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A New Time Domain Random Walk Method for Solute Transport in 1–D Heterogeneous Media
Author(s) -
Banton Olivier,
Delay Frédérick,
Porel Gilles
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
groundwater
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.84
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1745-6584
pISSN - 0017-467X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-6584.1997.tb00173.x
Subject(s) - random walk , domain (mathematical analysis) , boundary (topology) , statistical physics , continuous time random walk , dispersion (optics) , heterogeneous random walk in one dimension , time domain , mathematics , computer science , mathematical analysis , physics , statistics , optics , computer vision
A new method to simulate solute transport in 1–D heterogeneous media is presented. This time domain random walk method (TDRW), similar in concept to the classical random walk method, calculates the arrival time of a particle cloud at a given location (directly providing the solute breakthrough curve). The main advantage of the method is that the restrictions on the space increments and the time steps which exist with the finite differences and random walk methods are avoided. In a homogeneous zone, the breakthrough curve (BTC) can be calculated directly at a given distance using a few hundred particles or directly at the boundary of the zone. Comparisons with analytical solutions and with the classical random walk method show the reliability of this method. The velocity and dispersivity calculated from the simulated results agree within two percent with the values used as input in the model. For contrasted heterogeneous media, the random walk can generate high numerical dispersion, while the time domain approach does not.