Citation:

TONKIN, M., J. W. WEAVER, C. ZHENG, C. MUFFLES, AND J. RUMBAUGH. COUPLED FREE AND DISSOLVED PHASE TRANSPORT: NEW SIMULATION CAPABILITIES AND PARAMETER INVERSION. Presented at 2005 National Ground Water Association Conference on MTBE and Perchlorate: Assessment, Remediation, and Public Policy, San Francisco, CA, May 26 - 27, 2005.

Impact/Purpose:

To assist decision-making by improving approaches to subsurface contaminant transport modeling based on evaluation of field observations and subsequent development of appropriate modeling approaches and tools.

Description:

The vadose zone free-phase simulation capabilities of the US EPA Hydrocarbon Spill Screening Model (HSSM) (Weaver et al., 1994) have been linked with the 3-D multi-species dissolved-phase contaminant transport simulator MT3DMS (Zheng and Wang, 1999; Zheng, 2005). The linkage provides the means to include multiple releases of light non-aqueous phase liquids (LNAPLs) in a numerical simulation of aquifer contamination. The HSSM simulates the release of an LNAPL, its migration to the water table, development of a lens-shaped body of LNAPL at the water table interface, and the dissolution and transport of contaminants in the saturated aquifer below. The HSSM is particularly suited to the analysis of underground storage tank spills and leaks. This paper describes the approach for linking the HSSM and MT3DMS programs, and presents an illustrative example simulation in which MT3DMS correctly executes the new HSS Package for multiple leaking underground storage tanks and then accurately solves the mass-transport equation.

Record Details: