Transport behavior of a passive solute in continuous time random walks and multirate mass transfer

Abstract

We consider the transport behavior of a passive solute in a heterogeneous medium, modeled by continuous time random walks (CTRW) and linear multirate mass transfer (MRMT). Within the CTRW framework, we formulate a transport model which is formally equivalent to MRMT. In both approaches the total concentration is divided into mobile and immobile parts. The immobile concentration is given by the convolution in time of the mobile concentration and a memory function. The memory function is a functional of the distribution of transition and trapping times for the CTRW and the MRMT approach, respectively, and determines the transport behavior of the solute. Based on different expressions for the memory function in the two frameworks, we derive conditions for which both approaches describe the same transport behavior. We focus on anomalous transport behavior that can arise if the transition and trapping time distributions behave algebraically in a given time regime. Using an expansion of the Laplace transform of the memory function, we develop explicit expressions for the time behavior of the flux concentration as well as for the center of mass velocity and the (macro) dispersion coefficients of the solute distribution. We observe (anomalous) power law as well as (normal) Fickian transport behavior, depending on the exponents that dominate the trapping and transition time distributions, respectively. The results show that the character of the anomalous transport does not depend on the details of the transport model but only on the exponents dominating the transition or trapping time distributions. The unified transport framework presented here comprising CTRW and MRMT shows new aspects and opens new perspectives for the modeling of transport in heterogeneous media.