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Assessment of vapor intrusion risk in a point-source contaminated site under fluctuating groundwater table
Zhang-Wen Zhu1, Shi-Jin Feng2, Qi-Teng Zheng1
1Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China.
Abstract:
Groundwater table (GWT) fluctuations significantly affect volatile organic compound (VOC) vapor migration in contaminated sites, increasing vapor intrusion risk and human health threats. Considering GWT fluctuations, this paper presents a transient two-dimensional analytical model for simulating the vapor diffusion and adsorption in the homogeneous vadose zone following a point source leakage. Green's function approach is applied to derive the analytical solution. The proposed analytical model is verified against the published experimental data and numerical simulations. Results reveal that the vapor intrusion risk is more severe in GWT-fluctuating point-source contaminated sites involving one or more of the following factors: large GWT fluctuation amplitude, shallow source depth, high leaking rate, and low effective diffusivity of the soil. Greater GWT fluctuation amplitudes also cause more significant lag effects. The vapor concentration attenuates exponentially with increasing horizontal distance from the source. The horizontal attenuation rate of vapor concentration at GWT-fluctuating contaminated sites is independent of effective diffusivity and retardation factors. The assessment method for vapor intrusion risk at GWT-fluctuating point-source contaminated sites is proposed for preliminary screening. The maximum allowable amplitude of GWT fluctuation with the given source depth and soil type for different leaking rates at the source can be determined rapidly.
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