Laboratory and Field Hydrologic Characterization of the Shallow Subsurface at an211 Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory Waste-Disposal Site

摘要

The characterization of waste-disposal sites requires knowledge of unsaturated211u001eflow, normally obtained using formulations based on Darcy's law or Richards' 211u001eequation, for which two hydraulic properties of the porous media, the unsaturated 211u001ehydraulic conductivity, and the soil-water retention relation, must be 211u001edetermined. The extensive modification of the shallow subsurface at a waste-211u001eburial site can alter these properties and hence the unsaturated hydrology. These 211u001eproperties and their alteration should be accounted for in planning and 211u001econstructing a waste facility. The authors' study assesses, through comparison 211u001ewith actual flow behavior, (1) the value of several types of standard unsaturated 211u001ehydraulic property measurements for characterizing a waste-disposal site at the 211u001eIdaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory and (2) the effect of 211u001elandfill-construction disturbance on unsaturated-zone flow at the site.