Objective:

The objective of this project is to demonstrate the use of two innovative direct push sensor systems, the high-resolution piezocone and GeoVIS, to determine the direction and rate of groundwater flow in three dimensions (3-D). In so doing, it will address the need for improved hydraulic assessments by replacing costly and inappropriate conventional approaches.

Technology Description:

A piezocone is a direct push sensor probe with a porous element connected to a customized transducer that converts pore pressure to water level. A high-resolution piezocone (U.S. Patents 6,208,940 and 6,236,941) is a recently developed sensor probe capable of generating highly resolved hydraulic head values (i.e., plus or minus 1-inch of water level) while simultaneously collecting critical soil type information. The GeoVIS (U.S. Patent 6,115,061) is a Navy/SERDP-developed video microscope sensor probe capable of yielding real-time soil and contaminant images that can render estimates of effective porosity.

This project consists of the following tasks: (1) modify existing code to simplify and automate data collection and processing functions associated with the two probe systems, creating a user-friendly penetrometer data acquisition and processing software and Groundwater Modeling System (GMS)-based software environment; (2) validate the use of the probe systems and software for generating 3-D distributions of hydraulic head, hydraulic gradient, and effective porosity through statistical interpolation; (3) couple the data to estimates of hydraulic conductivity and solute concentration in order to determine seepage velocity and contaminant flux; (4) provide technically defensible data to regulators regarding data representativeness; and (5) transfer the technology for use at Department of Defense, Department of Energy, and private sector sites. An advisory committee will be established to assist with overall scoping, establishment of performance metrics, and facilitation of technology transfer. The demonstration will be conducted at the National Environmental Technology Test Site (NETTS) located at Port Hueneme, California.

Expected Benefits:

This technology will be extremely useful during the remedial action objective (RAO) and long-term monitoring (LTM) phases of a project. For instance, using this approach to determine the contaminant flux distribution will enable remedial project managers (RPM) to prioritize and target areas of removal, remediation, and containment. The model generated through implementation of this technology can be used to evaluate competing remedial action designs. For LTM applications, understanding the direction of flow, rate of flow, flux distribution, soil type distribution, and plume configuration are critical for establishing a monitoring network and for generating time series analyses appropriate for demonstrating plume attenuation. This technology will allow generation of a high-resolution conceptual model, proper placement and design of monitoring wells, and generation of input to models for projecting time of remediation and exposure point concentration near potential receptors. (Anticipated Project Completion - 2007)

Principal Investigator:
Dr. Mark Kram
Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center
1100 23rd Avenue, Code 413
Port Hueneme, CA 93043
Telephone: (805) 982-2669
Fax: (805) 982-4304
E-mail: mark.kram@navy.mil