A novel analytical model of solute transport in a layered aquifer system with mixing processes in the reservoirs

Abstract

Analytical models of solute transport have been widely used to aid the understanding of the physical and chemical processes undergone by substances introduced in a layered aquifer system. However, in previous studies, the advection component of transport was assumed to be one dimensional, while also ignoring the mixing processes that occur in the inlet and the outlet reservoirs. In this study, new sets of models describing those mixing processes are presented. Beyond that, these models were integrated into already existing models and the result is a novel analytical model of solute transport in aquifer-aquitard systems. The novel analytical solution was derived by the Laplace transform method and the finite-cosine Fourier transform method under the mobile-immobile (MIM) framework. The calculations take into account: the longitudinal and vertical dispersion, the molecular diffusion and the horizonal and vertical advection components of solute transport, as well as first-order chemical reaction, in both the aquifer and the aquitard. A finite-difference solution of the model is tested against experimental data in order to critique its reliability. Results indicate that the numerical and analytical solutions of the new model match well with experimental data. This new model outperforms the previous models in terms of interpreting experimental data. The mixing old and new water in the reservoirs during solute transport in aquifer-aquitard systems is important. Global sensitivity analysis demonstrates that the output concentration of solute in the aquifer-aquitard system is most sensitive to the volume of water in the inlet reservoir. The contribution of the molecular diffusion effect to the total mass flux of the tracer cross the aquifer-aquitard interface is much smaller than the contribution of the dispersive and advective effects.

Keywords: Aquifer-aquitard system; Parameter estimation; Reactive transport; Vertical dispersion.