HEART · Heterogeneous Aquifer Reactive Transport
FP6 — Marie Curie Actions (Human Resources and Mobility)
- Duration
- 2006-07-15 → 2008-07-14
- EU contribution
- €23,814
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- EIF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Final Activity Report Summary - HEART (Heterogeneous aquifer reactive transport)
The main objective of the IEF project 'Heterogeneous aquifer reactive transport' (HEART) was to study and model contaminant transport in groundwater flows. The question of contaminant transport in heterogeneous geological media has been one of the most debated problems in hydrological science over the last decades. So far, the models that have been validated on the field are able to describe the transfer of inert contaminants in weakly heterogeneous media (Hess et al., 1992), such as relatively homogeneous soils. However, in the wide majority of situations, the geological structures that control contaminant transport are extremely heterogeneous at all scales (from mm to km) and the transported solutes may undergo chemical reactions. Therefore this project focused more specifically on the development of new methods and models to characterise and model transport in highly heterogeneous media. During the first year, we investigated the influence of high flow heterogeneity on conservative transport, i.e. without chemical reactions. During the second year, we included interactions between chemical reactions and flow heterogeneity. The project has been generally very successful. Its results are considered to be important steps for modelling reactive transport in geological media. They are published in the highest impact hydrology and physics journals. It is anticipated that the generated publications will have impact for modelling chemical transport in a broad context including groundwater, oceanic and atmospheric flows.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
The question of contaminant transport in heterogeneous geological media has been one of the most debated problems in hydro-geological science over the last decades. So far, the models that have been validated on the field are able to describe the transfer o f non-reacting contaminants in weakly heterogeneous media. However, in most industrial and societal applications, there are not only strong flow heterogeneities but also chemical interactions between solute and rocks. In this context, the objective of my research project is to increase our capacity to model fluid and mass transfer in aquifers, with emphasis on addressing the effect of heterogeneity and chemical reactions. There is currently a gap between contaminant transport theories and their applicability to field problems since field and theoretical approaches are often led separately. Therefore, although experimental observation is not the main focus of the project, the numerical and theoretical approaches used will be defined in interaction with experimental observations.The analysis will begin by using and developing numerical models that integrate the characteristics of natural media: strong flow variability and chemical interactions between solutes and the host rock. Detailed analysis of the key features resulting from heterogeneity and chemical interactions will allow investigating what are the pertinent effective equations that can describe the obtained properties. Comparison between model predictions and experimental data will be used to test mode l applicability. During my fellowship at UPC Barcelona, I expect to find a strong support for the numerical and theoretical developments, which together with my understanding of real systems (Le Borgne et al., 2004, Le Borgne et al., submitted), will enable meaningful progress in the definition of realistic models of contaminant transfer in hydro-geological systems.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITAT POLITECNICA DE CATALUNYA · BARCELONACoordinatorSpain
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union