Cleanup! is an educational software package for teaching students about characterizing and remediating subsurface contamination at hazardous waste sites. Cleanup! makes use of a virtual site that mimics the behavior of an actual hazardous waste site. Cleanup! provides an easy-to-use Windows 95 interactive computing environment.

Characterization and remediation of subsurface contamination at hazardous waste sites is complicated by the spatial variability of hydraulic properties, limited information about these properties, and limited budgets with which to characterize and remediate contamination. With Cleanup!, the student can be introduced to these issues in a classroom setting with the assistance of an instructor. The experience gained by using Cleanup! can prepare the student to characterize and remediate hazardous waste sites in an efficient manner.

The basic component of Cleanup! is the virtual site. The virtual site is based on flow and transport simulators that are run during the session with the user. The simulators enable Cleanup! to respond to the actions of the user as would an actual site, thereby providing immediate feedback. The feedback capability of Cleanup! allows the student to explore, experiment, and address open-ended problems. In addition, the virtual site can be tailored by the instructor to meet a wide variety of lesson objectives from instruction in site characterization and remediation to basic hydrogeologic concepts.

Cleanup! is a Windows 95 software package. The easy-to-use Graphical User Interface (GUI) requires very little student and instructor training and startup time is minimal. It is compatible with Microsoft Office and is designed to enable the student to use widely available MS Word and Excel to report results.

Cleanup! consists of two major components: a Simulation Module and a User Interface.

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The simulation module is made up of finite difference numerical flow and transport models. The flow model defines a two-dimensional steady state flowfield that is updated in response to changes in pumping and injection rates. The flow model can accommodate spatially variable transmissivity, recharge, and soil organic fraction. The transport model can simulate retardation of reactive contaminants. Both models have been designed to run very efficiently and simulations of complex sites on a Pentium PC and 16 MB of memory take no more than a few seconds.

The simulation module is a basic educational component of Cleanup!. The simulation module enables Cleanup! to represent a realistic, virtual hazardous waste site. By means of real-time simulations, the virtual site responds to user actions and provides instructional feedback. In addition to solving conventional textbook problems, the simulation module also gives the student the opportunity to explore and experiment.

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Last updated: 06/04/97 10:25 PM