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IJESD 2015 Vol.6(7): 512-518 ISSN: 2010-0264
DOI: 10.7763/IJESD.2015.V6.647
DOI: 10.7763/IJESD.2015.V6.647
Reliability Evaluation of Groundwater Contamination Source Characterization under Uncertain Flow Field
Mahsa Amirabdollahian and Bithin Datta
Abstract—Groundwater contamination is one of the serious
environmental problems. Effective remediation strategies
require accurate characteristics of contamination sources.
Contamination source identification approaches need accurate
flow and contaminant transport simulation models. In order to
obtain reliable solutions, the simulation models need to be
provided with reliable hydrogeologic information. In real life
scenarios usually sparse and limited hydrogeologic information
is available. In this study two hydraulic conductivity sampling
networks are ranked based on their effectiveness in identifying
reliable contamination source characteristics. Using multiple
realizations of hydraulic conductivity fields, and the location
and size of the contaminant plume at different monitoring
stages, an index of reliability is estimated for each hydraulic
conductivity sampling network. It is demonstrated that the
source characteristics identified by utilizing the sampling
network with higher index of reliability results in more
accurate characterization of contamination sources. Therefore
the developed methodology provides a tool to select an
appropriate hydrogeologic sampling network for more efficient
characterizing of contamination sources.
Index Terms—Groundwater contamination, uncertainty, hydraulic conductivity, reliability.
The authors are with the CRC for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of Environment, Mawson Lakes, Australia , and James Cook University, Townsville, Australia (e-mail: mahsa.amirabdollahian@my.jcu.edu.au, bithin.datta@jcu.edu.au).
Index Terms—Groundwater contamination, uncertainty, hydraulic conductivity, reliability.
The authors are with the CRC for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of Environment, Mawson Lakes, Australia , and James Cook University, Townsville, Australia (e-mail: mahsa.amirabdollahian@my.jcu.edu.au, bithin.datta@jcu.edu.au).
Cite:Mahsa Amirabdollahian and Bithin Datta, "Reliability Evaluation of Groundwater Contamination Source Characterization under Uncertain Flow Field," International Journal of Environmental Science and Development vol. 6, no. 7, pp. 512-518, 2015.