Modeling Nonequilibrium Flow and Contaminant Transport Processes in Soils and Groundwater
Event details
| Date | 17.05.2010 |
| Hour | 16:15 |
| Speaker | van Genuchten, Rien (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, BR) |
| Location |
GR B3 30
|
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
Accurate simulation of contaminant transport processes in the subsurface remains a major challenge in many science and engineering applications. In this presentation we review a broad range of dual-porosity and dual-permeability formulations for modeling nonequilibrium or preferential fluid flow and contaminant transport in the subsurface. We focus especially on transport processes in the variably-saturated vadose zone between the soil surface and the groundwater table. One effective modeling approach for flow is to use composite functions for the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity to account for the separate effects of macropores (fractures) and micropores (matrix pores), and to combine this approach with a nonequilibrium formulation for solute transport that assumes the presence of immobile water. Several example problems are given to illustrate the potentially important effects of preferential flow on contaminant transport at the field scale. One application concerns pesticide transport in a tile-drained field for which only limited data were available for model calibration. A second application involves the long-term environmental fate of a radionuclide decay chain released from a mining installation in Amazonia processing ore containing natural occurring radioactive materials.
Links
Practical information
- General public
- Free