Modeling Water Pollution of Soil

Authors

  • V. Doležel
  • P. Procházka
  • V. Křístek

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14311/1037

Keywords:

scale modeling, generalized plane strain, leakage problem

Abstract

The government of the Czech Republic decided that in the location to the west of Prague, capital city of the Czech Republic, some deep mines should be closed because of their low efficiency of coal mined i.e. small amounts and low quality of the coal extracted in the final stage of mining. The locations near Prague influenced the decision to do maintenance on the abandoned mines, as the thread of soil pollution was unacceptably high in the neighborhood of the capital city. Before the mines were closed it was necessary to separate existed extensive horizontal location of salt water below a clay layer in order not to deteriorate the upper fresh water. The salt water could not be allowed to pollute the upper layer with the fresh water, as many wells in villages in the neighborhood of the former mines would be contaminated. Two horizontal clay layers (an insulator and a semi-insulator) separated the two horizons containing salt water and fresh water. Before starting deep mining, vertical shafts had to be constructed with concrete linings to enable the miners to access the depths. The salt water was draining away throughout the existence of the mine. The drainage was designed very carefully to avoid possible infiltration of salt water into the upper horizon. Before the mines were abandoned it was necessary to prevent contact between the two kinds of waters in the shafts. Several options were put forward, the most efficient of which appeared to be one that proposed filling the shafts with spoil soil and creating a joint seal made of disparate material at the interface between the salt water and fresh water to create a reliable stopper. The material for the spoil soil was delivered from deposits located not far from the shafts. This material consisted of a variety of grains of sand, big boulders of slate, slaty clay, sandstone, etc.. Chemical admixtures were considered to improve the flocculation of the filling material. The stopper was positioned at a depth of 220–300 m below the terrain. As an alternative, thinner stoppers were considered, but this option was discarded.The aim of this paper is to describe the design of the stoppers applied to separate the two types of water along the contact horizon using Desai’s DSC theory (Distinct State Concept), and generalized plane strain in the multiphase problem of water flow in a porous medium. In addition, a comparison of some results from scale experimental models with numerical solutions was carried out. The intrinsic material properties of stoppers for numerical computations were obtained from physical and chemical laboratory tests. The models were evaluated for the complete underground work, particularly in its final stage of construction. 

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Author Biographies

V. Doležel

P. Procházka

V. Křístek

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Published

2008-01-04

How to Cite

Doležel, V., Procházka, P., & Křístek, V. (2008). Modeling Water Pollution of Soil. Acta Polytechnica, 48(4). https://doi.org/10.14311/1037

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Articles