WWRC 86-07
Devolopment of Modeling Capabilities for Contaminant Flows in Underground Water
Abstract
This investigation focuses on the development of a methodology for modeling
contaminant movements in the unsaturated zones of soil columns. Such problems
are of great technical as well as social interest. They are mathematically
difficult and poorly understood from the physical point of view, yet they arise in
most incidents of aquifer contamination by sources near the earth's surface. Of
particular concern are multiphase flows, which occur when contaminants having
limited solubility in water enter the soil column. This document reports progress
on several fronts in modeling subsurface contamination. First, we advance a one-dimensional finite-element collocation scheme for solving the nonlinear equation
governing unsaturated water flows. The new scheme overcomes mass balance errors
characteristic of this class of problems. Second, we discuss the extension of
the collocation method to two space dimensions. Third, we propose a continuum-mechanical
formulation of the equations governing multiphase unsaturated flows.
These equations are extend the classical equation for unsaturated water flow. Finally,
we briefly report ongoing research into the numerical solution of the equations for multiphase unsaturated flows. An appendix includes published articles
detailing the mathematics of the results summarized in the main report.
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