Vapor intrusion in soils with multimodal pore-size distribution

Abstract

The Johnson and Ettinger [1] model and its extensions are at this time the most widely used algorithms for estimating subsurface vapor intrusion into buildings (API [2]). The functions which describe capillary pressure curves are utilized in quantitative analyses, although these are applicable for porous media with a unimodal or lognormal pore-size distribution. However, unaltered soils may have a heterogeneous pore distribution and consequently a multimodal pore-size distribution [3], which may be the result of specific granulometry or the formation of secondary porosity related to genetic processes. The present paper was designed to present the application of the Vapor Intrusion Model (SVI-Model) to unsaturated soils with multimodal pore-size distribution. Simulations with data from the literature show that the use of a multimodal model in soils with such pore distribution characteristics could provide more reliable results for indoor air concentration, rather than conventional models.