Improved Compartmental Modeling and Application to Three-Phase Contaminant Transport in Unsaturated Porous Media

Abstract

The compartmental modeling approach has been widely used for simulating contaminant transport in porous media and surface waters. Yet a commonly used compartmental model that has only first-order accuracy may introduce considerable numerical errors under certain circumstances. Following a review of compartmental systems and compartmental modeling methodologies, performance and limitations of such a compartmental model are discussed. In particular, improvement approaches, including multipoint, high-order, linear, and nonlinear methods, are presented in detail. Finally, a number of testing problems are examined and various compartmental models that describe three-phase (dissolved, adsorbed, and vapor phases) contaminant transport in unsaturated porous media are compared with each other and also with standard numerical and analytical counterparts. The comparisons highlight the accuracy, applicability, and limitations of different compartmental models.