Solute transport through porous media. An evaluation of computational techniques

Several approaches are available to calculate fluid transport in a porous media using the finite difference method. The reproduction of the analytical solution of simple transport problem was used to compare the following numerical techniques: implicit central difference; implicite two point upwind approximation; the combination of the method of characteristics with finite difference; and finite difference with compensation for numerical dispersion. The last method gave the best results and was used in the analysis of experimental results of radionuclide transport in a lysimeter. (author) 4 figs., 3 tabs., 9 refs