Analysis of Point-Source and Boundary-Source Solutions of One-Dimensional Groundwater Transport Equation
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 133, Issue 11
Abstract
The solute transport equation is commonly used to describe the migration and fate of solutes in a groundwater flow system. Depending on the problem nature, the source of the solute may be represented as a point source term in the equation or specified as the first-type or third-type boundary condition. The solutions derived under the condition that the solute introduced into the flow system is from the boundary is herein considered as the boundary-source solutions. The solution obtained when solving the transport equation with a point-source term is considered as the point-source solution. The Laplace transform technique is employed to derive the formulas for those solutions expressed in terms of the normalized mass release rate. The underlying nature of different source release modes and the differences among those boundary-source solutions and the constant point-source solution can be easily and clearly differentiated based on the derived formulas for one-dimensional transport. The methodology could, however, be easily extended to two- and three-dimensional problems.
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Acknowledgments
This study was partly supported by the Taiwan National Science Council under Grant No. UNSPECIFIEDNSC95-2221-E-009-019. M. H. Li is acknowledged for his help in the preparation of this manuscript and figures. The writers sincerely thank three anonymous reviewers for constructive comments and suggested revisions.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 133 • Issue 11 • November 2007
Pages: 1032 - 1041
Copyright
© 2007 ASCE.
History
Received: Aug 10, 2005
Accepted: Jun 1, 2007
Published online: Nov 1, 2007
Published in print: Nov 2007
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