QUANTIFICATION OF SOLUTE MACRODISPERSION PHENOMENA AND LOCAL HETEROGENEITY USING INTERMEDIATE-SCALE SOLUTE TRANSPORT EXPERIMENTS IN HETEROGENEOUS POROUS FORMATIONS

Abstract

Intermediate-scale laboratory solute transport experiments were conducted in heterogeneous porous formations comprised by 144 sand cells. Visualization of dye solute was applied to transitional estimates in longitudinal and transverse macrodispersivities caused by the presence of heterogeneities. Results showed that a distinct transition of the longitudinal macrodispersivity was confirmed due to the local heterogeneity while a continuous decrease in transverse dispersivity was shown despite of the initial source location. Quantification methodologies were proposed to achieve the ensemble estimation of five distinct transitions of macrodispersivities and the local heterogeneity quantification based on solute pathways, leading to appropriate outcomes relevant to not only the variation and distribution of estimates but the degree of the longitudinal macrodispersivity.