Article
Environmental Sciences
Sergi Molins, Daniil Svyatsky, Zexuan Xu, Ethan T. Coon, J. David Moulton
Summary: Despite the widespread use of integrated hydrology models, consideration of multicomponent reactive transport is still uncommon. This study presents a flexible multiphysics framework that facilitates the coupling of integrated transport and reactions in the hydrology model. The implementation is demonstrated with two example simulations.
WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications
Maria Morvillo, Calogero B. Rizzo, Felipe P. J. de Barros, Sonny Astani
Summary: A novel framework for modeling reactive solute transport is introduced in this work, aiming to reduce the computational burden of existing approaches. The proposed method includes an innovative optimal kernel function and allows for the parallelization of a bimolecular reaction modeling scheme. Computational speedup analysis was conducted to demonstrate the linear scaling of computational time with the number of particles used in the simulation, making the algorithm suitable for simulating reactive transport with a large number of particles.
JOURNAL OF COMPUTATIONAL PHYSICS
(2021)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Oshri Borgman, Regis Turuban, Baudouin Geraud, Tanguy Le Borgne, Yves Meheust
Summary: In subsurface environments, incomplete mixing at the pore scale limits reaction rates, making it difficult to predict them using Darcy-scale models. Pore-scale concentration gradients are enhanced by the deformation of solute fronts and decay under molecular diffusion and solute filament merging. However, the dependence of concentration gradient dynamics on flow rates is still unclear. This study experimentally measures pore-scale concentrations in solute fronts and reveals that pore-scale shear flow increases concentration gradients up to a predicted time, but the flow rate-dependency of the mean concentration gradient is weaker than expected due to lamellae aggregation.
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Civil
Shuyuan Wang, Dennis C. Flanagan, Bernard A. Engel, Na Zhou
Summary: This research explored the quantitative impacts of subsurface hydrologic conditions on sediment transport capacity in rills, aiming to improve the estimation of an existing transport capacity model. The study conducted 216 rill flow experiments, showing significant increases in sediment transport capacity from free drainage to saturation conditions, with differences increasing with greater water discharge rates and slope gradients. Small increases were observed from saturation to the 10 cm seepage condition with relatively stable differences. Adjustments to water discharge rates improved predictions of sediment transport capacity.
JOURNAL OF HYDROLOGY
(2021)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Shuyuan Wang, Dennis C. Flanagan, Bernard A. Engel, Madeline M. McIntosh
Summary: The study investigated the characteristics of sediment selectivity and transport rates under different subsurface hydrologic conditions in small laboratory flume channels. Results showed that the fraction of coarse-sized particles increased with increasing seepage head conditions. The determination of sediment transport capacity should consider both dynamic and spatial equilibrium conditions, with differences observed between free drainage and saturation conditions for the sediment transport capacity values.
Article
Mechanics
Kun Li, Chiya Savari, Hamzah A. Sheikh, Mostafa Barigou
Summary: A novel and computationally efficient machine learning framework has been developed to construct turbulent flow fields in mechanically agitated vessels. By feeding a short-term experimental trajectory, the framework predicts flow dynamics using a supervised k-nearest neighbors regressor learning algorithm and a Gaussian process. The ML framework has shown good agreement with experimental data, making it a powerful tool for analyzing and modeling multiphase flow systems.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Satoshi Izumoto, Joris Heyman, Johan Alexander Huisman, Kevin De Vriendt, Cyprien Soulaine, Francesco Gomez, Herve Tabuteau, Yves Meheust, Tanguy Le Borgne
Summary: Mixing fronts at the interface of opposing flows are compressed at a constant rate, leading to enhanced chemical gradients and biogeochemical processes. This study investigates how fluid compression controls the amplitude of mixing and reaction rates in porous media. The experimental and numerical results provide new insights into the dynamics of mixing-induced reactions in porous media.
WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Water Resources
Joaquim Soler-Sagarra, Maarten W. Saaltink, Albert Nardi, Francesca De Gaspari, Jesus Carrera
Summary: This article describes a formulation called the Water Mixing Approach (WMA) to solve reactive transport problems. The WMA represents transport as mixing water instead of individual solute concentrations, simplifying calculations and decoupling transport from chemistry. The article presents the implementation of WMA in a mixed Eulerian-Lagrangian transport solver and tests its accuracy, simplicity, and efficiency in three real-world cases.
ADVANCES IN WATER RESOURCES
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Chemical
D. Werner, H. Davison, E. Robinson, J. A. Sykes, J. P. K. Seville, A. Wellings, S. Bhattacharya, D. A. Sanchez Monsalve, Tz. Kokalova Wheldon, C. R. K. Windows-Yule
Summary: The influence of bed composition on the mixing of fluidised beds containing mixtures of Geldart group B and D particles is studied using Positron Emission Particle Tracking (PEPT). It is found that small fractions of group D particles have weak effect on the mixing dynamics, but higher concentrations lead to decreased mixing effectiveness and marked changes in flow patterns, including a previously undocumented meta-stable state. This research contributes to the understanding of bed composition's impact on mixing in industrial processes.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Wanli Ren, Reza Ershadnia, Corey D. Wallace, Eric M. LaBolle, Zhenxue Dai, Felipe P. J. de Barros, Mohamad R. Soltanian
Summary: This study investigates the dispersion and mixing behavior of solute in a heterogeneous aquifer using high-resolution and three-dimensional numerical simulations. The results show that meter-scale heterogeneity plays a significant role in solute transport processes, and effective dispersion is more sensitive to the spatial organization of sedimentary facies types.
WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Chemical
Alessandra Bonazzi, Marco Dentz, Felipe P. J. de Barros
Summary: In this study, we investigate transport of an inert solute in multidimensional porous media and analyze the factors that impact solute mixing. We compare the probability distributions obtained from numerical simulations with the beta distribution and propose variable transformations to improve the fit at low concentrations. The results are validated against existing analytical solution for both homogeneous and heterogeneous media.
TRANSPORT IN POROUS MEDIA
(2023)
Article
Water Resources
Moein Jahanbani Veshareh, Hamidreza M. Nick
Summary: The research focuses on the impact of microbial communities in subsurface porous environments on ecosystem functions, proposing an equivalent strain model to estimate the rate of community-derived metabolisms. By simulating four different scenarios, it is demonstrated that the model can efficiently characterize community behavior in cases of limited electron donor availability.
ADVANCES IN WATER RESOURCES
(2021)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Xiaolong Geng, Michel C. Boufadel, Hailong Li, Viravid Na Nagara, Kenneth Lee
Summary: Groundwater mixing dynamics are crucial for biogeochemical cycling in shallow wetlands. This study investigated the effects of evaporation and local heterogeneity on mixing dynamics using groundwater simulations. The results show that evaporation causes upwelling of groundwater and solutes to the surface, leading to higher solute concentrations near the surface. Mapping of flow topology reveals spatially varied mixing patterns along preferential flow pathways due to local heterogeneity. These findings have implications for biogeochemical processes in wetlands.
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Riccardo Sprocati, Andrea Gallo, Rajandrea Sethi, Massimo Rolle
Summary: The concentration difference between background electrolyte and injected solute plays a key role in controlling the transport of charged tracers and reactants, leading to nonintuitive concentration distribution patterns and influencing mixing and degradation kinetics in electrokinetic transport in porous media.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Hojung You, Rafael O. O. Tinoco
Summary: Underwater obstacles are known to be hotspots for various particulate matters in streams. This study examines the particle behaviors as they pass through a gap between two obstacles, and identifies the impact of gap length on the particle transport. The results show that the transport of particles is influenced by large-scale flow motions, and understanding these patterns can help in effective sampling and monitoring of organic and inorganic particles in aquatic environments.
WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Michela Trabucchi, Jesus Carrera, Daniel Fernandez-Garcia
WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH
(2018)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Guillem Sole-Mari, Daniel Fernandez-Garcia
WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH
(2018)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Guillem Sole-Mari, Daniel Fernandez-Garcia, Xavier Sanchez-Vila, Diogo Bolster
WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH
(2020)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Michela Trabucchi, Daniel Fernandez-Garcia, Jesus Carrera
Summary: This paper presents a method to filter systematic errors in drawdown data during the calibration of a groundwater model. By introducing a bias correction term and combining a natural head model with a drawdown model for optimization, parameters can be effectively estimated and the best conditional estimate can be obtained.
WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Guillem Sole-Mari, Michael J. Schmidt, Diogo Bolster, Daniel Fernandez-Garcia
Summary: This study utilizes a reduced-order basis to model reactive transport, maintaining constant spatial resolution in a Lagrangian context and simplifying the interaction between equilibrium and kinetic reactions, with results matching those of the Eulerian method.
WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Yufei Wang, Daniel Fernandez-Garcia, Guillem Sole-Mari, Paula Rodriguez-Escales
Summary: This study proposes an engineered injection and extraction (EIE) method to enhance the removal and mixing of liquid solutions in aquifers. The results show that EIE can significantly improve removal efficiency and mixing, especially under conditions of preferential channels, high permeability heterogeneity, and a mobility ratio larger than one.
WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Michela Trabucchi, Daniel Fernandez-Garcia, Jesus Carrera
Summary: Understanding groundwater flow and contamination transport requires characterizing aquifer attributes and hydraulic connectivity structures. In evaporitic aquifer systems, karst conduits and fault zones are important preferential flow channels that impact saltwater exploitation. Hydraulic connectivity can enhance inflow of less evaporated brine, improving efficiency. A study using stochastic inversion method showed successful characterization of preferential flow zones in a large evaporitic aquifer, with consistent results from different data sources.
WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Yufei Wang, Daniel Fernandez-Garcia, Maarten W. Saaltink
Summary: Geological carbon sequestration is a mechanism to mitigate climate change by capturing and storing CO2 in deep geological formations. This study investigates the impact of heterogeneity and gravity factor on the dissolution efficiency of CO2 in saline formations. The results show that the migration and dissolution of CO2 are influenced by the interplay between heterogeneity and gravity, and the underestimation of dissolution efficiency is common in numerical models due to the inability to accurately represent heterogeneity.
WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Laura Ceresa, Alberto Guadagnini, Paula Rodriguez-Escales, Monica Riva, Xavier Sanchez-Vila, Giovanni M. M. Porta
Summary: We propose a methodology to quantify the impact of model structure and parametric uncertainty on biotransformation processes of Emerging Contaminants in subsurface water resources. The study aims to address the uncertainty and complexity of modeling bio-mediated reactions of recalcitrant compounds in soil and aquifers. We apply a suite of quantitative tools to diagnose uncertainty sources, estimate parameters, and select models, with the objective of balancing complexity and reliability.
WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications
Yufei Wang, Daniel Fernandez-Garcia, Maarten W. Saaltink
Summary: This paper presents a reactive multi-component multi-phase flow program, MRST_CO2, implemented in Matlab Reservoir Simulation Toolbox (MRST), for simulating Geological Carbon Sequestration (GCS). The program can simulate multi-phase flow and transport of species undergoing chemical reactions and mass exchanges among gas, liquid, and solid phases. It has been tested with 1D benchmark and applied to heterogeneous 2D and 3D cases with structured or unstructured grid.
COMPUTERS & GEOSCIENCES
(2023)
Editorial Material
Environmental Sciences
Ehsan Foroumandi, Hamid Moradkhani, Xavier Sanchez-Vila, Kamini Singha, Andrea Castelletti, Georgia Destouni
Summary: The emergence of large language models (LLMs), like ChatGPT, has attracted significant attention in academic and scientific circles. While ChatGPT holds promise for research and teaching purposes, there are also limitations and potential risks associated with its use. The article suggests that the academic community should adapt regulations and policies to harness the benefits of LLMs while mitigating their pitfalls.
WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
O. Bertran, D. Fernandez-Garcia, G. Sole-Mari, P. Rodriguez-Escales
Summary: In the context of in situ groundwater remediation, mixing is crucial for successful outcomes. The Engineered Injection-Extraction (EIE) method has been proposed to enhance dilution within the porous medium. However, existing studies have not considered the impact of connectivity and preferential flow-paths. This study demonstrates that EIE is effective in enhancing mixing regardless of the presence of preferential flow paths, diminishing uncertainty induced by medium heterogeneity.
WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Carme Barba, Albert Folch, Nuria Gaju, Xavier Sanchez-Vila, Marc Carrasquilla, Alba Grau-Martinez, Maira Martinez-Alonso
HYDROLOGY AND EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCES
(2019)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Paula Rodriguez-Escales, Arnau Canelles, Xavier Sanchez-Vila, Albert Folch, Daniel Kurtzman, Rudy Rossetto, Enrique Fernandez-Escalante, Joao-Paulo Lobo-Ferreira, Manuel Sapiano, Jon San-Sebastian, Christoph Schueth
HYDROLOGY AND EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCES
(2018)