Which-Groundwater-Remediation-Objective-is-Better，-a-Realistic-One-or-a-Simple-One.pdfVIP

Which Groundwater Remediation Objective is Better, a Realistic One or a Simple One? 1 2 Xiaolin Ren and Barbara Minsker , Associate Member, ASCE 1 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 4146 NCEL, MC.250, 205 N. Mathews, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, Tel: (217)333- 1657, Email: xren@ 2 Assoc. Prof., Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 3230d NCEL, MC.250, 205 N. Mathews, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, Tel: (217)333-9017, Email: minsker@ Abstract: One of the first steps in setting up an optimal groundwater remediation design problem is developing an appropriate objective func tion, which represents the primary goals of the design. Selecting appropriate objective functions can be challenging. A more realistic objective function, which is a cost function applied to a realistic site without simplification, may yield more accurate results but at the same time it will require more time and effort to develop the appropriate function for a particular application. On the other hand, a simple function will save setup time but may sacrifice the accuracy of the results. This research seeks to identify what situations encountered in remediation design would make the development of a realistic objective function necessary. It also examines tradeoffs among three objectives: total cost, risk, and total cleanup time. A pump-and- treat system is designed for a case study to explore these questions. The model used here is NSGA II (Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm- II) combined with two numerical models (Modflow and RT3D) and an exposure and risk assessment model. Four different cost functions are applied, ranging from simple to complex. The results show that the reali