Numerical Simulation of Pollutant Transport in Fractured Vuggy Porous Karstic Aquifers

Abstract

This paper begins with presenting a mathematical model for contaminant transport in the fractured vuggy porous media of a species of contaminant (PCP). Two phases are numerically simulated for a process of contaminant and clean water infiltrated in the fractured vuggy porous media by coupling mixed finite element (MFE) method and finite volume method (FVM), both of which are locally conservative, to approximate the model. A hybrid mixed finite element (HMFE) method is applied to approximate the velocity field for the model. The convection and diffusion terms are approached by FVM and the standard MFE, respectively. The pressure distribution and temporary evolution of the concentration profiles are obtained for two phases. The average effluent concentration on the outflow boundary is obtained at different time and shows some different features from the matrix porous media. The temporal multiscale phenomena of the effluent concentration on the outlet are observed. The results show how the different distribution of the vugs and the fractures impacts on the contaminant transport and the effluent concentration on the outlet. This paper sheds light on certain features of karstic groundwater are obtained.