Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine 26-1 - 51

Application of Portable Ultrasound
Diagnostic Instrument in
Monitoring Granular Pollutants
of Water-Soil-Rock Interfaces
Xianjian Zou, Huiming Zhai, and Chunjuan Shi
T
he morphology, structure, and migration of granular
pollutants in groundwater are significant in
protecting water resources and geological disasters.
However, it is difficult to monitor granular pollutants'
migration and their parasitic environment under a complex
groundwater environment. In this paper, a portable ultrasound
diagnostic instrument (PUDI) is used to perform the
experimental analysis and visual diagnosis of granular pollutants
in groundwater environment and their water-soil-rock
interfaces. A visual monitoring method is proposed for the
real-time monitoring of the granular pollutants between the
water-soil-rock interfaces. Results show that the real-time imaging
diagnosis, monitoring, and visual analysis of granular
pollutants in the groundwater and water-soil-rock interface
can be realized by obtaining the ultrasonic images using the
PUDI. The regional imaging size, migration path, and potential
harm degree of granular pollutants can be obtained
through continuous ultrasound imaging experiments and
feedback parameters. The imaging accuracy of underwater
particulate pollutants is 0.1 mm. The real-time monitor
of granular pollutants and their migration can be realized in
groundwater, even though the moving speed of granular pollutants
is up to 0.1 m/s, and provides a new technical means
for the prevention of granular pollution sources and some potential
geological hazards.
Introduction
Water is an indispensable element of the living environment
for humans and all living organisms. Groundwater is an important
part of water resources, vital for urban, industrial,
and agricultural water usage. In recent decades, various forms
of human activities have led to the increase and diffusion of
various pollutants, and the laying of impermeable or semi-impermeable
road surfaces has slowed down the recharge rate
of natural groundwater, thus leading to the concentration of
pollutants in the groundwater for some certain areas. With
the development of industry and agriculture and to provide
for people's needs, research and visual monitoring of groundwater
environment, the development and utilization of water
February 2023
resources and environmental protection have been the key issues
[1]. These need to be solved effectively for developing
national economies and have great scientific significance in
studying the relationship between groundwater and rocksoil
interfaces. At present, the monitoring of the groundwater
environment is mainly realized through physical and chemical
analysis after pumping water sampling and through large
scale monitoring systems such as GIS using big data technology
[2]-[4]. However, for each monitoring point, it is not
possible to monitor and analyze the particulate pollutants' migration
in the groundwater or the field environmental data of
the groundwater and soil-rock mass in the underground river
in real time.
The interaction and gathering of human and secondary
pollutants are deeply reflected in the large water-filled areas
of underground karst caves or underground river caves. In
some polluted underground water systems, the water quality
can be up to the standard of storage and even have some
cave organisms or plankton, such as white shrimp. In areas
where the pollution exceeds the standard, there are many abnormal
phenomena, such as corrosion and deformation, when
water passes through regional soil-rock mass. There are basically
no living bodies in the water flow, or the groundwater is
entrained with corrosive particulate pollutants. Because the
underground environment is pitch-black, the water flow in
the underground river or cave environment is very calm or
extremely rapid. The morphological structure of underwater
rock and soil mass is complex and changeable. It is difficult
to detect and study the groundwater, water pollutants and
submerged rock and soil mass using optical methods due to
the difficult implementation of a complex groundwater environment
[5]. In addition, optical methods may affect the dark
environment originally attributed or some characteristics of
water pollution. Therefore, for the detection of groundwater
environment structure characteristics and the research on
the laws of the water pollutant migration, there is urgent need
for a new type of portable acoustic imaging detection method
which has high precision and is easy to adapt to the complex
changeable groundwater environment.
IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine
1094-6969/23/$25.00©2023IEEE
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