Optimized Petrov-Galerkin model for advective-dispersive transport

Petrov-Galerkin finite element models (PGFEMs) appear to be the preferred c hoice for simulating advective-dispersive transport of chemicals in the nat ural environment for their ability to provide oscillation-free results. The PGFEM, however, provides oscillation-free results at the expense of introd ucing significant artificial dispersion. Introduction of artificial dispers ion may lead to erroneous prediction of faster movement of the chemical and underestimation of the peak concentration. The objective of this paper is to develop an optimized PGFEM (OPGFEM). The OPGFEM developed is found to pr edict advective-dispersive transport of chemicals more accurately than the PGFEM. (C) 2000 Elesvier Science Inc. All rights reserved.