NUMERICAL MODELING OF MASS-TRANSPORT PROBLEMS IN POROUS-MEDIA - A REVIEW

To seek the numerical solution to the contaminant transport problem in a porous medium, numerous publications on this aspect have emerged du ring the last three decades. Among them the finite difference method a nd finite element method have been widely used in this process of solu tion. Thus, the finite difference method for dealing with contaminant transport problems in porous media is briefly outlined in this paper. Considering the certain advantages of the finite element method over t he finite difference method, the finite element method and its formula tion for modelling contaminant transport problems are discussed in gre at detail. Finally, a numerical example has been given to show how the finite element method is applied to solve contaminant transport probl ems in engineering practice.