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Model ID: 263

Groundwater Flow and Solute Transport

This model demonstrates the application of COMSOL Multiphysics to a benchmark case of steady-state subsurface fluid flow and transient solute transport along a vertical cross section in an unconfined aquifer.

Because of profound geologic heterogeneity, the model must estimate solute transport subject to highly irregular flow conditions with strong anisotropic dispersion. Van der Heijde classifies this case as “Level 2”, with enough potentially difficult parameter combinations to test a code's ability to tackle realistic hydrologic situations.

Sudicky developed this problem to demonstrate a Laplace Transform Galerkin code. This problem subsequently has been used to evaluate other flow and transport models, including MT3DMS by Zheng and Wang.

The figure shows the plume concentrations after 20 years.

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