On-line groundwater velocity probe: laboratory testing and field evaluation

Abstract

An automated on-line instrument has been developed to rapidly measure groundwater velocity within a screened well. The instrument consists of a carbon dioxide gas tracer that is periodically delivered to a permeable chamber located within a screened well. The rate of diffusion of the tracer through the wall of the permeable chamber was rapid and the effective diffusion into the groundwater was controlled by the mass transfer limitations at the groundwater/chamber interface with gas entrainment proportional to the groundwater velocity past the chamber. By periodically delivering the gas tracer and monitoring the reduction in concentration of the tracer from the permeable chamber, the groundwater velocity was determined multiple times daily. Laboratory experiments undertaken within a calibrated flow chamber have demonstrated that the instrument can be used to accurately and reliably determine groundwater flow velocities at 3h intervals for flow rates between 25 and 300 m y(-1). Field testing of the velocity probe at multiple well locations in a sandy aquifer gave velocities consistent with another monitoring technique (passive flux meter) and site modelling.