Physical modelling of a dissolved contaminant in an unsaturated sand

Abstract

Computer solutions to the problem of dissolved contaminant movements in saturated soils are readily available. However, for partially saturated soils, extreme nonlinearity of some variables and difficulties in determining values for other variables make computer solutions predicting the movement of dissolved contaminants highly unreliable. Physical modelling in a geotechnical centrifuge is presented as a viable alternative to numerical modelling. Scaling laws for physical modelling are presented in this paper, and dimensional analysis is used to identify potential difficulties in application of model test results to prototype situations. Preliminary results of experimental work are presented. These results indicate that centrifuge modelling may be a viable approach to the evaluation of dissolved contaminant transport in partially saturated soils. Key words: contaminant transport, centrifuge, unsaturated.