Pollution simulation of heavy metal in saturated porous media using CFD

Abstract

Visualizing contaminant transport can play a significant role in better understanding the fate of contaminants in soil. The present study aimed to evaluate contamination of aluminium and mercury in the soil through the use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to obtain an estimate of degraded zones. A leak from a generic stabilization pond measuring 40 m (length) and 20 m (width) was developed for the simulations. The simulations were carried out for a period of 10 years with different leak speeds, water inlet flow rates and different values of aluminum and mercury volume fractions. All governing equations was solved with the transient mode. The flow characterized as laminar, and the multiphase model was employed through the Mixture method. The time required for contamination to reach its maximum value was directly influenced by the change in speed values. The concentration of the pollutant increases as the water inlet and leakage speeds increase, however, it reduces the time needed to reach the highest pollutant value, indicating that the degree of pollution of the porous medium was greater. The study shows that contamination can be seen as a potential contaminant source for groundwater.