Analysis on influence factors of air sparging in groundwater

Using an analytical method about air saturation degree, we had estimated the influence radius of air sparging of two field experiments and compared those with experiment results. The analysis results showed that this analytical method is useful for estimating the influence radius of air sparging through air saturation contour plots. In other way, an aquifer model was used to analysis the variation of influence radius of air sparging in different geology conditions. Analysis results showed that because the radius of air sparging influence become small with the absolute permeability of aquifer increase, when the air entry pressure value of aquifer soil increase, the influence radius of air sparging would increase. It is means that the influence radius is connection with the air story and disappears characteristics of aquifer soil and boundary condition. When the aquifer layer is clay soil, the air volume injected into aquifer soil can be stored as high value and the scatter range of air is also widely. In opposite, when the surface layer is sand, the air volume injected into soil foundation and groundwater would disappear quickly so that the influence radius of air sparging will be small. Those results can be used as the reference in design of air sparging technology.