Coupling methodology and application of a fully integrated model for contaminant transport in the subsurface system

- The fully integrated unsaturated-saturated solute transport model is developed.
- The simplifications to the unsaturated zone greatly save the calculation cost.
- The model is accommodated to problems with complex layers and topographies.
- The model is restricted to the vertical advection dominating in the vadose zone.
- The transverse coefficient in the soil zone greatly influences the model accuracy.

SummaryAn efficient integrated modeling approach is developed to simulate the contaminant transport in the subsurface system. The unsaturated zone is divided into a number of horizontal sub-areas according to the atmospheric boundary conditions, land use types and hydrological conditions. Solute migration through the unsaturated zone of each sub-area is assumed to be vertical and can be represented by the one-dimensional advection-dispersion equation, which is then coupled to the three-dimensional advection-dispersion equation representing the subsequent groundwater transport. The finite element method is adopted to discretize the vertical solute equation, while the hybrid finite element and finite difference method is used to discretize the three-dimensional saturated solute transport equation, which is split into the horizontal and vertical equations based on the concept of the horizontal/vertical splitting. The unsaturated and saturated solute transport equations are combined into a unified matrix by the mass balance analysis for the adjacent nodes located at the one-dimensional soil column and at the water table. Two hypothetical cases and two field cases are simulated to test the validity of the model with the results compared with those from HYDRUS-1D, SWMS2D and the measured data. The limitations of the model are discussed as well. The analysis of the four cases demonstrates that the proposed model can calculate the water flow and solute transport reasonably even with complex boundary and variable topography conditions. It also shows that the model is efficient to simulate the water flow and solute transport in regional-scale areas with small computational costs. However, the model will lose accuracy when the lateral dispersion effect is dominant in the unsaturated zone.