Concentration distribution of contaminant transport in wetland flows

- Analytical solution is obtained for 2-D contaminant distribution in wetlands.
- The solution is analytically and numerically verified.
- Effect of vegetation is analyzed by a dimensionless parameter α.
- Evolution of the vertical concentration difference is discussed.

SummaryStudy on contaminant transport in wetland flows is of fundamental importance. Recent investigation on scalar transport in laminar tube flows (Wu and Chen, 2014. J. Fluid Mech., 740: 196-213.) indicates that the vertical concentration difference in wetland flows may be remarkable for a very long time, which cannot be captured by the extensively applied one-dimensional Taylor dispersion model. To understand detailed information for the vertical distribution of contaminant in wetland flows, for the first time, the present paper deduces an analytical solution for the multi-dimensional concentration distribution by the method of mean concentration expansion. The solution is verified by both our analytical and numerical results. Representing the effects of vegetation in wetlands, the unique dimensionless parameter α can cause the longitudinal contraction of the contaminant cloud and the change of the shape of the concentration contours. By these complicated effects, it is shown unexpectedly that the maximum vertical concentration difference remains nearly unaffected, although its longitudinal position may change. Thus the slow-decaying transient effect (Wu and Chen, 2014. J. Hydrol., 519: 1974-1984.) is shown also apply to the process of contaminant transport in wetland flows.