Enhancing Groundwater Quality through Computational Modeling and Simulation to Optimize Transport and Interaction Parameters in Porous Media

Akhil Waghmare,Padmanabhan Seshaiyer

doi:10.4236/jwarp.2015.75032

Akhil Waghmare, Padmanabhan Seshaiyer

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.4236/jwarp.2015.75032

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Abstract

There is a shortage of high quality drinking water caused by the introduction of contaminants into aquifers from various sources including industrial processes and uncontrolled sewage. Studies have shown that colloids, collections of nanoparticles, have the potential to remediate polluted groundwater. For such applications of nanoparticles, it is important to understand the movement of colloids. This study aims to enhance the previously developed MNM1D (Micro- and Nanoparticle transport Model in porous media in one-dimensional geometry) by making more realistic assumptions about physical properties of the groundwater-porous medium system by accounting for a non-constant flow velocity and the presence of electromagnetic interactions. This was accomplished by coupling the original model with the Darcy-Forchheimer fluid model, which is specific to transport in porous media, coupled with electromagnetic effects. The resulting model also accounts for attachment and detachment phenomena, both of the linear and Langmuirian type, as well as changes to hydrochemical parameters such as maximum colloidal particle concentration in the porous medium. The system of partial-differential equations that make up the model was solved using an implicit finite-difference discretization along with the iterative Newton’s method. A parameter estimation study was also conducted to quantify parameters of interest. This more realistic model of colloid transport in porous media will contribute to the production of a more efficient method to counteract contaminants in groundwater and ultimately increase availability of clean drinking water.

Highlights

According to a 2013 report of the World Health Organization ([1] and references therein), there are over 780 million people without access to clean drinking water
Other features of the model include variable hydrochemical parameters that depend on the diffusion of salts and reaction sites of both the linear and Langmuirian type. This model was tested by Tosco and Sethi against both the STANMOD and HYDRUS-1D models, and the MNM1D closely matched these
A new enhanced model that incorporates non-constant flow velocity governed by the Darcy-Forchheimer fluid model as well as influence of electromagnetic interactions using H-S equation has been studied

Summary

Introduction

According to a 2013 report of the World Health Organization ([1] and references therein), there are over 780 million people without access to clean drinking water. One of the models MNM1D [8], which is introduced in the last few years, introduces non-linear reaction sites and kinetic coefficients dependent upon salt concentrations. It is based on the following major components of the system: the diffusion of the nanoparticles in the fluid and the transport of them between the liquid and solid phases through reaction sites. Other features of the model include variable hydrochemical parameters that depend on the diffusion of salts and reaction sites of both the linear and Langmuirian type This model was tested by Tosco and Sethi against both the STANMOD and HYDRUS-1D models, and the MNM1D closely matched these. The computational framework along with the results provided in this paper suggests that the enhanced model presented is a reliable candidate for evaluating potential realworld solutions to contaminated aquifers

Mathematical Models and Background

Implicit Finite Difference Solution Methodology

Computational Experiments

Findings

Conclusions and Future Work