Particle methods in transport modelling

A novel particle method formerly used in vorticity transport is adapted to the use for groundwater transport problems. In the method particles at the same time serve as trackers for the advective transport and form an unstructured grid on which the dispersion equation is solved by an integral equation method. The main modifications concern building in the anisotropy and velocity dependence of the dispersion tensor. The method proves very competitive for slender plumes. It is successfully transferred to density flow problems using a two-step approach. The method is applied to the problem of salt water fingering on an island in the Okavango Delta where salinity is increasing due to evaporation up to a point where the saline layer becomes instable.

More information about the project can be found in the following poster:

• A Paricle Method for the Numerical Simulation of Solute Transport in Porous Media

Main publications

Zimmermann, S., P. Koumoutsakos, W. Kinzelbach, 2001. Simulation of pollutant transport using a particle method. Journal of Computational Physics, 173, p. 322-347

Contacts

W. Kinzelbach

Agency/Funding

ETH/100 kCHF

Partners

P. Koumoutsakos, D. Poulikakos, ETH

Status

Finished in 2004

See other past research projects