Research of subsurface contamination with gasoline within Boryspil airport using mathematical modelling

Abstract

Subsurface contamination with gasoline has occurred within Boryspil airport (Kyiv region) for long period. Previous remedial actions including pumping of gasoline and contaminated groundwater have not provided to remove contamination completely. The monitoring data confirmed the presence of a gasoline layer in most monitoring wells. Using mathematical modelling, we imitated the operation of pumping wells to determine their optimal location. API LNAPL program was applied for calculations. In order to obtain more reliable results, soil hydraulic characteristics were specified by laboratory experiments. A pressure-saturation relation, p(Ѳ) was determined for soil samples taken from Boryspil region, and then the values of α and β parameters describing pore size and distribution were calculated using RETC program. Optimal distances were calculated between pumping wells at two contaminated sites with a gasoline layer of 0,7 and 0,5 m, respectively.