Transport studies that employ column experiments in closed-flow mode complement classical approaches by providing new characteristic features observed in the breakthrough behavior and an equilibrium between liquid and solid phase. Specific to the closed-flow mode is the recirculation of the column effluent to the inflow via a mixing vessel. Depending on the ratio of volume of the water-filled pore space to the volume of the mixing vessel, a damped oscillating solute concentration emerges in effluent and mixing vessel. Oscillation frequency, extent of damping and amplitude are thereby governed by the transport properties of the porous medium. These characteristics allow for the analysis of transport processes in soils in a similar fashion as known for classical open-flow column experiments. However, the experimental design considers feedbacks of liquid solid interactions by connecting the effluent solution with the inflow. In this way, solute and porous medium can equilibrate with respect to all physicochemical parameters, thereby permitting a convenient consideration of mass balances. With this paper, the features emerging in the breakthrough of column experiments run in closed-flow mode and methods of evaluation are illustrated under experimental boundary conditions forcing the appearance of these oscillations. Additionally, the effect of flow velocity and mixing vessel volume on the breakthrough is investigated. We demonstrate that the water content of the porous medium and the pumping rate can be determined from a conservative tracer breakthrough curve. In this way, external preconditioning of the soil material, e.g., drying, can be avoided. This renders the closed-flow column approach especially interesting for the study of porous media with diverse mineral content and bacterial community that react strongly on changes in the water content. Furthermore, the basis for the modeling of closed-flow experiments is given by the derivation of constitutive equations and numerical implementation, validated by the presented experiments.
