Upscaling of solute transport based on the concept of thememory function

摘要

We evaluate the benefits of using an alternative upscaled solute transport model in makingnumerical predictions of contaminant transport in heterogeneous formation. The transport model is based onthe concept of mass transfer memory functions, which are used to represent the unresolved mass exchangebetween highly mobile and less mobile zones occurring within each grid block of the numerical model.Performance assessment of the first-order single-rate mass transfer transport model is presented here for agiven highly heterogeneous aquifer realization. To achieve this, solute transport is solved at different supportscales. Upscaling of hydraulic conductivity is based on the Laplacian method with skin, whereas blocktransport parameters are estimated through calibration of block-specific tracer test breakthrough curvesusing an inverse optimization technique. A high resolution hydraulic conductivity map provides thereference transport solution, which is compared with simulations obtained from the upscaled model.Simulation of solute transport with mass transfer is based on the implementation of the multirate masstransfer model into random walk particle tracking methodology presented by Salamon et al. (2006).