Solute Transport in a Semi-Infinite Geological Formation with Variable Porosity
Publication: Journal of Engineering Mechanics
Volume 141, Issue 11
Abstract
Using the Laplace integral transform technique (LITT), an analytical solution to the advection–dispersion–reaction (ADR) equation for a semi-infinite homogeneous geological formation is derived, considering the effect of a retardation factor, zero-order production, and a first-order decay constant. The initial pollutant concentration is considered space dependent in the direction of longitudinal flow in the formation (i.e., aquifer and aquitard). At one end of the aquifer, i.e., the origin, pollutant through time-dependent source concentration is taken into account; but at the other end of the aquifer, the concentration gradient is assumed to be zero due to the uniform flow of the contaminant with respect to the spatial variable. The analytical solution may help evaluate the pattern of concentration for exponentially decreasing or sinusoidally varying unsteady flow in different types of geological formations with average porosity values. The analytical solution is compared with a numerical solution, and they are found to be in very good agreement. The accuracy of the solution is verified with root-mean-square-error (RMSE or RMS-error) analysis.
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Published In
Journal of Engineering Mechanics
Volume 141 • Issue 11 • November 2015
Copyright
© 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 13, 2014
Accepted: Feb 19, 2015
Published online: May 11, 2015
Discussion open until: Oct 11, 2015
Published in print: Nov 1, 2015
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