Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2002AK1B

Investigation of Immiscible Fluid Movement Through Frozen Porous Media

Institute: Alaska
Year Established: 2002 Start Date: 2002-03-01 End Date: 2004-02-08
Total Federal Funds: $44,023 Total Non-Federal Funds: $27,562

Principal Investigators: David Barnes, Yuri Shur

Project Summary: An adequate understanding of the physical and chemical processes controlling the movement of spilled petroleum products through seasonally or permanently frozen soils is required to adequately protect the quality of Alaska's environment. The permeability of frozen soil to petroleum is most likely controlled by several factors including, soil particle size, moisture content (frozen and unfrozen), and the microstructure of the soil. How these properties impact the permeability is not well known. The objective of this proposal is to characterize these properties and how they influence the soils permeability to a petroleum product. This objective will be accomplished by retrieving core samples testing their permeability to petroleum and analyzing the soil characteristics.