Estimation of contaminant subslab concentration in vapor intrusion including lateral source-building separation

Most vapor intrusion screening tools focus on the one-dimensional vertical transport of contaminant vapor by assuming the homogenous distribution of contaminant vapor source, an assumption that is unrealistic. In this study, a new semi-analytical method including lateral source-building separation, was introduced and compared with three-dimensional simulations. Most current vapor-intrusion screening models employ the assumption of a subsurface homogenous source distribution, and groundwater data obtained from nearby monitoring wells are usually taken to reflect the source concentration for several nearby buildings. This practice makes it necessary to consider the possible influence of lateral source-building separation. In this study, a new way to estimate subslab (nonbiodegradable) contaminant concentration is introduced that includes the influence of source offset with the help of a conformal transform technique. Results from this method are compared with those from a three-dimensional numerical model. Based on this newly developed method, a possible explanation is provided here for the great variation in the attenuation factors of the soil vapor concentrations of groundwater-to-subslab contaminants found in the EPA vapor-intrusion database.