Configuration of Non-Pumping Reactive Wells Considering Minimum Well Spacing

Abstract

A non-pumping reactive well (NPRW) is a subsurface structure that prevents contaminant spread using many non-pumping wells containing reactive media. For the construction of an effective NPRW, a sufficiently small spacing between wells is an important design factor to prevent contaminant leakage. However, close well construction is not recommended because of concerns about the decreased stability of adjacent wells under field conditions. In this research, we proposed a sawtooth array of NPRW as a practical configuration to minimize well spacing while meeting stability requirements in the field. To evaluate the performance of the novel NPRW configurations, a numerical modeling was conducted considering different well diameters and well spacings and their performance was compared taking into account the number of wells and the mass of the reactive material. The comparison results showed that the sawtooth configuration was more practical than a line of wells. The performance curve of NPRWs with the saw-toothed configuration was constructed from the relationship between the contaminant removal and configuration components (diameter and spacing of the well). This can be used to predict the contaminant removal performance of NPRWs with a sawtooth array.