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Lab Report 5

Solute Transport
Group 1
Cody Willmore
Suygo Gyawali
Bill Payne

November 6, 2013

Introduction
The hydraulic aspect to soil in an important component to the function and ecological health of
the soil ecosystem in the aspect of how water is not solely the main material that enters the
system. Some of which can be required nutrients (i.e. Ammonium & Phosphorus) to which can
become fixed to the soil anionic characteristics; however water can move other nutrients (i.e.
leaching) such as Nitrate which is an anion and can move through the soil profile towards the
water table. Other examples that can demonstrate the movement with water are leachable
pesticides that require oxygen to assist in degradation. The primary concern of having such
organic and inorganic material leaching is fear of reaching the water table, to which once it has
entered can become a safety hazard to people and the ecosystem alike.
The objectives of this laboratory are to, 1) understand how a non-reactive solute is transported
through saturated soil when applied via pulsation and continuously, and 2) fit pulse and step
models to measured data in order to understand by which mechanisms solute transport is
governed, and 3) determine the relative contribution of diffusion and dispersion to solute
transport.

Theoretical Considerations
To measure the movement of solutes, the data can become tailored into models to produce a
value of diffusivity (D) and the retardation coefficient (R). Diffusivity is a ratio that factors in the
movement and retention of solutes within the soil and the retardation coefficient is a term that
relates to bulk density of the soil. These models require the measured values of c(L,t) and c0,
which are sporadic outflow concentration measurements and the maximum outflow
concentration observed. For a pulse application, the following equation is recommended:
(

)
(1)

Where t is the time for which the pulse was applied and t is the total time elapsed since pulse
application.
( )(

)
(2)

Thus lt is the combined length of the entering and exiting tubing, and is the average linear flow
velocity, along with r2tubing is the radius of the inlet and outlet tubing, and r2column is the radius of
the soil column cell.
Similarly, the following model is recommended for a continuous application:

])
(3)

Where erfc is the error function, which provides the shape of the cumulative step curve.
After solving for D, this value can be used to calculate the solute transport attributable to
diffusion (Ds) and dispersion (Dh). D is then used to calculate the diffusion coefficient, as
follows:

)
(4)

Where D0 = 1.2 x 10-9 m/s, n is the soil porosity, and is the volumetric water content. Then of
which can be used to calculate Ds, to which Dh can be calculated from then, as such.

(5)
.

Materials and Methods


The materials used for this experiment were a tempe cell, that retained Washtucna sand. This cell
was used to measure and calculate the movement of the solute, and to see the retention of the
solute over a period. The cell was connected to two Mariottes that held H2O in one and the
solute (CaCL2) in the other, and the radius of the tubing were measured to equate the rate of in
and out flow of the water and solute. A sensor was connected to the outflow of the cell, this was
to establish the amount of solute that was initially found leaving the cell, and then to see the
reminders exit the cell. The bulk density (b) and porosity (n) from the previous laboratory
experiments were used in these calculations. Once the cell was assembled, the soil was saturated
with water by opening the inlet valve and allowed to reach steady-state flow. The flux was
calculated using
and average linear velocity was calculated using
.
Pulse application: The supply source was switched from water to solute for 1 minute, at which
time the source was switched back to water. The TDS readings were recorded every thirty
seconds until the solute concentration jumped to the maximum concentration and then returned
to the initial values.
Continuous Flow: The supply source was switched from water to solute for an extended period
of time. The TDS readings were recorded approximately every thirty seconds until the solute
concentration reached a constant maximum level.

Results
Raw data for the step and pulse applications are presented in Tables 1 and 2, respectively.

Table 1: Pulse application

Narrow Pulse
Time [min]
PPM
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18

2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
72
31
17
10
6
4
3
3
2
2

Table 2: Continuous flow

Step Application
Time [min]
PPM
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16

3
10
15
20
30
55
95
120
169
243
426
514
620
675
701
713
713

Figure 1 shows time corrected data as fit to the pulse model. While figures 2 and 3 show how
changing the P value changes the pulse application model curve.

Pulse Function
relative concentration

0.35
0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15

Measured Values

0.1

Predicted Values

0.05
0
0

0.5

1.5

Time (T)

Figure 1

Pulse Function (0.5P)


relative concentration

0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15

Measured Values

0.1

Predicted Values

0.05
0
0

0.5

1
Time (T)

Figure 2

1.5

Pulse Function (2P)


relative concentration

0.4
0.35
0.3
0.25
0.2

Measured Values

0.15

Predicted Values

0.1
0.05
0
0

0.5

1.5

Time (T)

Figure 3

Step Function
relative concentration

0.12
0.1
0.08
0.06

Measured Values

0.04

Predicted Values

0.02
0
0

0.5

1
Time (T)

Figure 4

1.5

Step Function (0.5P)


relative concentration

0.12
0.1
0.08
0.06

Measured Values

0.04

Predicted Values

0.02
0
0

0.5

1.5

Time (T)

Figure 5

Step Function (2P)


relative concentration

0.12
0.1
0.08
0.06

Measured Values

0.04

Predicted Values

0.02
0
0

0.5

1.5

Time (T)

Figure 6

Discussion
The ability to have solutes move as well become retained within the soil can define the
ingenuities properties of the location by either retaining onto compounds that are able to freely
flow compared to other soils that allow the transaction of material to flow deep into the soil
profile. This soil sample is a prime example at which demonstrates that ability to retain and lose
material, as shown in the graphs, the ability of sand to retain unto any cation based solutes is
very limited. This is to be expected due to the size of the sand granular, which have little to no
anionic effects, and along with large pore space, to which the solute is capable of passing
through without any retention. The exact opposite can be expected when evaluating the effects of
smaller soil particles (i.e. silt and clay) to which have higher anionic effects and will hold more
cation. Another aspect to these smaller particles is the smaller pore space at which fewer
molecules are capable of passing through. Because of the sands larger pore space, this would
demonstrate that when a solute is leaking through, the highest peak demonstrated in the graphs,
would be the entire amount of the solute leaving through soil profile, thus in a cleanup situation,
the compound would have reached the point of concern without any limitations. However, in the
idea of allowing water to move rapidly to prevent any ponding effects, sand would be the
optimum choice, in the idea that with free moving moisture, there would be little to no
contaminants on a surface layer. This is best exemplified in a water treatment plant. If water
were allowed to overflow due to a flood of some sort, this would become beneficial in filtering
the water that is flowing out, and become a miniscule health hazard. Whereas with silt and clay,
if any flooding were to continue and cause such an overflow, the water would be allowed to
pond, thus becoming a safety hazard due to ponding and allowing bacterial growth to grow in
areas of human interactions. Never-the-less on the downside, their optimum abilities of sand are
limited and are outweighed by the silt and clay properties, in such a manner that clay is
incorporated in the storage of nuclear waste, due to its ability to hold onto any leaking material
and limit if not stop any transactions of such material into the groundwater system.

Conclusion
This laboratory experiment was able to demonstrate how solute transport occurs in soils for both
pulse and continuous applications. During the pulse application, the outflow solute
concentration demonstrated the rapid movement of a solute within a soil system at such a ready
rate, that the soil is unable to actively retain much of the solute if not limit it. However, after the
peak, the outflow solute rapidly declines until the levels are unnoticeably different. During the
continuous application, the outflow solute slow at the initial readings, until it reaches the
continuous flow, increases rapidly, and stays high as solute is continuously supplied to the
system. The experiment also showed that even though our solute was deemed non-reactive,
estimated values for R indicated some sorption to soil particles still occurred. This makes sense,
though, because the mineral fraction of most soils can easily bind cationic species, such as the
Ca2+ present in dissolved CaCl2.

References

Or, D., Tuller, M., and Wraith, J.M. (2009). Agricultural and environmental soil physics.

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