Abstract
A finite element model for water transport through porous media (FEWA) has been applied to the unconfined aquifer at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Solid Waste Storage Area 6 Engineered Test Facility (ETF). The model was developed in 1983 as part of a shallow land burial technology research project and was previously verified using several general hydrologic problems for which an analytic solution exists. Model application and calibration, as described in this paper, consisted of modelling the ETF water table for three specialized cases: a one-dimensional steady-state simulation, a one-dimensional transient simulation, and a two-dimensional transient simulation. In the one-dimensional steady-state simulation, the FEWA output accurately predicted the water table during a long period in which there were no human-induced or natural perturbations to the system. The input parameters of most importance for this case were hydraulic conductivity and aquifer bottom elevation. In the two transient cases, the FEWA output has matched observed water table responses to a single rainfall event occurring in February 1983, yielding a calibrated finite element model that is useful for further study of additional precipitation events as well as contaminant transport at the experimental site.
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