Enhancing Groundwater Quality through Computational Modeling and Simulation to Optimize Transport and Interaction Parameters in Porous Media

Abstract

There is a shortage of high quality drinking water caused by the introduction of contaminants into aquifers from various sources including industrial processes and uncontrolled sewage. Studies have shown that colloids, collections of nanoparticles, have the potential to remediate polluted groundwater. For such applications of nanoparticles, it is important to understand the movement of colloids. This study aims to enhance the previously developed MNM1D (Micro- and Nanoparticle transport Model in porous media in one-dimensional geometry) by making more realistic assumptions about physical properties of the groundwater-porous medium system by accounting for a non-constant flow velocity and the presence of electromagnetic interactions. This was accomplished by coupling the original model with the Darcy-Forchheimer fluid model, which is specific to transport in porous media, coupled with electromagnetic effects. The resulting model also accounts for attachment and detachment phenomena, both of the linear and Langmuirian type, as well as changes to hydrochemical parameters such as maximum colloidal particle concentration in the porous medium. The system of partial-differential equations that make up the model was solved using an implicit finite-difference discretization along with the iterative Newton’s method. A parameter estimation study was also conducted to quantify parameters of interest. This more realistic model of colloid transport in porous media will contribute to the production of a more efficient method to counteract contaminants in groundwater and ultimately increase availability of clean drinking water.