Groundwater pollution by organic compounds: A two-dimensional analysis of contaminant transport in stratified porous media with multiple sources of non-equilibrium partitioning
Ah. Elzein et Jr. Booker, Groundwater pollution by organic compounds: A two-dimensional analysis of contaminant transport in stratified porous media with multiple sources of non-equilibrium partitioning, INT J NUM A, 23(14), 1999, pp. 1717-1732
Citations number
41
Categorie Soggetti
Geological Petroleum & Minig Engineering
Journal title
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL AND ANALYTICAL METHODS IN GEOMECHANICS
Transport of pollutants in soil and groundwater often occurs in stratified
media under non-equilibrium conditions. Confined aquifers are usually bound
ed by low-permeability layers of soil which have been shown to exert a sign
ificant influence on the fate of contaminants in groundwater. Numerical sol
utions of transport equations have usually been restricted to single layers
and have included single sources of non-equilibrium processes or none at a
ll. The effect of soil stratification itself has sometimes been reduced to
a transport-based non-equilibrium process.
A boundary element solution of the transport equations in the Laplace domai
n is extended to include multiple sources of non-equilibrium processes in s
aturated media under the assumption of rate-limited mass transfer. Green fu
nctions accurately model infinite and semi-infinite domains such as soils a
nd Laplace transforms remove the need for time-stepping and the associated
numerical complexity. The proposed numerical technique is validated by comp
aring its results to analytical solutions. Its scope is illustrated through
a case study of a sand aquifer bounded by less permeable layers of silt, a
nd infiltrated by pollutants from a neighbouring lake. Copyright (C) 1999 J
ohn Wiley & Sons, Ltd.