• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.33 no.7
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• pp.544-551
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• 2011

The objective of this study was to analyze VIRULO model, a probabilistic quantitative model, which had been developed by US Environmental Protection Agency. The model could assess the viral attenuation capacity of soil as hydrogeologic barrier using Monte Carlo simulation. The governing equations used in the model were composed of unsaturated flow equations and viral transport equations. Among the model parameters, those related to water flow for 11 soil types were from UNDODA data, and those related to 5 virus species were from the literatures. The model compared the attenuation factor with threshold of attenuation to determine the probability of failure and presented the exceedances and Monte Carlo runs as output. The analysis indicated that among 11 USDA soil types, the viral attenuation capacity of loamy sand and sand were far lower than those of clay and silt soils. Also, there were differences in the attenuation in soil among 5 viruses with poliovirus showing the highest attenuation. The viral attenuation capacity of soil decreased sharply with increasing soil water content and increased nonlinearly with increasing soil barrier length. This study indicates that VIRULO model could be considered as a useful screening tool for viral risk assessment in subsurface environment.