Numerical modelling of chloride propagation in the quaternary aquifer of the southern Upper Rhine Graben

The deep groundwater in the quaternary gravel sequence of the southern Upper Rhine Graben locally contains high chloride concentrations near the river Rhine between Fessenheim (France) in the South and Breisach (Germany) in the North. This historical pollution is mainly due to past infiltration from the former brine storage basins of the French potash mines on the Fessenheim Island and—to a lesser extent—from the leaching of the salt dumps of the German potash mines in Buggingen and Heitersheim. The spreading of the salt plume was investigated by means of a groundwater model. The aim of the model was to understand the brine movement, the present distribution of chloride as defined by recent hydrochemical investigations, and to select locations for new reconnaissance boreholes. The geological structure was reproduced by a three layer model, which was calibrated for steady state flow conditions. The hydraulic conductivity of the first layer was determined by comparing measured and calculated heads in the model area. The vertical resolution was refined to simulate the density-dependent salt transport processes. The transport of the salt plumes was simulated over a 40-year period, starting at the beginning of brine storage in the 1950s. The relevant transport parameters have been estimated in a sensitivity analysis, where the simulated breakthrough curves of chloride concentration have been compared with the measured data. The results of the groundwater model indicate that brines containing approximately 1 million tons of chloride are still present at the bottom of the aquifer. These highly concentrated salt brines mix with fresh water from the upper part of the aquifer. This dispersive process leads to the formation of a plume of chloride-rich water extending downstream, where pumping wells for several local water supplies are located.     

裂隙性膨胀土饱和-非饱和渗流分析

降雨入渗条件下的裂隙性膨胀土边坡稳定性与其渗流场分布密切相关,对渗流分析中的积水深度进行了数值模拟,结果显示,不同的积水深度对渗流场的影响很小,因此,在进行裂隙性膨胀土渗流分析时,积水深度为0的假定是可以接受的。基于膨胀土开裂裂隙的规模及渗透性的不同,提出了考虑裂隙系统的膨胀土边坡渗流分析方法,计算结果表明,土体开裂显著改变了膨胀土内部的渗流场分布。该方法可以更好地模拟坡渗流场随时间的变化规律,以及更合理地解释了降雨入渗引起的膨胀土边坡浅层滑动机制。     

降雨入渗规律的实测与分析

关于降雨入渗可降低土坡的稳定性的研究很多,其机制也逐渐趋明确。然而,一场降雨对土坡稳定产生影响的入渗雨量计算问题还没有得到很好地解决。Holten等研究者的一些计算入渗量的方法在土坡的实际应用中难以满足精度要求;而一些有限元的边界处理方法则建立在假定的入渗规律基础上,多少存在不足。研究设计了室内降雨入渗土柱试验,在初步揭示降雨入渗过程和规律基础上,探讨了准确反映降雨入渗量的有限元计算方法,并通过数值试验进一步揭示室内试验未能明确的降雨入渗规律。     

泥浆渗透对盾构开挖面稳定性的影响研究

泥水平衡盾构开挖时,泥浆与开挖面上的土体会形成一层不透水的泥膜,以便泥浆压力有效地作用在开挖面上。但由于刀盘的不断切削,泥膜并不能完全地阻止泥浆对前方土体的渗透,特别是在渗透性较大的砂性土体,或在特殊地质条件下出现泥浆与土体性质不匹配的时候。这种渗透将会减小泥浆对开挖面的支撑作用,过剩泥浆压力将以渗透力的形式作用于开挖面土体。为了定量考虑渗透对开挖面稳定性的削弱,提出了针对泥水平衡盾构开挖面稳定性的泥浆渗透模型。结合极限平衡法的村山公式,考虑泥水的渗透区域与滑动面之间的几何关系对泥水压力进行折减,得到了泥浆渗透模型的开挖面稳定性安全系数,并采用此渗透模型探讨了泥浆渗透对开挖面稳定性的影响。通过与工程算例对比分析表明,实际工程中所需的泥浆压力明显大于“薄膜模型”的计算结果。因此,采用渗透模型进行开挖面稳定性分析是合理、有效的。     

三峡船闸高边坡降雨入渗的三维数值仿真

基于反映裂隙岩体渗透张量各向异性特性的广义达西定律与相对透水率等裂隙岩体渗流基本理论,应用三维非线性有限元方法,对长江三峡工程永久船闸高陡边坡在连续降雨条件下裂隙岩体饱和-非饱和、非恒定渗流扩散过程进行了三维数值仿真分析,得出了连续降雨条件下船闸高陡边坡裂隙岩体渗流场的时空分布规律及典型降雨时段闸室混凝土衬砌上的最不利外水压力荷载,对暴雨入渗情况下闸室边墙稳定性与安全性进行了评价。分析结果表明,闸室混凝土衬砌具有较高的安全度;船闸高陡边坡内排水系统效果显著,即使遭遇长期强降雨,闸室衬砌上的外水压力荷载受降雨的影响也不大。     

Changes over time in near-saturated hydraulic conductivity of peat soil following reclamation for agriculture

Reclamation of peat bogs for agriculture changes the physical and chemical characteristics of the peat matrix, for example, drainage and tillage accelerate decomposition, altering peat porosity, pore size distribution, and hydraulic properties. This study investigated changes in near-saturated hydraulic conductivity over time after drainage of peat soil for agricultural use by conducting tension infiltrometer measurements in a mire that has been gradually drained and reclaimed for agriculture during the past 80 years (with fields drained 2, 12, 40, and 80 years before the measurements). At pore water pressure closest to saturation (pressure head −1 cm), hydraulic conductivity in the newest field was approximately nine times larger than that in the oldest field, and a decreasing trend with field age was observed. A similar (but weaker) trend was observed with −3 cm pressure head (approximately four times larger in the newest field in comparison to the oldest), but at −6 cm head, there were no significant differences. These results indicate that peat degradation reduces the amount of millimetre-sized pores in particular. They also indicate that changes in peat macroporosity continue for several decades before a new steady state is reached.     

Agricultural management impacts on groundwater: simulations of existing and alternative management options in Peninsular India

Understanding the principal causes and possible solutions for groundwater depletion in India is important for its water security, especially as it relates to agriculture. A study was conducted in an agricultural watershed in Andhra Pradesh, India to assess the impacts on groundwater of current and alternative agricultural management. Hydrological simulations were used as follows: (1) to evaluate the recharge benefits of water‐harvesting tillage through a modified Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model and (2) to predict the groundwater response to changing extent and irrigation management of rice growing areas. The Green–Ampt infiltration routine was modified in SWAT was modified to represent water‐harvesting tillage using maximum depression storage parameter. Water‐harvesting tillage in rainfed croplands was shown to increase basin‐scale groundwater recharge by 3% and decrease run‐off by 43% compared with existing conventional tillage. The groundwater balance (recharge minus irrigation withdrawals), negative 11 mm/year under existing management changed to positive (18–45 mm/year) when rice growing areas or irrigation depths were reduced. Groundwater balance was sensitive to changes in rice cropland management, meaning even small changes in rice cropland management had large impacts on groundwater availability. The modified SWAT was capable of representing tillage management of varying maximum depression storage, and tillage for water‐harvesting was shown to be a potentially important strategy for producers to enhance infiltration and groundwater recharge, especially in semi‐arid regions where rainfall may be becoming increasingly variable. This enhanced SWAT could be used to evaluate the landscape‐scale impacts of alternative tillage management in other regions that are working to develop strategies for reducing groundwater depletion. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effect of digital elevation model spatial resolution on depression storage

Surface water storage—including wetlands and other small waterbodies—has largely been disregarded in traditional hydrological models. In this paper, the grid resampling method is adopted to study the influence of the digital elevation model (DEM) grid resolution on depression storage (DS) considering different rainfall return periods. It is observed that the DEM grid size highly affects DS, and the higher the grid resolution is, the larger the DS value. However, when the grid resolution reaches a certain value, the maximum DS value decreases. This suggests that a critical grid resolution value exists at which the water storage capacity of depressions is maximized, namely, 20 m in this work (except for the overall area simulation under infiltration). This phenomenon is further verified in two test cases with and without the infiltration process, that is, calculations of the local area and without infiltration area, respectively. This research may facilitate the accurate computation of the DS process, which is greatly affected by the grid resolution, thereby improving the reliability of hydrological models.     

Quantifying annual groundwater recharge and storage in the central Sierra Nevada using naturally occurring 35S

Identifying aquifer vulnerability to climate change is of vital importance in the Sierra Nevada and other snow‐dominated basins where groundwater systems are essential to water supply and ecosystem health. Quantifying the component of new (current year's) snowmelt in groundwater and surface water is useful in evaluating aquifer vulnerability because significant annual recharge may indicate that streamflow will respond rapidly to annual variability in precipitation, followed by more gradual decreases in recharge as recharge declines over decades. Hydrologic models and field‐based studies have indicated that young (<1 year) water is an important component of streamflow. The goal of this study was to utilize the short‐lived, naturally occurring cosmogenic isotope sulfur‐35 (³⁵S) to quantify new snowmelt contribution to groundwater and surface waters in Sagehen Creek Basin (SCB) and Martis Valley Groundwater Basin (MVGB) located within the Tertiary volcanics of the central Sierra Nevada, CA. Activities of ³⁵S were measured in dissolved sulfate (³⁵SO₄^2?) in SCB and MVGB snowpack, groundwater, springs, and streamflow. The percent of new snowmelt (PNS) in SCB streamflow ranged from 0.2 ± 6.6% during baseflow conditions to 14.0 ± 3.4% during high‐flow periods of snowmelt. Similar to SCB, the PNS in MVGB groundwater and streamflow was typically <30% with the largest fractions occurring in late spring or early summer following peak streamflow. The consistently low PNS suggests that a significant fraction of annual snowmelt in SCB and MVGB recharges groundwater, and groundwater contributions to streamflow in these systems have the potential to mitigate climate change impacts on runoff.     

In situ measurements of soil saturated hydraulic conductivity: Assessment of reliability through rainfall–runoff experiments

The saturated hydraulic conductivity, K_s, is a soil property that has a key role in the partitioning of rainfall into surface runoff and infiltration. The commonly used instruments and methods for in situ measurements of K_s have frequently provided conflicting results. Comparison of K_s estimates obtained by three classical devices—namely, the double ring infiltrometer (DRI), the Guelph version of the constant‐head well permeameter (GUELPH‐CHP) and the CSIRO version of the tension permeameter (CSIRO‐TP) is presented. A distinguishing feature in this study is the use of steady deep flow rates, obtained from controlled rainfall–runoff experiments, as benchmark values of K_s at local and field‐plot scales, thereby enabling an assessment of these methods in reliably reproducing repeatable values and in their capability of determining plot‐scale variation of K_s. We find that the DRI grossly overestimates K_s, the GUELPH‐CHP gives conflicting estimates of K_s with substantial overestimation in laboratory experiments and underestimation at the plot scale, whereas the CSIRO‐TP yields average K_s values with significant errors of 24% in the plot scale experiment and 66% in laboratory experiments. Although the DRI would likely yield a better estimate of the nature of variability than the GUELPH‐CHP and CSIRO‐TP, a separate calibration may be warranted to correct for the overestimation of K_s values. The reasons for such discrepancies within and between the measurement methods are not yet fully understood and serve as motivation for future work to better characterize the uncertainty associated with individual measurements of K_s using these methods and the characterization of field scale variability from multiple local measurements.