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An experimental study about influence of viscosity of fluid on

spread of contaminant in sand deposits


1

E.Rakesh Reddy , E. Saibaba Reddy , B.Haritha Reddy

1-Undergraduate student, Department of Civil Engineering, MREC,


Maissammaguda, Dhulapally, , Hyderabad (A.P) 500085, INDIA
2-Professor of civil engineering
3-Undergraduate Student of civil engineering
Corresponding Authors E-mail: rakesh15794@gmail.com

Abstract: Contaminant transport modeling


needs the understanding of the factors effecting
the movement of contaminant through dry,
partially saturated and saturated zone. When the
contaminant reaches the ground water, it follows
the pattern of ground water flow. While the
contaminant passing through dry or partially
saturated soil, its movement depends on a number
of parameters such as porosity and, soil moisture
and contaminant properties. This paper presents
the details of a laboratory investigation carried out
to study the spread of water, Glycerol and engine
oil, in dry sandy soil experiments were conducted,
using Pollutant Transport Test apparatus which
was designed and developed for the project. The
test results indicated a precise difference between
behaviors of more viscous fluid compared to less
viscous.

Contaminants are classified as aqueous phase

liquids (which dissolve in water) and non-aqueous


phase liquids (NAPL) which do not dissolve in
water. NAPLs are further classified, depending on
their densities, as light non-aqueous phase liquids
(LNAPL) and dense non-aqueous phase liquids
(DNAPL). The immiscible (NAPL) fluids exhibit
different behavior and properties in the subsurface
than dissolved contaminant plumes. Components
of dissolved plumes are transported by advection,
dispersion and diffusion mechanism, however, the
migration of NAPL is governed by gravity,
buoyancy and capillary forces. The study of
contaminant transport can be divided into two
phases: Movement of contaminant before reaching
ground water and Movement of contaminant after
reaching the ground water.

Keywords: Contaminant, spread, sand, LNAPL

1.0 Introduction and review of literature


Soil and ground water contamination takes place
due to a number of factors such as underground
oil/chemical storage tanks, spillovers, leakage of
industrial waste from deep injection wells, septic
tanks, use of fertilizers and pesticides in
agricultural field. These contaminants get
transported, through soil and ground water, to the
surrounding places. Studies related to the
movement of contaminant through ground and
ground water is termed as contaminant transport
studies [1, 2, 3, 4, and 5].
e) Mode of introduction of contaminant
(Instantaneous or continuous)
An experimental investigation was carried out

When the contaminant reaches ground water the


contaminant transport is governed mainly by the
characteristics of ground water flow [6, 7, 8 and 9]
.The contaminant transport or spread in dry and
partially saturated soil depends on the properties
of the soil and contaminant [10,11,12,13,14,15
and 16] Among them the major properties which
affect the contaminant transport are:
a)

Viscosity of contaminant

b) Soil sorption
c) Permeability of soil
d) Moisture content of soil
to study the effect of ground moisture on the
spread characteristics of water and Glycerol
and engine oil contaminants. These tests were

conducted using pollutant transport test


apparatus. The design details of the apparatus
are presented elsewhere.[17,18,19,20]
2. Apparatus and properties of the material
In this investigation a series of the laboratory
tests was conducted to study the effect of soil
moisture on contaminant (plume) spread in
sandy soil. In order to conduct these
experiments, an experimental apparatus was
developed. In the following sections the design
details of the apparatus and the properties of
the materials used in the investigation were
presented.
2.1. Apparatus design
The objective of the experimental investigation
was to observe and study the shape of the
plume when a fluid is introduced vertically in
to the soil. Different components of the test
apparatus are:
1) Test tank
2) Inlet tubes
3) Tracing plate
Test tank: the test tank was made up of a
perplex glass sheets with inside dimensions of
600mm x 300mm x 305 mm deep. All the five
faces of the test tank were provided with 2mm
diameter perforations to facilitate the free
movement of air and fluid through the soil in
tank.
Inlet tubes: The test fluid (pollutant) was
introduced vertically downward through a thin
circular ring (called inlet tube) with an internal
diameter of 51 mm.
Tracing paper: After introduction of fluid and
waiting for the adequate time, the spread of the
plume was traced at different level, using
transparencies, by gently removing the layers
of soil and tracing the plan of plume at each
elevation. To trace the plume a transparent
tracing plate having dimensions close to the
plan size of the test tank (595mm x 295mm)
was placed on the sand surface, the
transparency was placed on it and trace the plan
of the plume.
2.2) Properties of materials
In the investigation silica sand was used in
dry condition. The sand was tested as per
the British standard BS: 1377 for its

physical and engineering properties. The


test results are presented in Table 1.
Table 1: Properties of sand

Properties

value

10
Specific gravity of soil solids , G

0.35mm
2.644

Minimum density(min)

1.418 g/cc

Maximum density(max)

1.682 g/cc

Density

1.675 g/cc

Void ratio

0.578

Density index ID

97.95%

Permeability

1.10 x 10-5 m/s

Angle of internal friction()

41o

Properties of fluid: Water, glycerol and engine oil


Table-2 properties of contaminants

Fluid

Water

Property
Density(g/cc)

Viscosity(cp)

Glycerol (85%) 1.221


Engine oil

0.883

147
242

3) Experimental procedure:
The test procedure involved compaction of the
sand, introduction of the fluid, waiting for a
period to give time for the fluid to spread into the
soil, and tracing of the plan of the plume at the
different levels.
Compaction of sand: Initially 20 kg sand was
poured into the tank and leveled. This sand layer
was then compacted with a rammer (4 kg weight
with a square base of 10 cm x 10 cm) such that
the complete plan area was compacted with
overlapping blows. The procedure was repeated
for three more layers totaling to80kg. At this stage
another 10 kg of sand was poured and compacted
with the same energy as that of earlier layers. With
This process the tank got filled. .A final layer of 2
kg of sand was then placed to get the surface
perfectly level with the top of the tank. The 92 kg
(4x20kg+10kg+2kg) of sand was therefore used
to fill the tank gave an average density of
1.675g/cc.

were used as the contaminant fluids. The


properties of the fluids used as are presented in
Table 2.
Preparation of fluid: As the tests were conducted
with a number of fluids and designated volume
(100cc). The glycerol samples were prepared with
85% concentration a day before the testing so that
a homogeneous solution was used in the test.
Introduction of fluid: A 51mm diameter circular
ring was used to introduce the fluid into the sand.
To introduce the fluid, the center of the sand
surface was initially located. The inlet ring was
placed over the center of the sand surface. Then
the fluid was introduced.
Spread period: After completing the introduction
of the fluid, a spreading time was given for each
liquid depending upon the viscosity of the fluid.
For example for water 5-10 min was sufficient,
but for engine oil an hour or more was given.
After completing the spread period, the plan of the
plume was traced.
Tracing of spread: After introducing the fluid, the
plume spread was traced at different depths below
the sand surface. For this, the tracing plate was
placed centrally over the sand surface. The tracing
sheet (transparency) was placed centrally over the
tracing plate and the sand surface. The plan of the
plume, which could be seen on top of the sand
surface, was then traced using a marker onto the
tracing sheet. After tracing the plume at the top
surface, the tracer plate was removed and a thin
layer of the sand was gently removed from the
tank such that the plume portion was not
disturbed. The tracing plate was then re-introduced

into the tank and a new transparency sheet used to


trace the plume at the new depth. The depth at
which it was being traced was marked on the
transparency. This procedure was repeated until
the end of the plume or to the bottom of the tank,
whichever was reached first.
4) Test program

Fig.1 Tracing results for test T1 in different depths from sand surface

The area of each top view was calculated using


AutoCAD software and is tabulated in Table 4.
Table-4 Spread and area of Plan of different depth
T1)

The test program was conducted on dry. The fluids


used for the contamination included water,
glycerol (85%) and engine oil. For the sake of
convenience each test was identified with an
identification name such as T1, T2, T3. The details
of the tests are also presented in Table 3.

Depth
(cm)

Fluid

Water

Glycerol (85%)

T3

Area of
tracing
results(cm)

(-)0.7 to (+)
0.8
(+)0.4 to (-) 0.8

1.458

(-)2.8 to (+)
2.8
(+)2.0 to (-) 3.6

26.83

(-)3.3 to (+)
3.5
(+)2.8 to (-) 4.5

40.24

11

(-)3.3 to (+)
3.2
(+)2.8 to (-) 3.9

35.41

13.5

(-)2.0 to (+)
1.3
(+)0.8 to (-) 3.0

11.62

Table -3: Test details (Volume of fluid=100cc)

Test ID
T

Spread in XX Spread in YY
direction (cm) direction (cm)

(Test

Engine oil

5) Analysis and discussion of test results

15.5

(+)0.2

(-)0.5

0.06

This section presents the analysis of results


obtained from the tests.
A typical test data
In order to explain the processing of test data, the
observations from test T1 (see Table 3) are
presented and explained. Test T1 was conducted
on dry sand using 100cc water as fluid. This fluid
was introduced using 14mm diameter inlet tube.
The top view of the plume at different depths
below the sand surface was traced and shown in
Fig.1.

All curves in Fig. 1 are further processed to obtain


the vertical section of the plume. To obtain the
vertical section the maximum spread of each of
the plots in Fig. 1 were measured in XX and YY
directions as shown in Table 4. After obtaining the
spread at each elevation (Table 4) the spread with
depth would be plotted in both directions.
Furthermore data was combined to obtain a
volume spread of plume with AutoCAD 3D tools
(see Fig. 2) and the volumes of plume were
computed. Similar computations were made for
tests T2 and T3, and the volumes of spread were
calculated and furnished in Table 5. For instance
and also comparison the spread in XX direction
was plotted for T1, T2, T3 and can be seen in
Fig.3
Fig.2 3D Graphical view of plume for typical
test

be explained as follows. When the engine oil was


introduced into the soil as it does not get mixed
with the water and the capillary film of water
around the soil particles will repel the oil and
hence prevent it from free flow downwards. This
results in much slower rate of flow in vertical
direction and hence results in more lateral spread.
The most substantial differences have been
observed in general graphic of contaminated
plume between two tests. When NAPL fluid is
introduced to the soil, it initially attains a blub
shaped plume at shallow depths and with time the
fluid spreads downwards with a relatively narrow
cross section which is clearly demonstrated in
Fig.4.

Fig.3 Spread of contaminants in XX direction


for test T1,T2,T3

Test ID
T1

Volume of contaminated
area ( cm3)
380.24

T2

468.53

T3

637.12

Table 5: Volume of contaminated plume

Fig.4 3D Graphical view of contaminated volume of Engine oil and Glycerol


(85%)

A set of experiments were conducted to study the


effect of viscosity of fluid on the shape of
pollutant spread. To analyze the effect of viscosity
of fluid tests T2 and T3 are analyzed .T2 and T3
are the tests conducted on dry soil respectively
using glycerol (85%) and engine oil as the
contaminants. It can be precisely observed that the
spread of Glycerol plume is greater in horizontal
side however the spread of engine oil as more
viscous fluid is greater in vertical direction. The
reduction in viscosity will result in increase in
permeability and hence free movement of fluid
and more spread. On the other hand, the spread of
the engine oil (which is light non aqueous phase
liquid) is greater in the vertical direction. This can

6) Conclusion:
Based on the experimental investigation conducted
and the analysis of results following major
conclusions are drawn on the effect of moisture
content on aqueous and non-aqueous contaminant
spread:
(1) The vertical movement of viscous fluid is
greater than less viscous fluid and the reduction in
viscosity will result in increase in permeability
and hence free movement of fluid and more
spread on horizontal direction. But the results
indicated that total volume of contaminated plume
would be more for viscous fluid, this can be best

explained the effect of gravity and hydrodynamic


forces in contaminant transport.
(2) When engine oil as NAPL fluid is introduced
to the soil, it initially attains a blub shaped plume
at shallow depths and with time the fluid spreads
downwards with a relatively narrow cross section.

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biggar.J.W.,(1986), Water flow and solute
transport processes in the un saturated zone,
Water resources res.22(9):89s-108s.

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