Analytical Solution of a Model of Contaminant Transport in the Advective Zone of a River
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 140, Issue 7
Abstract
An analytical solution of a model of contaminant transport in the advective zone of rivers is presented and evaluated. An existing model that accounts for transport in the advective zone by dividing the channel into flowing and stagnant zones is solved with Laplace transforms for the case of a Gaussian pulse injected into the center of the channel. The effects of the two main parameters of the model, the fraction of the channel occupied by the stagnant zone and a transfer coefficient, are consistent with expectations from the theory of shear dispersion. Another parameter, which is related to the streamwise width of the initial pulse, determines whether a separate pulse appears in the tracer-response curves. A procedure for determining the parameters from temporal moments of measured concentration curves is described and applied to measurements in the advective zone of a mountain stream. Predictions from the model of Reichert and Wanner fit the measurements—especially the peak concentration—better than predictions from the one-dimensional model.
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Acknowledgments
The authors thank Elizabeth Held for her help with computing the moments and preparing Fig. 3(b).
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© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 20, 2013
Accepted: Feb 10, 2014
Published online: Mar 25, 2014
Published in print: Jul 1, 2014
Discussion open until: Aug 25, 2014
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