Three-dimensional steady groundwater flow and advective transport by integral transforms

A quasi-analytical technique for the solution of governing equations of steady groundwater flow and advective transport in aquifers is investigated. This technique is based on integral transforms and does not require any spatial discretization of the solution domain. It produces a continuous and differentiable solution to the groundwater flow equation, thus making it possible to obtain conveniently a continuous velocity field in three-dimensional (3-D) physical domains without any spatial discretization. This velocity field, in conjunction with a method of characteristics particle tracking scheme is used to solve the advection component of the transport equation. A 3-D transport model based on this technique was developed and analyzed for effectiveness as a modeling tool. The model was used to study the effect of complex 3-D flow on 2-D apparent macrodispersion.