Migration of Dissolved Petroleum Components in Finite Frozen Porous Media: Coupling Effects of Geometry and Injection Volume

Migration of Dissolved Petroleum Components in Finite Frozen Porous Media: Coupling Effects of Geometry and Injection Volume | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Migration of Dissolved Petroleum Components in Finite Frozen Porous Media: Coupling Effects of Geometry and Injection Volume Yang Liu, Guizhen Yin, Zhiwu Han, Yansong Wu, Sheng Wei, Dong Li, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8421102/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract As global warming and oil and gas development in cold regions increase, oil spills pose a serious threat to fragile polar and high-latitude environments. Dissolved oil components can migrate over long periods through unfrozen water films and micro-pore networks in permafrost. This process presents persistent risks to pore water and hydraulically connected groundwater systems. However, most thermo-hydraulic-chemical (THC) coupled models assume infinite domains, limiting their ability to represent the geometric constraints imposed by frozen fractures and ice lenses in finite domains. In this study, a simplified THC model for frozen porous media was used to isolate and quantify the joint effects of lateral geometric constraints (H) and cumulative injection quantity (Q) on underground contaminant migration. A response surface method (RSM) was used to analyze the nonlinear coupling relationship between these two factors. The results show that lateral geometric constraints are the main factor controlling the contaminant plume morphology. It regulates the transition from confined quasi-two-dimensional vertical migration to three-dimensional lateral diffusion, while cumulative injection quantity mainly controls the overall extent of plume development. And, a significant negative coupling effect between H and Q was found: under strong geometric constraints, lateral dilution is suppressed, causing the plume to unexpectedly penetrate deeper even with relatively low injection amounts. These findings demonstrate the significance of limited-domain constraints within finite-domain soil–groundwater systems in controlling pollutant migration in permafrost environments. They indicate that risk assessments based solely on leakage amounts may underestimate the extent of groundwater pollution under structural constraints. Permafrost Subsurface contaminant transport Pore-water flow Finite-domain hydrology Geometric confinement Plume morphology Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8421102","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":600157712,"identity":"fd1a2af7-dce0-4a3c-b29f-63f0ec4da50d","order_by":0,"name":"Yang Liu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Northeast Petroleum University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yang","middleName":"","lastName":"Liu","suffix":""},{"id":600157713,"identity":"37d71bd4-5521-457e-a6ec-42d2d2183269","order_by":1,"name":"Guizhen Yin","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"School of Civil Engineering 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Dissolved oil components can migrate over long periods through unfrozen water films and micro-pore networks in permafrost. This process presents persistent risks to pore water and hydraulically connected groundwater systems. However, most thermo-hydraulic-chemical (THC) coupled models assume infinite domains, limiting their ability to represent the geometric constraints imposed by frozen fractures and ice lenses in finite domains.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn this study, a simplified THC model for frozen porous media was used to isolate and quantify the joint effects of lateral geometric constraints (H) and cumulative injection quantity (Q) on underground contaminant migration. A response surface method (RSM) was used to analyze the nonlinear coupling relationship between these two factors. The results show that lateral geometric constraints are the main factor controlling the contaminant plume morphology. 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