The evolution from an unsteady to a steady mixing zone between two groundwater flow systems with different concentrations

Autor: Wouter Zijl, Mustafa El-Rawy
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2019
Předmět:
Zdroj: Alexandria Engineering Journal, Vol 58, Iss 2, Pp 725-731 (2019)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1110-0168
DOI: 10.1016/j.aej.2019.06.003
Popis: Heat and mass transport through porous media is governed by the advection-dispersion equation. Near the forward moving mixing front the longitudinal and transversal dispersion lengths are non-zero; only dispersion by molecular diffusion remains. The present paper presents mathematical-physical arguments why in steady transport the dispersion lengths are equal to zero. In conventional models the dispersion lengths are generally assumed to be process-independent. To interpolate between the relatively large dispersion lengths near time-dependent moving front and the steady transport conditions far away from the front, a mathematical model is proposed to describe the process-dependent time-evolution of the dispersion lengths. In this model, the dispersion lengths near the forward moving front are equal to the well-established conventional dispersion lengths that correctly represent the mixing near the front. However, further behind the moving front, where the mass transport has become (almost) steady, the process-dependent model results in vanishing dispersion lengths and, consequently, in a substantially smaller transversal mixing zone. Keywords: Advection, Flow systems, Mixing, Steady transport, Transversal dispersion
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals