THREE-DIMENSIONAL MULTIPHASE FLOW AND
MULTI-SPECIES TRANSPORT MODEL, TechFlowMP
W. Jang and M. M. Aral
Multimedia Environmental Simulations Laboratory
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology
Abstract
Soil and groundwater contamination by volatile organic compounds (VOCs) has become a major environmental issue. In order to preserve groundwater resources from VOCs-related contamination and to clean up sites contaminated with VOCs, their behaviors in subsurface systems should be well predicted and understood. The coupled equations for flow of water, gas, and NAPL phases and transport of multispecies and heat energy were formulated, and, to solve those equations, a three-dimensional numerical model, called TechFlowMP, was developed. TechFlowMP model has been verified and validated using analytical solutions and experimental data published in the literature. To investigate the fate and transport of VOCs in the subsurface, the model was used in conducting numerical analysis on the following topics: (i) multiphase flow and contaminant transport in subsurface environments; (ii) biological transformations of contaminants; (iii) in-situ air sparging (IAS); and, thermal-enhanced venting (TEV). In the numerical studies, TechFlowMP model successfully simulated the migrations of contaminants between phases and between the unsaturated/saturated zones, the dynamic movements of gas phase in the saturated zone, and remedial processes under IAS and TEV.