Some considerations on the dependence to numerical schemes of Lagrangian radionuclide transport models for the aquatic environment

Abstract

Lagrangian models present several advantages over Eulerian models to simulate the transport of radionuclides in the aquatic environment in emergency situations. A radionuclide release is simulated as a number of particles whose trajectories are calculated along time and thus these models do not require a spatial discretization (although it is always required in time). In this paper we investigate the dependence of a Lagrangian model output with the grid spacing which is used to calculate concentrations from the final distribution of particles, with the number of particles in the simulation and with the interpolation schemes which are required because of the discrete nature of the water circulation data used to feed the model. Also, a Lagrangian model may describe the exchanges of radionuclides between phases (liquid and solid), which is done in terms of transition probabilities. The dependence of these probabilities with time step is analyzed as well. It was found that the optimum grid size used to calculate concentrations should be carefully checked, and that temporal interpolation is more significant than spatial interpolation to obtain a more accurate solution. A method to estimate the number of particles required to have a certain accuracy level is proposed. Finally, it was found that for low sediment concentrations and small radionuclide k_d, exact equations for the transition probabilities should be used; and that phase transitions introduce a stability condition as in Eulerian models.

Keywords: Aquatic environment; Lagrangian model; Radionuclides; Transport.