Hydrologic Measurements with Flexible Liners and Other Applications

Carl Keller

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781000610505
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Environmental Management
• Index: Technology & Engineering

This book provides hydrologists the information needed for the characterization of contaminated subsurface hydrologic sites. It explains how to seal boreholes, map contaminant distribution in a formation, map the flow zones, and measure the hydraulic head distribution through a single flexible liner. Results of the measurement methods provided demonstrate the reality and reliability of the unique FLUTe techniques. These measurements help to predict contaminant migration and aid in the design of a groundwater remedy. The limitations of several methods are provided to allow an intelligent choice of methods and a well-informed selection of devices among the alternative methods. The mechanics of flexible liner systems are explained with examples of applications beyond the hydrologic measurements such as relining of piping.

Features include:

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• The first book on a modern technology that is replacing traditional technology globally

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• Written by the inventor of the FLUTe technology with 25 years' experience with successful applications

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• Describes FLUTe technology in detail, including the theory behind the tools, how to use the tools, and the mathematics used to interpret the data generated by the tools

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• Provides step-by-step explanations of how to conduct fieldwork and how to analyze the data gathered

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• Minimizes reliance on mathematical explanations and uses illustrations and examples that allow readers to understand the technology

This book is of interest to environmental professionals, mine operators, petroleum engineers, geophysicists who use these methods or are considering using these methods for remediation of groundwater contamination, academics, students, and regulators.

1Introduction/Purpose

DOI: 10.1201/9781003268376-1

This book is a documentation of the science of flexible liner applications as developed by Flexible Liner Underground Technologies (FLUTe). Over a 25-year period, the application of flexible liners for underground measurements has evolved into many methods. Some of those applications are described here in greater detail than in earlier publications. This description of the technology includes the theory, the liner designs, the methods of installation, the machines invented to do the manufacturing, and the machines designed for the installations. The mechanics of everting/inverting liners are described and the application of those mechanisms to even more diverse functions such as installations of cured-in-place liners in the piping in the walls of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC, is also elaborated. As the experience with liner use was accumulated and challenges were encountered, new designs were developed and methods changed to improve the utility of the liner uses.

The main objective of the FLUTe technology is to exploit the unique characteristics of everting flexible liners. Some applications are hydrologic, others are seismic measurements, some are repairs of piping, and augmentation of drilling methods. Once the basic mechanisms were understood and methods of manufacture and installation were obtained, the application to many different uses became possible. This book is to convey the science for a better understanding of the utility. There is a common reluctance to trust anything considered new in the hydrologic community. There is an exceptional allegiance to the “gold standard” of traditional methods. With this description, perhaps there will be less suspicion and more understanding of the utility and the limitations. The actual cost of use of FLUTe methods is less than traditional methods for many measurements, and it provides spatial resolution otherwise not possible. None of these methods are highly technical but are simply the application of mechanisms well-known both inside and outside the hydrologic community. This is an explanation of the applied science of flexible liners to improve the general understanding of the technology.

In general, the advantage of liner measurements has been twofold. The ability to rapidly seal an entire borehole and transport measurement devices while the liner is being installed was one advantage. A second general advantage is to quickly measure with high spatial resolution the common hydrologic characteristics normally obtained with traditional methods.

This description includes the details of the hydrologic measurements and the physics behind the engineering of those measurement methods. How the liners are everted through crooked piping and boreholes under a variety of hydrologic conditions is explained. Installations through direct push rods and how that is done in sediments are described. Examples of results are included for each method. Comparisons with traditional hydrologic measurements are discussed briefly. Calculational models developed for several methods are described.

Also described are devices invented or devised to meet the special needs of liner applications for installation and monitoring.

Some applications that have only been tested in the FLUTe facility are described at the end of the book. They are offered as food for thought as FLUTe addresses the potential for the evolution of the methods.

2Brief History of Flexible Liner Underground Technologies (FLUTe) Methods

DOI: 10.1201/9781003268376-2

In 1989, I, the author of this text, had a contract with Los Alamos National Laboratory to design an experimental validation of flow models to be used for 10,000-year predictions. The objective does seem absurd. However, that is the design objective for underground nuclear waste storage facilities. In one sense, the task was both physics-driven and a philosophical exercise. I accepted the contract realizing the limitations and first considered those mechanisms not normally included in the flow calculations which I had developed, such as earth tides. With that broad charter, I also considered what the experiment might include. In the unsaturated zone of Yucca Mt, the test must measure flows in fractured rock over very long time periods at large distances. But water as the transporting liquid does not flow into boreholes in the vadose zone unless near full saturation. Water tends to stay in the fractures with the higher capillary tension. Therefore, if the experiment needed to collect water samples distant from the source, the boreholes for interception and collection of the flow must have competing absorbers for collection of the fracture flows near the boreholes.

Installation of absorbers on inflatable packers can be done in long unstable horizontal holes such as drilled at the Yucca Mt. site by installing an absorber covered packer in a protective pipe, removing the pipe, and inflating the packer to press the absorbers against the borehole wall. However, it is not practical to slide the protective pipe back over the absorber covered packer bladder for recovery. I suggested to my engineer, Bill Lowry, that the packer could be of a thin flexible material and inverted from the borehole while under pressure, and could also be emplaced by the reverse procedure of everting the flexible packer. There was some skepticism expressed. But when the tubular liner was built by Bill and his wife, of urethane-coated nylon tent rainfly material (purchased at the local outdoor sports store in Santa Fe, named Base Camp), the procedure worked as conceived. That method was the beginning of what later became FLUTe technology.

There was some doubt on the part of my employer, at the time, that the method should be the subject of a patent. But, when I offered to buy the rights from my employer, the employer, Science and Engineering Associates (SEA), allowed me to write a patent with the help of a local retired Dupont patent lawyer in Santa Fe, NM. Since unknown to me, Ray Wood of the Isle of Mann had already invented an everting flexible liner mechanism for relining sewers, I had to narrow the claims of my first liner patent which was granted in 1993.

In the years between 1989 and 1996, I was hired/purchased along with my patent by Eastman Cherrington Environmental (a horizontal drilling company) in 1993. However, Eastman Cherrington Environmental was closed by its owner in 1995 which orphaned the flexible liner technology that I had established at their plant in Houston. The flexible liner methods had not yet been integrated with the horizontal drilling as planned. I founded my own flexible liner company in 1996 called Flexible Liner Underground Technologies, LLC; FLUTe for short (www.flut.com).

I built liners for the next two years in Houston near the Eastman Cherrington facility with the same staff until 1...