Particle Tracking

Abstract

A particle tracking (PT) code uses hydraulic conductivities, discretization, and simulated heads from a groundwater flow model, and user-supplied values of effective porosity, to calculate groundwater flowpaths and travel times. Velocities calculated at nodal points are interpolated to provide velocity values elsewhere in the problem domain; interpolation methods include linear, bilinear, trilinear, bicubic, or inverse distance methods. Imaginary particles are introduced into the flow field and tracked in continuous space. Two- and three-dimensional PT is executed with semianalytical, Euler integration, Taylor series expansion, or Runge-Kutta methods to generate flowpaths. Particle travel times can also be computed. PT helps visualize groundwater flow, delineates areas of contribution and capture zones, and simulates the advective transport of contaminants.