• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.119-131
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• 2020

A numerical model was developed using COMSOL Multiphysics to evaluate groundwater flow that causes radionuclide migration in the unsaturated zone of a near-surface disposal facility, which is considered as a domestic low and an intermediate-level radioactive waste disposal facility. Each scenario was modeled by constructing a two-dimensional domain that included the disposal vault, backfill, disposal cover, and unsaturated aquifer. A comparison of the continuous and intermittent rainfall conditions exhibited no significant difference in any of the factors considered except the wave pattern of water saturation. The input data, such as porosity and residual water content of the unsaturated aquifer, were observed to not have a significant effect on the groundwater flow. However, the hydraulic conductivity of the unsaturated aquifer was found to have a significant effect on the groundwater flow. Therefore, it is necessary to assess the hydraulic conductivity of an unsaturated aquifer to determine the extent of groundwater infiltration into the disposal vault.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.18-24
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• 2005

Water quality changes of wastewater effluent in the shallow aquifier condition was investigated using laboratory unsaturated and saturated SAT columns for over five months. Average DOC removal was 31.9% in the unsaturated SAT column whereas no removal occurred in the saturated SAT column. Under the shallow aquifer condition, nitrification was not completed in the unsaturated SAT column, releasing residual ammonium nitrogen into the saturated SAT column. Short retention time (one day) in the shallow unsaturated SAT column rendered DO of about 2 mg/L to the influent of the saturated SAT column. Phosphate was not removed at all in the unsaturated SAT column while complete removal was achieved in the saturated column. Consequently, organic and inorganic compounds were removed under the shallow aquifer condition as effectively as was in deep aquifer, except for the release of ammonium and relatively high DO into the saturated SAT column.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.9-15
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• 2005

Soil aquifer treatment is a water reuse technology that secondary or tertiary treated wastewater is infiltrated into the aquifer in which physical and biochemical reactions occur. Major consideration in SAT is the removal and transport of DOC and nitrogen species. In this study, reaction mechanism in SAT was examined considering nitrification, denitrification and organic oxidation. In addition, SAT modeling system was developed as the reaction mechanism was applied to groundwater flow and transport model. In verification of the reaction module by 1-dimensional unsaturated soil column test, the experimental data of all of the species, ammonium, nitrate, DOC and DO, were well matched with the simulation results. In sensitivity analysis, ammonium partition coefficient, dissolved oxygen inhibition constant and biomass decay rate affect ammonium, DOC and DO concentration of effluent, respectively.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.177-187
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• 1998

The spatially integrated model (SIM) which can evaluate temporal variation of groundwater quality is proposed in the stream-aquifer setting entered by nonpoint source contaminants. And the developed SIM included unsaturated soil zone and was tested against the spatially distributed model (SDM) of the coupled advection-dispersion and Richards equations for the various hydrologic and aquifer simulating conditions. The result of the comparison showed that the average concentration responses of saturated aquifer and groundwater outflow between the SIM and the SDM was in good agreement, except for the case of the large dispersivity ratio and thick aquifer system. And it is shown that for the cases of the large dispersivity ratio and thick aquifer system the performance of the nonlinear SIM is better than that of the linear SIM for evaluating the average concentration of groundwater outflow response.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.2-11
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• 2006

In the processes of hydrological cycle, when precipitation reaches the ground surface, water may become surface runoff or infiltrate into soil and then possibly further percolate into groundwater aquifer. A part of the water is returned to the atmosphere through evaporation and transpiration. Soil moisture dynamics driven climate fluctuations plays a key role in the simulation of water transfer among ground surface, unsaturated zone and aquifer. In this study, a one-layer canopy and a four-layer soil representation is used for a coupled soil-vegetation modeling scheme. A non-zero hydraulic diffusivity between the deepest soil layer modeled and groundwater table is used to couple the numerical equations of soil moisture and groundwater dynamics. Simulation of runoff generation is based on the mechanism of both infiltration excess overland flow and saturation overland flow nested in a numerical model of soil moisture dynamics. Thus, a comprehensive hydrological model integrating canopy, soil zone and aquifer has been developed to evaluate water resources in the plain region of Huaihe River basin in East China and simulate water transfer among precipitation, surface water, soil moisture and groundwater. The newly developed model is capable of calculating hydrological components of surface runoff, evapotranpiration from soil and aquifer, and groundwater recharge from precipitation and discharge into rivers. Regional parameterization is made by using two approaches. One is to determine most parameters representing specific physical values on the basis of characterization of soil properties in unsaturated zone and aquifer, and vegetations. The other is to calibrate the remaining few parameters on the basis of comparison between measured and simulated streamflow and groundwater tables. The integrated modeling system was successfully used in the Linhuanji catchment of Huaihe plain region. Study results demonstrate that (1) on the average 14.2% of precipitation becomes surface runoff and baseflow during a ten-year period from 1986 to 1995 and this figure fluctuates between only 3.0% in drought years of 1986, 1988, 1993 and 1994 to 24.0% in wet year of 1991; (2) groundwater directly deriving from precipitation recharge is about 15.0% t of the precipitation amount, and (3) about half of the groundwater recharge flows into rivers and loses through evaporation.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.87-99
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• 2016

We present the results of two-dimensional numerical simulations predicting the flow of groundwater in a fractured unsaturated zone. We applied the k-field distribution of permeability derived from discrete fracture network (DFN) modeling as the hydraulic properties of a model domain. To model an unsaturated zone, we set the depth from the ground surface to the underground aquifer. The rate of water infiltration into the unsaturated zone was divided into two parts, an artificial structure surface and unsaturated soil zone. The movement of groundwater through the unsaturated zone was simulated with particular emphasis on contaminant transport. It was clearly observed that the contaminants dissolved in groundwater transported vertically from the ground surface to the saturated zone.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.17-27
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• 2011

Recently, a physically based model of water-table fluctuation due to precipitation is developed based on aquifer water balance model. In the model, it was assumed that the water infiltration into ground surface is advection dominant and immediately reaches to water-table. The assumption may be suited for the sites where the water-table is shallow and/or the permeability of the unsaturated zone is high. However, there are more cases where the model is not directly applicable due to thick and low permeable unsaturated zone. For the low permeability unsaturated zone, the pattern of water flux passing through unsaturated zone is diffusive as well as advective. In this study, to improve the previously developed water-table fluctuation model, we combined the delayed drainage model, which has long been used in well hydraulics, to the water-table fluctuation model. To test the validity of the development, we apply the developed model to 5 different domestic sites. The model parameters are calibrated based on the groundwater hydrograph and the precipitation time series, and the correlation analyses among the parameters are pursued. The overall analyses on the delineated model parameters indicate that the delayed drainage parameters or delay index used in the developed model are able to reveal drainage information in the unsaturated zones.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2003.09a
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• pp.83-86
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• 2003

Soil Aquifer Treatment (SAT) is a technique in which secondary- or tertiary-treated wastewater is infiltrated through unsaturated soil and stored in the saturated zone. In SAT, contaminants are removed by physical and biochemical reactions taking place in soils. In this study, a numerical model was developed to predict changes in water quality during SAT operations. The contaminant species considered in the model were ammonium, nitrate, dissolved organic carbon, and dissolved oxygen. The model was calibrated against experimental data obtained from one dimensional soil column tests conducted for 84 days. The calibrated model will be used to find out optimum conditions for the pilot- and regional-scale SAT operations to be scheduled for the next phase of this project.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2004.09a
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• pp.377-380
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• 2004

To identify the effect of landfill waste for groundwater and unsaturated air environment, soil gas survey and hydrogeochemical study were executed. The geology of the study area is granite and aquifer is mainly composed of sandy soil. The results of spatial distribution from soil gas showed the boundary of buried waste and processes and degree of waste decomposition. Groundwater contamination by leachate from landfill is controlled by groundwater flow attributed by the original topography and liner.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.27-35
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• 2013

In this study, three dimensional and two dimensional laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of water table rising on DNAPL migration, contaminants mass discharge ($M_d$), and residual NAPL distribution. The accumulation of TCE in unsaturated zone was observed in both two and three dimensional experiments. This implies DNAPL sources could exist in unsaturated zone at contaminated sites. It has been investigated that the TCE concentration is proportional to the areal ratio of residual TCE. This means the residual TCE obviously could affect the TCE concentration in aquifer system. The results of the two-dimensional experiment indicated that the contaminant sources in unsaturated zone could lead the $M_d$ increasing with water table rising and the source zone heterogeneity could also highly affect the $M_d$.