exclusive of the transducer, should be less than $500.     

Slug Tests in Wells Screened Across the Water Table: Some Additional Considerations

The majority of slug tests done at sites of shallow groundwater contamination are performed in wells screened across the water table and are affected by mechanisms beyond those considered in the standard slug‐test models. These additional mechanisms give rise to a number of practical issues that are yet to be fully resolved; four of these are addressed here. The wells in which slug tests are performed were rarely installed for that purpose, so the well design can result in problematic (small signal to noise ratio) test data. The suitability of a particular well design should thus always be assessed prior to field testing. In slug tests of short duration, it can be difficult to identify which portion of the test represents filter‐pack drainage and which represents formation response; application of a mass balance can help confirm that test phases have been correctly identified. A key parameter required for all slug test models is the casing radius. However, in this setting, the effective casing radius (borehole radius corrected for filter‐pack porosity), not the nominal well radius, is required; this effective radius is best estimated directly from test data. Finally, although conventional slug‐test models do not consider filter‐pack drainage, these models will yield reasonable hydraulic conductivity estimates when applied to the formation‐response phase of a test from an appropriately developed well.     

In Situ Chemical Oxidation: Permanganate Oxidant Volume Design Considerations

Contaminant rebound and low contaminant removal are reported more frequently with in situ chemical oxidation than other in situ technologies. Although there are multiple causes for these results, a critical analysis indicates that low oxidant volume delivery is a key issue. The volume of oxidant injected is critical and porosity of the aquifer matrix can be used to estimate the pore volume. The total porosity (q_T) is the volume of voids relative to the total volume of aquifer material. The mobile porosity (q_M) is the fraction of voids that readily contributes to fluid displacement, and is less than q_T leading to smaller estimates of oxidant volume. Injecting low‐oxidant volume may result in inadequate oxidant distribution and postinjection dispersal within the radius of influence, insufficient oxidant contact and oxidant loading, and incomplete treatment; whereas, greater oxidant volume achieves a greater oxidant footprint and may involve risk that the injected oxidant may migrate into nontarget areas and displacement of contaminated groundwater. Design guidelines and recommendations are provided that could help achieve more effective technology deployment, reduce the role of heterogeneities in the subsurface, and result in greater probability the oxidant is delivered to the targeted treatment zone.     

An Assessment of the Nguyen and Finder Method for Slug Test Analysis

The Nguyen and Pinder method is one of four techniques commonly used for analysis of response data from slug tests. Limited field research has raised questions about the reliability of the parameter estimates obtained with this method. A theoretical evaluation of this technique reveals that errors were made in the derivation of the analytical solution upon which the technique is based. Simulation and field examples show that the errors result in parameter estimates that can differ from actual values by orders of magnitude. These findings indicate that the Nguyen and Pinder method should no longer be a tool in the repertoire of the field hydrogeologist. If data from a slug test performed in a partially penetrating well in a confined aquifer need to be analyzed, recent work has shown that the Hvorslev method is the best alternative among the commonly used techniques.     

Remediating Ground Water with Zero-Valent Metals: Chemical Considerations in Barrier Design

To gain perspective and insight into the performance of permeable reactive barriers containing granular iron metal, it is useful to compare the degradation kinetics of individual chlorinated solvents over a range of operating conditions. Pseudo first-order disappearance rate constants normalized to iron surface area concentration (k_SA) recently have been reported for this purpose. This paper presents the results of further exploratory data analysis showing the extent to which variation in k_SA is due to initial halocarbon concentration, iron type, and other factors. To aid in preliminary design calculations, representative values of k_SA and a reactive transport model have been used to calculate the minimum barrier width needed for different ground water flow velocities and degrees of halocarbon conversion. Complete dechlorination of all degradation intermediates requires a wider treatment zone, but the effect is not simply additive because degradation occurs by sequential and parallel reaction pathways.     

中日规范中关于液化和侧向扩流场地桥梁桩基抗震设计考虑之比较

评述了我国液化场地和侧向扩流场地桥梁桩基抗震设计规范。总结了中日两国液化场地和侧向扩流场地桥梁桩基的抗震设计方法与技术细节,阐述了日本规范中液化场地和侧向扩流场地桥梁桩基抗震设计中的液化地基土反力折减系数的确定方法,以及土体液化侧向扩流对桩作用力的计算模式。指出我国规范中在液化和侧向扩流场地桩的抗震分析方法、不同土层分界处桩的抗震措施、桩的竖向承载力及桩的屈曲稳定性分析等方面存在的主要问题,据此给出了亟待改进的初步建议。这对我国桥梁工程的抗震安全性具有重要意义,可供我国工程技术人员参考借鉴。     

A Practical Approach to the Design, Operation, and Monitoring of In Situ Soil-Venting Systems

When operated properly, in situ soil venting or vapor extraction can be one of the most cost-effective remediation processes for soils contaminated with gasoline, solvents, or other relatively, volatile compounds. The components of soil-venting systems are typically off-the-shelf items, and the installation of wells and trenches can be done by reputable environmental firms. However, the design, operation, and monitoring of soil-venting systems are not trivial. In fact, choosing whether or not venting should be applied at a given site is a difficult decision in itself. If one decides to utilize venting, design criteria involving the number of wells, well spacing, well location, well construction, and vapor treatment systems must be addressed. A series of questions must be addressed to decide if venting is appropriate at a given site and to design cost-effective in situ soil-venting systems. This series of steps and questions forms a "decision tree" process. The development of this approach is an attempt to identify the limitations of in situ soil venting, and subjects or behavior that are currently difficult to quantify and for which future study is needed.     

Assessing the Hydraulic Conductivity Anisotropy and Skin-Effect Based on Data of Slug Tests in Partially Penetrating Wells

Water Resources - A semianalytic and approximate analytical solution is given to the problem of slug test in a partially penetrating well in a confined or unconfined anisotropic aquifer. An...     

A Practical Approach to the Design, Monitoring, and Optimization of In Situ MTBE Aerobic Biobarriers

A paradigm for the design, monitoring, and optimization of in situ methyl tert -butyl ether (MTBE) aerobic biobarriers is presented. In this technology, an oxygen-rich biologically reactive treatment zone (the "biobarrier") is established in situ and downgradient of the source of dissolved MTBE contamination in groundwater, typically gasoline-impacted soils resulting from leaks and spills at service station sites or other fuel storage and distribution facilities. The system is designed so that groundwater containing dissolved MTBE flows to, and through, the biobarrier treatment zone, ideally under natural gradient conditions so that no pumping is necessary. As the groundwater passes through the biobarrier, the MTBE is converted by microorganisms to innocuous by-products. The system also reduces concentrations of other aerobically degradable chemicals dissolved in the groundwater, such as benzene, toluene, xylenes, and tert -butyl alcohol. This design paradigm is based on experience gained while designing, monitoring, and optimizing pilot-scale and full-scale MTBE biobarrier systems. It is largely empirically based, although the design approach does rely on simple engineering calculations. The paradigm emphasizes gas injection–based oxygen delivery schemes, although many of the steps would be common to other methods of delivering oxygen to aquifers.     

Design for a Packer/Vacuum Slug Test System for Estimating Hydraulic Conductivity in Wells with LNAPLs, Casing Leaks, or Water Tables Intersecting the Screens

"Results indicate that the packer/vacuum system is an adequate method for obtaining values of hydraulic conductivity."     

Equation of a Barotropic Fluid on a Rotating Spherical Surface and its Inertial Manifold

The inertial manifold is a positive invariant set which exponentially attracts all the trajectories of a dissipative dynamic system. It was introduced for the purpose of studying the asymptotic behaviour of such systems. The initial infinitely dimensional dynamic system, generated by a partial differential evolution equation, can be projected on to it, in order to obtain the final system of ordinary differential equations (inertial equations). These equations then simulate the initial object. Although the inertial manifold is an object relatively simpler than the attractor (a very complicated set of non-integer dimension may be an attractor) it is more difficult to prove its existence than that of the attractor. The equation of a barotropic fluid on a rotating spherical surface is one of the examples of dissipative dynamic systems with an inertial manifold. This kindles the hope that also the equations of the dynamics of the real atmosphere will have an inertial manifold. The reduction of the sample system to this Lipschitz manifold of finite dimension thus justifies us in analysing the behaviour of the atmosphere on non-linear models of finite dimensions and few parameters, in a finite system of ordinary differential equations.