A Mathematical Study of Contaminant Transport with First-order Decay and Time-dependent Source Concentration in an Aquifer

Abstract

A mathematical model describing the transport of a conservative contaminant through a homogeneous finite aquifer under transient flow is presented. We assume the aquifer is subjected to contamination due to the time-dependent source concentration. Both the sinusoidally varying and exponentially decreasing forms of seepage velocity are considered for the purposes of studying seasonal variation problems. We use the parameter-expanding method and seek direct eigenfunctions expansion technique to obtain analytical solution of the model. The results are presented graphically and discussed. It is discovered that the contaminant concentration decreases along temporal and spatial directions as initial dispersion coefficient increases and initial groundwater velocity decreases. This concentration decreases as time increases and differs at each point in the domain.