The transport of light non-aqueous phase liquids (LNAPLs) in unsaturated soils and groundwater is an important research topic in geo-environmental engineering. Geotechnical centrifuge test, which can reduce the sample dimensions and shorten the experimental duration, is a convenient and efficient physical modeling technique. In this study, centrifuge model tests were conducted to study LNAPL release and migration in a subsurface, using the 50 g-ton centrifuge at Tsinghua University. The groundwater and soil samples were collected and contaminant concentrations were detected to obtain the spatial distribution of contaminant. Furthermore, numerical simulation is introduced to simulate the multiphase flow problems in porous media, studying LNAPL behaviour during transport and soil vapor extraction (SVE) cleanup process. The calculation results agree reasonably with experimental findings, and can give more information about LNAPL migration behaviour. The combination of numerical simulation and centrifuge modeling can be a useful means to study the subsurface transport of LNAPLs.

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