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Breakthrough Curve Separation Using Applied Solute Tracers
Charles J Paradis1, Rakiba Sultana1, Martin A Dangelmayr1
1Department of Geosciences, University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.
Ground Water
|March 18, 2025
Summary
This study introduces a novel data-driven method to separate advection and dispersion from solute breakthrough curves, simplifying the analysis of reactive transport mechanisms in groundwater. The approach quantifies solute reactivity, enhancing characterization in tracer studies.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Science
- Hydrogeology
- Geochemistry
Background:
- Analyzing reactive solute transport in groundwater is crucial for understanding contaminant fate and remediation strategies.
- Traditional methods for separating advection and dispersion from breakthrough curves rely on complex model fitting of the advection-dispersion equation.
- Existing approaches often use dimensionless relative concentrations, which can obscure true solute behavior.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a simpler, data-only method for separating advection and dispersion from breakthrough curves of potentially reactive solutes.
- To preserve the true concentration of reactive solutes, avoiding the loss of information associated with dimensionless transformations.
- To introduce a new quantitative measure for ranking solute reactivity based on temporal moments.
Main Methods:
- A novel approach is presented that visually and quantitatively separates advection and dispersion directly from breakthrough curve data.
- The method avoids reliance on model-derived fitting of groundwater velocity and dispersion coefficients.
- A new metric, based on the summation of relative temporal moments, is introduced to quantify overall solute reactivity.
Main Results:
- The proposed method successfully separates advection and dispersion from breakthrough curves without requiring prior model fitting.
- The technique preserves the actual solute concentrations, providing a more accurate representation of reactive transport.
- Numerical simulations and field tracer data validated the utility of the method for characterizing reactive solute transport.
Conclusions:
- The developed method offers a more direct and accurate way to analyze reactive solute transport by separating advection and dispersion.
- The new solute reactivity measure provides a valuable tool for comparing and ranking the reactive behavior of different solutes.
- This approach enhances the characterization of reactive transport in applied tracer studies, improving our understanding of subsurface processes.
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