NAPL characterization via partitioning tracer tests: quantifying effects of partitioning nonlinearities

The inherent nonlinearity in the equilibrium interphase distribution of a partitioning tracer between a NAPL and water affects the manner in which the partitioning tracer moves throughout a region of the subsurface contaminated with the NAPL. A semi-analytic solution is developed to describe this behavior. Analysis of a breakthrough curve of the partitioning tracer in such a system using a linear partitioning based model results in systematic overestimation of the NAPL present in the region swept during the test.