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3D-electrical resistivity tomography monitoring of salt transport in homogeneous and layered soil samples

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Abstract

Monitoring transport of dissolved substances in soil deposits is particularly relevant where safety is concerned, as in the case of geo-environmental barriers. Geophysical methods are very appealing, since they cover a wide domain, localising possible preferential flow paths and providing reliable links between geophysical quantities and hydrological variables. This paper describes a 3D laboratory application of electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) used to monitor solute transport processes. Dissolution and transport tests on both homogeneous and heterogeneous samples were conducted in an instrumented oedometer cell. ERT was used to create maps of electrical conductivity of the monitored domain at different time intervals and to estimate concentration variations within the interstitial fluid. Comparisons with finite element simulations of the transport processes were performed to check the consistency of the results. Tests confirmed that the technique can monitor salt transport, infer the hydro-chemical behaviour of heterogeneous geomaterials and evaluate the performances of clay barriers.

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Acknowledgments

The present work has been partially supported by the research project SoilCam funded by the EU Commission 7th FP and by the Italian National Research Project PRIN 2008B5T829_004.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Torino, Turin, Italy

    Cesare Comina

  2. Dipartimento di Ingegneria Strutturale e Geotecnica, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, 24, 10129, Turin, Italy

    Renato Maria Cosentini, Gabriele Della Vecchia, Sebastiano Foti & Guido Musso

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  1. Cesare Comina
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  2. Renato Maria Cosentini
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  3. Gabriele Della Vecchia
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  4. Sebastiano Foti
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  5. Guido Musso
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Correspondence to Guido Musso.

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Comina, C., Cosentini, R.M., Della Vecchia, G. et al. 3D-electrical resistivity tomography monitoring of salt transport in homogeneous and layered soil samples. Acta Geotech. 6, 195–203 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-011-0146-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-011-0146-3

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