Experiments run on multiple realizations of 2nd order stationary random conductivity fields
In work supported by the Subsurface Science
Program at the U.S. Department of Energy, we have constructed two realizations
of a 2nd-order stationary, exponentially correlated, random permeability field.
Each field was first generated on the computer and then constructed in the flow
cell using 10 mixtures of sands characterized by permeabilities which range
over approximately 2 orders of magnitude. The overall size of the tank is 1.6
meters in the mean flow direction and up to ~0.67 meters perpendicular to the
mean flow direction. The tank is nominally ~0.09 meters in width.
The First Realization
The Second Realization
A number of experiments have been run in these two realizations. Among these
are:
---> Hydraulic tests allowing analysis of both the theory presented in the
dissertation of Dr. Li Zheng (now with the Kansas Geological Survey) and the
effective hydraulic conductivity.
---> Tracer tests using two-dimensional plumes that are monitored internally
(at more than 360 platinum electrodes).
---> Biological tracer tests in which breakthrough of the bacteria were
measured at a pumping well, the concentration of bacteria in the fluid phase
were monitored through withdrawal of water from 24 sampling locations, and the
final concentration of bacteria on the sediments were monitored through
destructive sampling.
---> Tracer tests to pumping wells located in an otherwise mean-regional
flow field.
----------------------------------------
Results from this series of
experiments are discussed in:
Silliman, S.E., R. Dunlap, M. Fletcher and M.A.
Schneegurt, “Bacterial transport in heterogeous porous media:
Observations from laboratory experiments”, Water Resources Research,
37(11), 2699-2708, 2001.
Silliman, S.E., “Laboratory study of
chemical transport to wells within heterogeneous porous media”, Water
Resources Research, 37(7), 1883-1892, 2001.
Silliman, S.E., and L. Zheng, “Comparison
of observations from a laboratory model with stochastic theory: Initial
analysis of hydraulic and tracer experiments”, Transport in Porous Media,
42(1/2), 85-107, 2001.
Zheng, L., and S.E. Silliman, “Estimating
the variance and integral scale of the transmissivity field using head residual
increments”, Water Resources Research, 36(5), 1353-1358, 2000.
Berkowitz, B., H. Scher, and S. Silliman,
“Anomalous transport in laboratory-scale, heterogeneous porous
media”, Water Resources Research, 36(1), 149-158, 2000. {Correction
appeared 36(5), 1371, 2000.}
Zheng. L. and S. Silliman, “Estimating the
theoretical semivariogram from finite numbers of measurements”, Water
Resources Research, 36(1), 361-367, 2000.
Silliman, S.E., L. Zheng, and P. Conwell,
“The use of laboratory experiments for the study of conservative solute
transport in heterogeneous porous media”, Hydrogeology Journal, 6,
166-177, 1998.
Silliman, S.E., and