An analytical solution for transient gas flow in a multi-wellsystem

Soil vapor extraction (SVE) combined with air injectionprovides an efficient way for the cleanup of vadose zone contaminated byvolatile organic chemicals (VOCs). A successful design of an SVE system,however, relies on a good knowledge of the induced gas flow field in thevadose zone. Analytical solutions are available to help understand thegas flow field at steady-state. However, most SVE systems must pass atransient period before reaching steady (or quasi-steady) state and thelength of the period should be system-specific. This paper presents ananalytical solution for transient gas flow in a vadose zone withextraction and injection wells. The transient solution approaches thesteady-state solution as time increases. Calculations have shown that fora shallow well (screened in a depth of less than 10 m) in a vadose zonewith an air permeability of 1 darcy (10-12 m2) or larger, the systemreaches steady-state in just several hours. Decreasing the airpermeability or increasing the screen depth increases the time to reachsteady-state. In practical applications the transient solution may berelatively insignificant in an SVE design. However, the solution can beimportant in site characterization through pneumatic tests. A procedureis provided for applying the dimensionless solution in estimating airpermeability and air-filled porosity. An example is also given to use thetransient solution for verifying numerical codes