Abstract
Public supply wells are commonly considered one of the most significant sources of freshwater on Earth. Therefore, potential well water contamination can conceivably be regarded as a crucial issue that is closely correlated with both environmental protection and water demand. In the present study, a three-dimensional numerical model is developed to simulate unsteady and spatially varying groundwater flow, along with contaminant migration. Besides, the proposed model is capable of investigating well water quality by the change of the wells’ pumping rates. The developed model uses a finite-volume time splitting numerical technique to solve governing groundwater flow and soluble contaminant transport equations. Comparison of the numerical simulation results with analytical solutions, as well as experimental and field data, clearly demonstrates the satisfactory performance of the present model. The fundamental aim of the study is to evaluate the effect of pumping rate and its variations on pollution migration through saturated porous media. To meet this purpose, contaminant concentrations and contaminants’ travel time were studied under different pump flow rate conditions. The modeling results revealed that choosing an optimum range for the pumping rate increases contaminant travel time and reduces aquifer vulnerability.
Highlights
The significance of groundwater management has increased in recent years, due to increasing population growth rates and water needs
The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of different pumping rates on the contaminant plume, by the proposed numerical model, which can simulate the transient groundwater flow and pollution transport through saturated porous media
Unsteady governing equations were numerically solved by using the finite volume time splitting scheme
Summary
The significance of groundwater management has increased in recent years, due to increasing population growth rates and water needs. Various methods have been used by researchers to investigate contaminant transport through porous media Both analytical and numerical techniques have frequently been used to study groundwater pollution. It is of great importance to accurately predict the migration path and pollution plume during different pumping rates, in the management and protection of groundwater resources In recent studies, such as studies by Medici et al [30] and Medici and West [31], groundwater flow and aquifer vulnerability have been studied at steady-state conditions. The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of different pumping rates on the contaminant plume, by the proposed numerical model, which can simulate the transient groundwater flow and pollution transport through saturated porous media. Where K LT−1 is the hydraulic conductivity matrix, which includes the hydraulic conductivity of the soil in different directions; h [L] is the hydraulic head; Ss L−1 is specific storage; and t [T] represents time
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