Soil Desiccation: Flow Cell Experiments and Numerical Simulation.

Soil desiccation is an emerging technique used to reduce contaminant transport by removing soil moisture. Before the technique can be applied in the field, several issues need to be resolved. A series of experiments was conducted in wedge-shaped flow cells to address energy requirements for effective soil drying. Dry air was injected into homogeneous and heterogeneous packings containing various amounts of water. Temperature and humidity were measured with high-precision probes. The hydraulic properties of the porous media were determined independently. The STOMP code was used to simulate the experiments. Experimental and numerical results will be presented.