Experimental and numerical studies of trichloroethylene migration

Chlorinated solvents represent one category of the most widespread pollutants in soils and aquifers. Among them, the Tricholoroethylene (TCE) is a DNAPL [Pankow and Cherry, 1996]. Its industrial use as a dry cleaner leads to contaminate plenty of industrial sites and justifies a specific study on its behaviour. In porous media, TCE can be found under different forms: pure, volatile and dissolved in water and adsorbed on the solid matrix. Each form is a risk of pollution for soils and aquifers, at long and short terms. In order to focus our study on the phenomena of volatilisation and dissolution, we will not take into account the adsorbed form of the pollutant. In fact, we try to understand and explain the behaviour of TCE in a soil, in order to determine and apply the most appropriate remediation technique for a contaminated site.