Infiltration and redistribution of perchloroethylene in partially saturated, stratified porous media

Contamination of the subsurface by nonaqueous phase liquids (NAPLs) is a widespread problem. To investigate the behavior of a nonspreading, dense NAPL (DNAPL) in the vadose zone, we conducted perchloroethylene (PCE) infiltration experiments in nominally 1- and 2-dimensional (D), stratified porous media. In addition, the usefulness and limitations of a multifluid flow simulator to describe PCE infiltration and redistribution under the experimental conditions were tested. The physical simulations were conducted in a column (1-D) and a flow container (2-D) which were packed with two distinct layers of coarse-grained sand and a fine-grained sand layer in between. Volumetric water and PCE contents were determined with a fully automated dual-energy gamma radiation system. While migrating through the drier parts of the coarse-grained sand layers, PCE appeared to wet the water–air interface rather than displacing any water. In the wetter parts of the porous medium, PCE displaced water and behaved as a true nonwetting fluid. PCE showed a limited response to gradients in capillary pressure and rather high values for the volumetric PCE content were measured in the fine-grained sand layers. This was attributed to the nonspreading nature of PCE. The multifluid flow simulator appeared to predict the initial PCE movement in the vadose zone reasonably well. However, the model was not capable of predicting the final amounts of PCE retained in either the unsaturated or saturated part of the flow domain, mainly because the simulator does not consider the nonspreading flow behavior of NAPLs.