Study on transport of contaminant through single and parallel fractures using element-free Galerkin method

ABSTRACT

Present investigation discusses a numerical model for contaminant transport through fractured porous media adopting element-free Galerkin method, a type of the mesh-free method. The contaminant transport from the fracture and matrix is modelled by coupling two simultaneous equations for fracture and matrix, the coupling term takes care of the transfer of contaminant from fracture to the matrix. The numerical model developed is validated with the experimental, analytical and numerical results available in the literature. The model is also applied to the case of parallel or multiple fractures in the system. A study observing parametric change is performed to observe the effect of matrix diffusion, dispersivity, distribution coefficient, aperture size of fracture and velocity on the transport of contaminant in the fracture as well as matrix.

KEYWORDS:

• Contaminant transport
• element free Galerkin method
• fractured porous media
• meshless methods
• parallel fractures

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.