Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/11681/12662
Title: Field trials of the Site Characterization and Analysis Penetrometer System at the Savannah River Site (SRS)
Authors: United States. Department of Energy
United States. Air Force Civil Engineer Support Agency
Koester, J. P.
Lee, Landris T.
Olsen, R. S. (Richard S.)
Douglas, Donald H.
Comes, Gregory D.
Cooper, Stafford S.
Powell, Jeff F.
Keywords: Cone penetrometer
Fiber optics
Flourescence
Geophysics
Geophysical exploration
Geophysical surveys
Hydrocarbons
Site characterization
Pollution
Soil pollution
Risk assessment
Fluorimetry
Soils
Savannah River Site, South Carolina
Site Characterization and Analysis Penetrometer System (SCAPS)
Publisher: Geotechnical Laboratory (U.S.)
Engineer Research and Development Center (U.S.)
Series/Report no.: Technical report (U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station) ; GL-93-16.
Description: Technical Report
Abstract: The Site Characterization and Analysis Penetrometer System (SCAPS), developed at the U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station (WES), was deployed to demonstrate its capabilities to detect and delineate various subsurface contaminants at the Department of Energy's (DOE's) Savannah River Site (SRS) near Aiken, South Carolina. The Westinghouse Savannah River Company is under contract to DOE for management and operation of the SRS. The SCAPS experiments were conducted as part of a joint Department of Defense (DOD)/DOE research project on the application of cone penetrometer-based technology for the detection and delineation of contaminated soils. Two SCAPS devices combining unique contaminant-screening processes (fluorometry and resistivity) with conventional electric friction cone penetrometer test (CPT) technology were used. The SCAPS fluorometer probe is designed to illuminate soil an contact with the side of the CPT with pulsed laser light as the CPT is pushed into the ground. The laser light is transmitted through one of two silicon fiber optic links downhole to pass through a small sapphire window in the side of the instrument. Flourescent light energy induced by the laser in the soil is returned through a second, passive fiber to spectrophotometry equipment at the surface. The SCAPS fluorometer probe detected and mapped hydrocarbon fuel contaminants in soil at two SRS facilities with concentrations as low as 200 ppm. Hydrocarbon contaminant concentrations measured at one site with the fluorometer probe were visualized in three dimensions using specialized computer graphics software. The second CPT-based contaminant screening tool built into the SCAPS is a probe to measure soil electrical resistivity. Four equally-spaced electrode rings on the probe form a resistivity survey array that assesses electrical properties of a spherical volume of surrounding soil. The SCAPS resistivity probe detected high electrical resistivity in several experiments at depths where the presence of chlorinated solvents was known to have contaminated interbedded sands and clays. The adaptability of the SCAPS to evolving contaminant detection technology was also demonstrated at SRS; several prototype contaminant detectors designed as permanent implants were pushed and tested using the SCAPS penetrometer equipment. These prototypes were removed once their functions were evaluated. The SCAPS provided complementary subsurface fluorometry and resistivity data and onsite ancillary support to outside investigators during the otherwise proprietary implant experiments.
Rights: Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/11681/12662
Appears in Collections:Technical Report

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