Comparison of Numerical Techniques Used for Simulating Variable-Density Flow and Transport Experiments
Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 17, Issue 2
Abstract
The writers investigated the relative performance of three different numerical techniques available in the SEAWAT/MT3DMS code by simulating two new variable-density-flow and transport experimental data sets. The experiments were designed to represent two distinctly different variable-density configurations that involve transport of a sinking groundwater plume and a rising groundwater plume. The numerical techniques used for simulating these experiments included the method of characteristics approach (MOC), total-variation-diminishing scheme (TVD), and finite-difference scheme (FD). Both homogeneous and heterogeneous hydraulic conductivity fields were employed in the numerical simulations to explore the effects of heterogeneities. The results indicate that all three numerical methods have limitations and were not able to satisfactorily reproduce the instabilities observed in the experimental data sets. The results show the need for improving the accuracy of numerical techniques that are currently being used for solving variable-density groundwater flow problems.
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Acknowledgments
The laboratory facilities used for this work were developed as part of a research effort funded by the Office of Science (BER), U.S. Department of Energy Grant No. DOEDE-FGO2-06ER64213. This work was partially funded by the Sustainable Water Resources Research Center of Korea’s 21st Century Frontier Research Program.
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Information
Published In
Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 17 • Issue 2 • February 2012
Pages: 272 - 282
Copyright
© 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 18, 2010
Accepted: May 9, 2011
Published online: May 18, 2011
Published in print: Feb 1, 2012
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