Generalized semi-analytical solutions to multispecies transport equation coupled with sequential first-order reaction network with spatially or temporally variable transport and decay coefficients

Abstract

This paper presents a semi-analytical procedure for solving coupled the multispecies reactive solute transport equations, with a sequential first-order reaction network on spatially or temporally varying flow velocities and dispersion coefficients involving distinct retardation factors. This proposed approach was developed to overcome the limitation reported by Suk (2013) regarding the identical retardation values for all reactive species, while maintaining the extensive capability of the previous Suk method involving spatially variable or temporally variable coefficients of transport, general initial conditions, and arbitrary temporal variable inlet concentration. The proposed approach sequentially calculates the concentration distributions of each species by employing only the generalized integral transform technique (GITT). Because the proposed solutions for each species’ concentration distributions have separable forms in space and time, the solution for subsequent species (daughter species) can be obtained using only the GITT without the decomposition by change-of-variables method imposing the limitation of identical retardation values for all the reactive species by directly substituting solutions for the preceding species (parent species) into the transport equation of subsequent species (daughter species). The proposed solutions were compared with previously published analytical solutions or numerical solutions of the numerical code of the Two-Dimensional Subsurface Flow, Fate and Transport of Microbes and Chemicals (2DFATMIC) in three verification examples. In these examples, the proposed solutions were well matched with previous analytical solutions and the numerical solutions obtained by 2DFATMIC model. A hypothetical single-well push–pull test example and a scale-dependent dispersion example were designed to demonstrate the practical application of the proposed solution to a real field problem.