Use of Simulation Filters in Three-Dimensional Groundwater Contaminant Transport Modeling
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 138, Issue 11
Abstract
Contaminants have been modeled using numerical models to predict their fate and transport. These models are simplified by introducing approximation that plagues the model with truncation and round-off errors. In order to improve the accuracy and effectiveness of contaminant concentration prediction, three simulation techniques such as particle, Kalman and extended Kalman filters were used in this research as a tool to model the groundwater contaminant using a three-dimensional (3D) subsurface advection-dispersion-reaction model. The 3D model was discretized spatially and temporally using the forward-time-central-space (FTCS) method. A total of 18 observation points were used to run the simulation filters. The dynamical models used by the simulation filters are embedded with random Gaussian noise to mimic a real-life situation. The Kalman and extended Kalman filters also have an advantage of storing only the previous estimate to make a new prediction. The particle filter however, applies sequential Monte Carlo method and probability density functions to make estimates. The filters are capable of providing a better prediction than the numerical method when sparse observation data are used. The algorithms to generate the simulation and the numerical results were run on Matlab 7.1. The effectiveness of the prediction results were assessed using the root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE) and maximum absolute error () equations. The results show that the filters perform better than the numerical method. The filters are capable of reducing the error in the numerical results by approximately 70%.
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Acknowledgments
This work was sponsored by the Department of Energy Samuel Massie Chair of Excellence Program under Grant No. DF-FG01-94EW11425. The views and conclusions contained herein are those of the writers and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies or endorsements, either expressed or implied, of the funding agency.
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Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 138 • Issue 11 • November 2012
Pages: 1122 - 1129
Copyright
© 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 18, 2011
Accepted: Apr 9, 2012
Published online: Apr 12, 2012
Published in print: Nov 1, 2012
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