Multicomponent mass transport model: theory and numerical implementation (discrete-parcel-random-walk version)

Abstract
The Multicomponent Mass Transfer (MMT) Model is a generic computer code, currently in its third generation, that was developed to predict the movement of radiocontaminants in the saturated and unsaturated sediments of the Hanford Site. This model was designed to use the water movement patterns produced by the unsaturated and saturated flow models coupled with dispersion and soil-waste reaction submodels to predict contaminant transport. This report documents the theorical foundation and the numerical solution procedure of the current (third) generation of the MMT Model. The present model simulates mass transport processes using an analog referred to as the Discrete-Parcel-Random-Walk (DPRW) algorithm. The basic concepts of this solution technique are described and the advantages and disadvantages of the DPRW scheme are discussed in relation to more conventional numerical techniques such as the finite-difference and finite-element methods. Verification of the numerical algorithm is demonstrated by comparing model results with known closed-form solutions. A brief error and sensitivity analysis of the algorithm with respect to numerical parameters is also presented. A simulation of the tritium plume beneath the Hanford Site is included to illustrate the use of the model in a typical application. 32 figs.