Tech Focus: Harnessing 3D Visualization Software for Optimized Environmental Remediation

Understanding the subsurface is crucial for accurately characterizing contaminated sites, optimizing remediation strategies, and reducing client risks. Advancements in 3D visualization software are revolutionizing environmental remediation by offering powerful tools to enhance conceptual site model (CSM) development and remedial design.

Langan uses visualization software to optimize CSM development by creating 3D geologic and contaminant plume models that integrate multiple datasets, including boring log data, topographical data, geophysical survey data, groundwater monitoring data, contaminant data, and more. This data is input to 3D modeling software—e.g., Seequent Leapfrog Works and C Tech Earth Volumetric Studio—which then interpolates the data. Langan experts also optimize various algorithms to generate 3D surfaces, volumetric representations of geological units, and contaminant plumes.

CSMs developed using 3D visualizations offer several advantages:

• Improved Data Integration: 3D models consolidate diverse datasets and reveal relationships between geology, hydrogeology, and contamination that may be overlooked in 2D.
• Better Communication: Intuitive 3D visuals make it easier to convey complex subsurface conditions to stakeholders, regulators, and the public.
• Accurate Plume Delineation: Contaminant plumes are often irregular and influenced by geologic heterogeneity; 3D models capture these nuances, providing a more accurate representation of the contamination’s extent and mass.

Langan uses 3D models to support remedial design and implementation by:

• Identifying High-Risk Zones: Focus resources on areas where contamination poses the greatest threat to receptors.
• Simulating Remedial Actions: Evaluate the effectiveness of multiple strategies before implementation.
• Monitoring Progress: Overlay real-time monitoring data onto the model to track plume migration and remediation success.

For example, while working at a chlorinated solvent spill site, Langan developed a 3D model that revealed that groundwater contamination transport was confined to a preferential flow pathway via a sand and gravel lens within a complex glacial aquifer. This insight supported the design of a permeable reactive barrier remedy that targeted the sand and gravel lens, resulting in reduced costs and enhanced efficiency.

As the environmental sector continues to embrace digital transformation, 3D visualization software will play an increasingly vital role in understanding site conditions, refining CSMs, and designing optimized remedial solutions. Langan’s ability to transform complex data into actionable insights allows clients to make informed decisions on cost and risk levels.

By leveraging 3D visualization software, Langan helps clients successfully bridge the gap between data complexity and practical application to establish more effective and cost-efficient remediation.

Eric Dieck, PG, has 12 years of environmental consulting experience, including numerous hydrogeologic investigations, remedial investigations, and site assessments in both state and federal regulatory programs. He utilizes various skills and innovative tools to provide streamlined and accurate site conceptual model development, site characterization, fate and transport analysis, and remedial design to reach remedial end goals and efficient site closure.