Geology 727
Advanced Hydrogeology (2 credits)
Contaminant Transport Modeling
Spring 2009
Instructor:
Professor Mary Anderson (andy@geology.wisc.edu)
419 Weeks Hall (262-2396)
Office hours by appointment.
Web site: http://www.geology.wisc.edu/courses/g727
Pre-requisites
Ideal preparation for this course consists of Geology 627, 629, and 724. The parts of those courses
that are essential for this course, however, might be acquired from other types of courses or
experience. I will assume you are familiar with the basic principles of groundwater flow, including
the basic groundwater flow equation and relevant hydrogeological parameters. I will also assume
that you have had some experience running MODFLOW. It will be helpful if you have run
MODFLOW with Groundwater Vistas. If you haven’t, you will need to spend some extra time
learning how to work with Groundwater Vistas.
Course Objectives
This course provides an overview of transport theory as applied to groundwater problems, an indepth look at the numerical transport code MT3DMS, and an introduction to the application of
transport models to field problems. MT3DMS is a popular and widely-used 3-D transient transport
code, which uses output from the groundwater flow code MODFLOW. Both MODFLOW and
MT3DMS are supported by the pre/post-processor Groundwater Vistas. Hence, we will be using
Groundwater Vistas as the platform from which to run both MODFLOW and MT3DMS. The
MT3DMS code allows for consideration of multiple chemical species when combined with the code
RT3D, but we will not use the multi-species option or RT3D during the course.
We will use the excellent and highly readable textbook by Zheng and Bennett (2nd edition, 2002). Dr.
Zheng is my former PhD student. He is also the developer of MT3DMS and is now a professor at the
University of Alabama.
Reading Materials
1.
Text: Applied Contaminant Transport Modeling, C. Zheng and G.D. Bennett, WileyInterscience, 2nd edition, 2002, 621p.
2.
MT3D-MS manual: by C. Zheng and P.P. Wang, US Army Corps of Engineers, Tech. Rept,
June 1998 (available electronically from course web site).
3.
Other references will be available on reserve for this course in the Geology Library,
located on the 4th floor of Weeks Hall. They include:
Lee, T.-C., Applied Mathematics in Hydrogeology, 382 pp., Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton, 1999.
D&S: Domenico, P.A. and Schwartz, F.W., 1998, Physical and Chemical Hydrogeology, 2nd ed.,
J. Wiley & Sons, Inc., 506 p.
S&M: Spitz, K., and J. Moreno, A Practical Guide to Groundwater and Solute Transport
Modeling, 461 pp., John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1996.
2
Javendel, I., et al., Groundwater Transport: Handbook of Mathematical Models, 228 p., Water
Resour. Monograph 10, Amer. Geophys. Union, 1984.
W&A: Wang, H.F., and M.P. Anderson, Introduction to Groundwater Modeling, W.H.
Freeman, 1982, reprinted by Academic Press, 1995.
Grading. Grades will be based on:
4 homework assignments worth a total of 250 points
1 exam worth 150 points
Homework Assignments
1. Analytical solutions
2. MT3D problem with injection well
3. MT3D problem with recharge and chemical reactions
4. Complex problem with remediation
Assignment
1
2
3
4
In class exam
points
50
50
50
100
150
approx. date assigned
2/10
3/3
3/24
4/7
4/23
approx. date due
2/19
3/12
4/2
4/29
---
The computer assignments can be completed in the Hydro Computer Lab located in Weeks Hall or on
your personal computer. All computer programs needed for the course can be downloaded from links
provided on the course web site.
Lecture Schedule and Reading Assignments
Week of
Topic
Jan 19
(1) Introduction/Review
Reading (from Zheng and
Bennett, in bold)
Ch. 1-2; Lee (ch.1)
Jan 26
(2) Advection-Dispersion Equation
Ch. 3; D&S (Ch. 14)
th
*** Thurs., Jan. 29 – Guest Lecture by DR. CHUNMIAO ZHENG****
Feb 2
(3) Ad.Disp.Eqn. w/ Chemical Reactions
p.78-95;S&M(p.75&
appendices)
Feb 9
(4) Analytical Solutions
Ch.5, p. 174, Section 10.4- 10.5;
Lee (Ch.7),
D&S(Ch. 18), W& A (p. 173186), Javandel et al. (skim)
Problem #1
Feb 16
(5) Spreadsheet Models
Section 7.2.1
3
Feb 23
Introduction to MT3DMS
Ch. 7, Ch. 10; MT3DMS manual
March 2
(6) Numerical solution methodologies
AWRA meeting (March 5-6; no Thursday class)*
Problem #2
Ch. 7; MT3DMS manual
March 9
(7) Mass balance issues
Input parameters
Ch. 11
---------------------------------------------- SPRING BREAK ---------------------------------------------------March 23
(8) Source terms
Problem #3
Section 10.6
March 30
(9) Heterogeneity and Dispersivity
pp. 34-36, 57-65; Section 14.1
Apr. 6
Problem #4
Apr. 13
(10) Dual Domain Models
Apr. 20
Review
----Thurs. April 23rd: In class EXAM-----
Apr. 27
(11) Calibration & Sensitivity Analysis
Chap. 11-12
May 4
(12) Uncertainty
Chap. 13
Section 14.4; Sect. 3.2.5
*Note: March 5-6 is the AWRA conference in Stevens Point, WI. All are urged to attend.
There will be no class on Thursday, March 5th.