Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

Environmental and Engineering Geoscience

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (2) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by OCHS, S. O. Articles by PARKINSON, D. L. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

Predicted Heating Patterns During Steam Flooding of Coastal Plain Sediments at the Savannah River Site

¹ Institut für Wasserbau, Pfaffenwaldring 61, Universität Stuttgart, 70550 Stuttgart, Germany
² Department of Geological Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634
³ Bechtel Savannah River, Inc., 730-2B, Aiken, SC 29808
⁴ Integrated Water Resources, Inc., 18 Anacapa St., Santa Barbara, CA 93101

The Savannah River Site (SRS) is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) facility that was set aside in the early 1950s as a controlled area for the production of nuclear materials. The disposal of used chlorinated solvents in the M-Area of SRS to an unlined settling basin and to a nearby tributary, along with spills at the solvent storage tank area, has created a significant subsurface contamination problem. SRS is located in west-central South Carolina, where the geology is dominated by sediments of the Coastal Plain physiographic province. The sediments are relatively flat-lying, irregular, interbedded sand and clay bodies deposited in marine to fluvio-deltaic environments. In 2000, a pilot field-scale steam flood began at a former solvent storage tank area (321 M SST) to demonstrate the proficiency of steam flooding in the geologic environment at SRS and to determine the feasibility of the process for the remediation of the M-Area settling basin. A multiphase flow numerical simulator was used to predict heating patterns of the steam flood at the solvent storage tank area. Although the simulations were not used to design the pilot test, comparisons of data from the actual steam flood with the simulation confirm the model's ability to predict steam front propagation in the heterogeneous media. The overall heating patterns are dominated by convective heat flows at early times, but thermal conduction appears to play a large role at longer times, dampening the effects of heterogeneities.

Key Words: Steam • Remediation • Modeling • Multiphase Flow

This article has been cited by other articles:

				R. A. Hodges and R. W. Falta Vertical Confinement of Injected Steam in the Vadose Zone Using Cold Air Injection Vadose Zone J., May 27, 2008; 7(2): 732 - 740. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]