Improved high-resolution characterization of hydraulic conductivity through inverse modeling of HPT profiles and steady-state hydraulic tomography: Field and synthetic studies

•Inverse modeling approach proposed to invert cm-scale K from HPT surveys.•Based on inverted K, a new power-law model was developed for HPT surveys at NCRS.•The site-specific model predicted K values that correspond well with permeameter K.•Integrating HPT-inverted K into SSHT better defined sharp b...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of hydrology (Amsterdam) Vol. 612; p. 128124
Main Authors: Zhao, Zhanfeng, Illman, Walter A.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier B.V 01.09.2022
Subjects:
aquifers
cost effectiveness
empirical models
geostatistics
Hydraulic conductivity
Hydraulic profiling tool
Hydraulic tomography
Inverse modeling
Model calibration and validation
Ontario
permeameters
Subsurface heterogeneity
surveys
tomography
Ontario
Subsurface heterogeneity
Hydraulic conductivity
Hydraulic profiling tool
Hydraulic tomography
Model calibration and validation
Inverse modeling
ISSN:0022-1694
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:•Inverse modeling approach proposed to invert cm-scale K from HPT surveys.•Based on inverted K, a new power-law model was developed for HPT surveys at NCRS.•The site-specific model predicted K values that correspond well with permeameter K.•Integrating HPT-inverted K into SSHT better defined sharp boundaries of a K field. Direct-push based hydraulic profiling tool (HPT) and geostatistically-based hydraulic tomography (HT) are two promising techniques for the high-resolution estimation of hydraulic conductivity (K) for unconsolidated sediments. Although HPT surveys could be conducted rapidly, relating the 1.5-cm resolution injection logging profiles to K always involve the upscaling of centimeter-scale measurements to coarser intervals for the development of site-specific formulae. On the other hand, K fields reconstructed by HT could be smooth when pumping test data are sparse. In this study, an inverse modeling approach was firstly utilized to estimate K values directly from HPT survey data for the glaciofluvial deposits at the North Campus Research Site (NCRS) in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. A site-specific power-law relationship was generated for the NCRS to relate HPT profiles to the vertical distributions of K. Then, the proposed inverse modeling approach was evaluated with a two-dimensional synthetic aquifer under controlled conditions, and the estimated K profiles from inverse analysis of synthetic HPT surveys were incorporated into the steady-state HT. Results of the field study showed that K estimates from the developed formula corresponded better with K values from permeameter tests, than those estimated from the empirical model of McCall and Christy (2010) for HPT surveys. Moreover, through synthetic experiments, we demonstrated that integration of K values inverted from HPT into steady-state HT analyses yielded K tomograms that were significantly better than the geostatistical inversion results relying on pumping test data alone. Overall, this study highlights the need in developing site-specific formulae for the HPT and the joint implementation of HPT and HT techniques for the more cost-effective high-resolution characterization of subsurface heterogeneity.
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ISSN:0022-1694
DOI:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2022.128124