Numerical simulation of saltwater intrusion experiment

Karasaki, Kenji*; Maekawa, Keisuke  

We have modeled laboratory experiments of saltwater intrusion, similar to the so-called Henry Problem, using TOUGH2/EOS7. In general, the simulation showed good agreement to the experiment including the transient advancement and the final profile of the saltwater wedge that showed little dispersion in a homogeneous case. In a two-layer heterogeneous case, however, the simulation could not reproduce the experiment in one aspect. In the experiment, the fast-moving colored saltwater traveling in the higher permeability layer was observed encroaching into the lower permeability layer below. However, at this writing, we have not been able to reproduce this phenomenon, which could be caused by some instability or heterogeneity within the layers.