Abstract: Light transmission visualization (LTV) and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) methods are used to quantify dense non-aqueous phase liquids (DNAPL) saturation in a two-dimensional (2-D) sand box with two fluid phase systems of water and DNAPL. The media are uniform and saturated. Infiltration experiment of DANPL is conducted in the 2-D sand box. Meanwhile, Charged Coupled Digital (CCD) camera and LCR Digital Bridge are used to monitor the movement of DNAPL. The LTV model is applied to calculate the saturation of DNAPL in this study. To get the spatial distribution of DNAPL saturation in ERT method, one needs to transform the resistance to resistivity, and then use the empirical formula “ Archie Formula”. A new method was proposed to calculate the value of β, which is the only parameter in “Archie Formula”. The new method is much simpler and more convenient in comparison with the traditional ways. The amounts of DNAPL infiltration are calculated based on the spatial distribution of DNAPL saturation at different times, which agree with the observations well. The experiment results show that ERT method coupled with LTV method could quantitatively monitor the migration of DNAPL in saturated porous media, and the new method to obtain the value of β is applicable.

Key words: non-aqueous phase liquids, light transmission visualization method, electrical resistivity tomography, porous media, saturation, 2-D