Upscaling Regional, 3D, Non-Fickian Solute Transport with 2D Equivalent Models

Poster presented at 2018 American Geophysical Union (Washington, DC).

Physical simulation of groundwater flow and contaminant transport is computationally expensive, and intractable at regional aquifer scales, where nonpoint source contamination (e.g., salinity, nitrates) threaten basin-wide groundwater quality. In this research, we develop methods to efficiently upscale 3D, non-Fickian transport in heterogeneous porous media with 2D equivalent models, thus reducing computational time and preserving non-Fickian transport characteristics (e.g., early arrival and late tailing in the breakthrough curve).

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