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An eigenvalue solution continuous in time to spatially discretized solute

transport equation in steady groundwater flow

Article  in  Water Resources Research · November 1984

DOI: 10.1029/WR020i011p01725

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 WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH, VOL. 20, NO. 11, PAGES 1725-1732, NOVEMBER 1984

An Eigenvalue Solution Continuous in Time to the Spatially Discretized

Solute Transport Equation in Steady Groundwater Flow
JACK C. HWANG AND WONCHEOL C. CHO

Departmentof Civil Engineering,Drexel University,Philadelphia,Pennsylvania

G. T. YEH

EnvironmentalScienceDivision,Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

The spatially discretizedtwo-dimensionalsolute transport equation in a steady groundwater flow was

solvedby an eigenvaluetechnique.The solution is exact in time. An explicit expressionwas obtained for
each nodal point as a function of time. Thus the computer code can be implementedto calculate solute
concentrationat any nodal point at any given instant with a direct computation.The generalsolution
can be obtained explicitly for transient boundary conditions and variable constant source loads. The
solution for steady boundary conditionscan readily be derived from the general solution. The method
presentedherein can provide convenienceof data retrieval, particularly in groundwater management
modeling.

INTRODUCTION fewer truncations errors and provides conveniencefor data

A problem of considerableinterestis the analysisof ground-
water solute transport. The mechanismsare physically cou-
pled in that contaminantmovementis influencedby attenu-
ation processesand advection in groundwater flow. Exact
solutions are scarce. Some analytic solutions exist for the
solute transport problems in a simple solution domain of ho-
mogeneousaquifer [Cleary, 1978; Van Genuchten,1981] or
well-behavedlayered aquifers[Gureghianand Jensen,1983].
However, the assumptions of homogeneity, isotropy, and
simplegeometry of the aquifer are often found to be an over-
simplifiedidealization for some actual field applications,even
though the analytic solutions are very convenient to use. But
analysis,if feasible, can be very difficult for anisotropic and
heterogeneousaquiferswith irregular boundary geometry and
complexboundary conditions.
Various numerical methods have been developed to deal
with such difficulties in the last decade. Finite difference
finite elementtechniquesapproximatethe problem by a set of
simultaneousequations. Both time and spaceare discretized,
and the solutionmatricesare solvedsequentiallyfor each time
step,the so-callednumerical simulation.The simulation tech-
nique practicallyresolvesthe difficultiesengenderedby spatial
irregularitiesin the problem. However, the storage and com-
puter time may be significantfor the predictionof solutecon-
centration at large time and distancefrom the source point,
and the numerical truncation errors can accumulate.
An alternate method is to decouplethe equations and dis-
cretize the spacedomain only, such that the solution is exact
in the time domain. The solution is then accomplishedby the
eigenvaluetechnique.An explicit expressionis obtained for
each nodal point as a function of time. Thus the computer
code can be implementedto calculatesolute concentrationat
any nodal point at any given instant. Hence large times can be
handled without passingthrough numerical time integration,
and a solution can be obtained for a point in space without
necessarilysolvingfor all other points in the modelled ground-
water regime. This representsa lower calculation time and
Copyright 1984 by the American GeophysicalUnion.
Paper number 4W1047.
0043-1397/84/004W- 1047505.00
retrieval.
The eigenvaluetechniquewas developedand applied to the
problem of two-dimensional groundwater solute transport
with constantboundary conditionsfor the designof monitor-
ing well system[Hwang and Koerner, 1983b-i.In this paper the
detailed proceduresof the eigenvaluetechniquewill be pre-
sented, and the solutions are further extended to solve the
problemswith a seriesof transient boundary conditions.
BACKGROUND
The linear differential equations of groundwater flow and
solutetransportcan be approximatedby a set of simultaneous
equations. When a finite difference or finite element dis-
cretizationschemeis applied to theseequations,the resultsare
[Pinder and Frind, 1972]
and = -fc + rp
The term c is the hydraulichead in the flow equationor the
solute concentrationin the transport equation. The term d is
the time derivative of c. The B and F coefficient matrices are
square,containingn columnsand rows, whereasthe c and p
are column matrices with n elements. There are several well-
known methods to solve this equation [Faust and Mercer,
1980], essentiallyconsistingof solving the simultaneousequa-
tions at each time increment for the whole discretized space
domain.
In the eigenvaluetechnique,only spaceis discretized.This
method has been used to decouplelinear systemsin a variety
of situations,suchas computation of hydraulic head in water
table aquifer in general [Kuiper, 1973]. Application to tran-
sient conditions was done by Sahuquillo[1983], who solves
the unsteadyproblem explicitly and continuouslyin time by
eigenvaluetechnique.
Also to be noted are that the coefficientmatricesin ground-
water flow equationsare alwayssymmetric.There are distinct
adva.ntagesfor computersolutionsin dealingwith symmetric
matrices. In addition, the eigenvaluesand eigenvectorsof a
symmetricmatrix are always real. Unlike the groundwater
flow equation,the coefficientmatrix B in the solutetransport
equationis asymmetricdue to the convectiveterm.
1725
1726 HWANG ET AL.: SOLUTE TRANSPORT

Guymon[1970] usedan equivalent variational principle of a where •r is defined as transversedispersivity.Let L denote the
one-dimensionalsolute transport equation. The finite element operator on c in (2); thus
solution so developed required approximation only' in the
Lc = 0 (8)
spacedomain. With a specialexponentialtransformation on
the variable, he was able to convert the coefficient matrix into For the finite element method
a symmetric one. However, for higher dimensionsit may be
difficult to find a transformation similar to the one used by
Guymon in order to obtain a symmetriccoefficientmatrix. A
C• •= •'•ci(t)N
i=1
i=NTc (9)
subsequentpaper by Guymonet al. [1970] developed a vari-
whereN r is the transposeof the interpolationfunction,N.
ational principle for two-dimensional solute transport equa-
The residue become Ld. The principle of Galerkin method
tion without mixed partial derivatives. The case with mixed
requiresthat
partials were later discussedby Nalluswami et al. [1972]. No
transformation was used in either case and discrete time inte- (Ld, W,)• = 0 (10)
gration was required.
Equation (10) states that the inner product of Ld and the
Generalization of the eigenvaluetechniquefor the ground-
weighingfunction Wi over the solutiondomain B vanish.
water solute transport problem has been made possible,how-
The integrations in (10) are now carried out and the results
ever, with the Eispack computer package developed by the
are expressedin matrix and vector notation as follows [Yeh
ArgonneNational Laboratory [Smith et al., 1976]. The major
and Ward, 1981]
feature of interest herein is that this package can calculate
eigenvaluesand eigenvectorsof any real matrix, regardlessof (11)
cr[Md + (K- A + E)c-p] = 0
symmetry.The eigenvaluesand eigenvectorsof an asymmetric
real matrix may be complex. in which

SPATIALLY DISCRETIZED SOLUTE TRANSPORT

EQUATION d = -- (12)
dt
Consider the governingequation of two-dimensionalsolute

K=IIB
transport in saturated porous media [Hwang and Koerner,
1983a] -3-tlDxy{C3-•xxW
[nD•,•,{c3-•xxW}
{c3•NxN}T r
nR•-•= •xxDxx•x+Dx•y t [x3+
q-nOyx{•yW}$•N•
r rid$•W•r]ax ay (13)

• "-ffB
(['rx{•'•'XW}
{N}T-lt-
['r
•W• j{N)T)
.•[-•y dxdy (14)
- X (V•c) +• (%c)- nXRc + c* (2)
in which
E=•••n2R{
W}{N}
Tdx dy (15)
R
c concentrationof the pollutant;
retardation hctor, equal to 1 + (p•k/n);
M=f•nR{W}{N}rdxdy (16)
p•
k
n
bulk densityof the porousmedium;
distributioncoefficientof the pollutant;
porosity of the porousmedium;
P= c*{N}dxdy+ nD,,,,•xx+ nD,,• )%,
•yy-V,,c
D•, D•, D•, D• component of dispersion
V•, • Darcianvelocitycomponent;
coefficient
tensor; +(nD•,,•x
+nD•y•yy--
V•c)]n•{W}ds (17)
2 first-order decayconstant;
c* mass rate of release of source. The area integral on the right hand side of (17) represents
the "load" from the sourcewhile the line integral accountsfor
Dispersioncoefficientsfor isotropicmedia were givenby Schei- theboundarycondition.The n,,,n• arethedirectioncosines
of
deqqer[ 1961] as outward normal with x and y axes,respectively.
Equation (11) also implies that
rx• %•
Ox•
= DLI• + O•igle (3) Md + (K- A + E)c-p=O (18)

V"•-
D•= DT1-• V•-
q-DLiVi2 (4) or (equation (1))
•= --Bc + Fp
rx%
(5)
Dx•
= D•x
= (DL-DT)i• •' in which

where B = M-•(K- A + E) (19)

Dr. = (6) F = M -1 (20)
wherest. is definedas longitudinaldispersivity,and A generalsolutionof (1) is presentedby Bellman[ 1960]:
D T = O•TI
l/] (7) C= e-Btco-- (B- le-Bt -- B- 1)Fp (21)
 HWANG ET AL.: SOLUTE TRANSPORT 1727

where Cois the initial concentration. Note that the exponent

(29)
in (21) is a matrix, and it may become cumbersome to evalu- /1.rGr,
i Pi'e
i=1•"t
dt +a,e
ate the exponential term for each different time instant. Ex-
Let
tended calculation is required because, in general, the ex-
ponential term is approximated through power series ex-
pansion. However, if the matrix B is diagonalized in such a
manner that the respectiveeigenvalues)-i of B are the diago-
Pi*
=;pi
'ex"
dt
and
nal terms, the computation of the exponential term can be
greatly simplified. This is how it earns its name as the eigen-
Pi.o* = pi*(t = O) Pi.o= Pi(t = O)
value technique,and it will be illustrated in more detail in the
section to follow. The integration constant a, can be determined through the
application of initial conditions. Let the initial concentration
THE EIGENVALUETECHNIQUE at the ith node be Ci.o.The ci.o are known throughoutthe
For diagonalizing the B matrix, let field, and &.o and Pi.o* are givenalong the boundary.From
(22),
c = F• (22)

d = F• (23) •,= • F,,i-Xc

i=1
i r= 1,2,...,n (30)
It can be shown that the diagonalization can be achievedby
Thus at t = 0,
usingsimilarity transformation with (22) and (23). The trans-
formed equation of(l) becomes
•r= •-•Fri-lc
, i.o r = 1, 2,.- .,n (31)
• = -F-•BF• + F-•M-'p (24) i=1

or Also, from (29) for t = 0,

• = -- D• + Gp (25)
where D is the diagonalized matrix having eigenvalues2i of B
•,=•, i=1 G,.iPi.
o- G,.iPi.o*
+a, (32)
i=

along its diagonal, F is the eigenvector matrix consisting of r= 1,2,...,n

the associatedcolumn eigenvectors,and Hence

G = F-1M -1 (26)
a,=i=
•F,•
1 , - Xci,O
--Z Or,i(Pi,o
- Pi.o*) (33)
i=1
Equation (25) is expandedin matrix form to yield
• r= 1,2,...,n

•r = Fr,i l Ci,o
i

0
Ol,1 G1,2 ... Ol. r ... Ol, n P•
G2,1G2,2... G2,
ß
r ... G2,
n e2
Note that for time-invariantboundary conditions,p• is a
Gr.! Gr.2''' Gr.
r ''' Gr,
n constant,not a function of time. Therefore Pi* vanishes.For
.
suchcases,(34) reducesto
G,,.i Gn.2 '.. G,.,. ... G
(27)
The systemequation is decomposedinto a set of independent
equations:
i=1

•r= --';'r•r
+ • Gr.iPir= 1,2,'",n
i=1 Back substituting{34} or (35) into (22), one obtains {36),
which is the explicit expressionof the solution for each nodal
For time dependentboundaryconditions,pi is a functionof point as a function of time:
time. Integration of (27) yields

e'•'t•r r.itOi dt+ a• r- 1, 2,...,n (28)

c•= • F•.i•
i r= 1,2,...,n
i=1
{36}
i=1
APPLICATION OF BOUNDARY CONDITIONS
in which ar is the integrationconstant.
Let p• be differentiablewith respectto time and have first Concentrated Source or Sink
derivativePi'. Carrying out the integrationby parts, (28) can For concentratedsource,c* in (17} can be expressedas
be written as
c* = qa(x - x*, y - y*) (37)
where a is the Dirac delta function,(x*, y*) are the global
coordinates of the source location, and q is the source
1728 HWANG ET AL.' SOLUTE TRANSPORT

strengthand can be a functionof timeßFor the concentrated

sourcethe area integral of (17) makes no contributionto the --nxD• •xx+
entry valuesof p exceptat the "sourcenode,"wherethe entry
value is q.

CauchyBoundaryCondition -- nyD•y•xx
+ Dyy = 0 onB, (39a)
The Cauchy boundary condition is generallyimposedon
where B, is the Neumann boundaryßIt should be noted that
the flow-throughboundarywith which flow directsinto the these boundary conditions should be applied far away from
region.This boundaryconditionexpressedmathematicallyis the source so that the conditions can be satisfied.
given as
Boundaries on which the Neumann boundary conditions
are imposed are either the flow-through boundary with out-
nx Vxc- D•xx +D•y flowsfrom the region or imperviousboundariesß For the latter
casethe line integral in (17) is zero becauseof (39a) and the
factthat nxV•+ n•V•= 0. Therefore
the corresponding
entries
+ nyV•c-- D•y•xx+ Dyy in p are all zero. For the former casethe normal gradient of
concentration is generally assumed to be zero, as given in
= (n•V•+ n•)ci• on B• (38a) (39a), and the line integral in (17) becomes
wherec•. is the concentrationof the incomingfluid which may
be a Mnction of time and B• in the Cauchy boundary.Consid-
er that the boundary side with a length I connecting the rth
s-{N}(V•n•
+V•ny){
W}
Tds
=-S (39b)
$ is a n x n matrix and should be added to the coefficient
and the (r + 1)th nodes is subjectto an inflow boundary flux matrix for c in (1). The corresponding entries in p are again
with components n•V•ci•and ny•ci.. The line integralin (17) zero. Detailed methodsof applying this type of boundary con-
yields[Desai, 1979] dition can be found elsewhere[Yeh and Ward, 1981].
I Dirichlet Boundary Condition
= ,= + n%)ci (38) On the Dirichlet boundary nodes the concentrations are
For the time-dependentCauchy boundary condition, c•. is a prescribed.For imposing such boundary conditions the Di-
Mnction of time. richlet nodes should be numbered either first or last so that
the matrix size can be reducedwithout complicating the pro-
NeumannBoundaryCondition grammingeffort. For example,there are a total of m Dirichlet
The Neumann boundary condition is expressedmathemat- nodes, and one should number these as first, second ... mth
ically as node, respectively.In matrix form, (2) is now expressedas

Bl,m Bl,m+1 Bl,m+2 ''' Bl,n Cl Pl

1•2
ß
B2,1 B2,2
.
... B2,m
ß
B2,m+
.
1 B2,m+2 ''' B2,n
.
C2
ß . .
ß . .

•m bm1 Bin,2 ''' Bm,m Bm,m

+1 Bm,m
+2 ''' Bm,n
•+ F (40)
Cm+1 Bin+1,1 Bin+1,2 ' ' ' Bm+l,m Bm+l,m+l Bm+l,m+2 ... Bm+l,n Cm+ 1

Bm+2,mBm+2,m+IBm+2,m+2... Bm+2,
n
Cm+2
/ Bm+2,1
•n J
Bm+2,2
ß..
n,1 •n,2 ''' Bn,m
ß

Bn,m
+1 Bn,m
+2 ''' Bn,n
P,n+2
/
Onnodes
1through
mtheconcentrations
areknownforalltime,andtheyaregivenasel, e2, "em,respectively.
Byimposing
the Dirichlet conditions,(40) becomes

1 0 .-- 0 (•1 Pl
0 1 ... 0
ß , ,

ß , ß

0 1
+F bm(41)
Bm+1,1 Bm+1,2 Bm+1,m Bm+1.m+
1 Bm+1,m+
2 ''' Bm+1,n Pm+ !

Bm+2,1 Bm+2,2 Bm+2,m Bm+2,m+

1 Bm+2,m+
2 ''' Bm+2,n Pro+2
ß

.Bn,
1
.

Bn,
2 Bn,m Bn,m
+1 Bn,m
+2 ''' Bn,n _ •n
C.m+ bn
By partitioning,
m

Cm+ 1 Bm+l,m+2 Fm+ 1,jPj Bm+ 1,j

Cm+ 2
[•m+
1,m+
1 ,m
+1,n]Cm
+
Bm+2,m+2 Bm+2n Cm+ Fm+2,jPj Bm+2,j
(42)

=_'Bm+i'm+l
ß

iBn,n'
'Cn
ß

Bn,m
+2 Fn,jPj Bn,jC'j
j=l
 HWANG
ETAL.:SOLUTE
TRANSPORT 1729

TheP,n+ 1,Prn+2,''', P, aredetermined

throughtheimpo-
sition of the boundaryconditions:concentratedsource,
i=m+l j=l
Cauchy
or Neumann
typeasdescribed
earlier,
Pl, P2,'", P,n
areyet to be determined.From (41)it canbe seenthat
-- Z Bi.j(ej- e-X"cj
*) (47)
j=l
d1 1 0 '-' 0 dl
in which

cj.0*= cj* at t = 0
dj,0= dj at t = 0
Fll F1,2 '" Fl,n Pl For time-invariantboundaryconditions,
+ r2', F2,2'" 21,. p.
2 (43)
pj* = 0 Pj,0= Pj = const
cj* = 0 6j,0= 6j = const
or
and (47) reducesto

E F1,jPj-'•'1'+ •1 -----
fl
j=l
i=m+l

• F2,jPj= •2'+ •2 = f2
j=l -- Fr,i • Fi,jPj-- Bi,j •r- • e-
i=m+ 1 kj = 1 j=

• F•,jpj= c%'+ & = f,• (44) +•1 i=m+•

F"i
-•
j=•Fi,jpj--j Bi,j•
J (48)
j=l

SOLUTION PROCEDURES
Notethatin (44),Fi.jareconstant
coefficients
andf l,f2, .-.,
fmareknownfunctions
of time.Thematrix(Fi,) canbetri- By wayof illustrating
theuseof thistechnique,
weassume
angularized,and the multiplication factors are recorded thatan aquifersystem
is sufficiently
welldefinedandthat all
duringthetriangularization
process.
ThusPl,P2,"', Pjcan the hydrogeological
parameters
are knownthroughoutthe
be determinedthroughback substitution.
They are linear aquifer
system;
thesolute
concentration
at anynodeat any
combinations
off•, f2, '", f• and thereforeare functionsof timecanbecalculatedbytakingthefollowing
steps:
time.
1. Assignthe valuesto the matrices
M, K, A, andE, as
Observethat in (42) the matrix sizehas been reducedfrom wouldbedonein finiteelement method,andcompute B and
n x n to (n- m)x (n- m). Usingsimilaritytransform((22), F accordingto (19) and (20).
(23), and (24)) (42) is now decomposed
into a set of linear 2. Applyboundary conditions to obtainp.
independentequations: 3. Calculate
eigenvalues andeigenvector matrices/t
andF,
andcomputeG according to (26).
4. For theproblem in whichno Dirichletboundarycon-
i=m+l j
ditionsis prescribed
(e.g.,isolatedsource),
the solutecon-
centration
at anynodeat anytimecanbecalculated
through
-- •1Bi'J r=m+ 1,m+2,''',n (45)(36)combined
J
with(34)for time-dependent
boundary
con-
ditions
or with(35)fortime-invariant
boundary conditions.
For time-dependent
boundary
conditions,
pj and 6j are 5. Fortheproblems in whichDirichlet
conditions
arepre-
functions
of time.Afterintegrationwithrespect
to time,(45) scribed
ona portionofthebounda.ry, thesoluteconcentration
becomes
canbe calculated through(36)combined with(47)for time-
dependent boundary conditions
or with(48)fortime-invariant
_ F,,i i Fij(eZ,tpj
_ pj.) boundary conditions.
•r i=m+1 Lj=1 ' The matrixB so assembled
is asymmetric
dueto the con-
vective
contributionunlessthedispersivity is assigned
an un-
- • Bi,j(eZ'Tj-cj*) + dZ'•a, (46) realistically
highvalue.Theeigenvalues of a realasymmetric
j=l
matrixarenot all real.In fact,it is expected thatcomplex
in whicha, is the integrationconstantand eigenvalues
will appearas conjugate pairsand so as the as-
sociatedcomplexeigenvectors. The Eispackcomputer soft-
warepackage developedbytheArgonne NationalLaboratory
cj*
=fdj'e
x"
dt canbe usedfor calculatingthe eigenvalues andeigenvectors
matrix of a generalreal matrix.
and6/is thetimederivative ofdj. It appearsthat the eigenvalues computedfor the casestud-
Theintegration constanta,isdetermined throughtheappli- iesareall distinct.
However, it is notnecessary to implythat
cationof initialconditions.
Backsubstituting theexpressiontheeigenvalues for groundwater solutetransport system are
fora, into(46),oneobtainsthefinalformfor4,as alwaysdistinct.
Nevertheless, if theeigenvaluesof matrixB are
notalldistinct,
thematrixmayor maynotbediagonalized. If
•r:{•-2I-'r,i
-1C--[[•-2-•-2 --
i=m+l
i,0 i=m+l
F,,i Ij=l Fu(pj,
o Pj,o*) the matrix
independent
can be diagonalized,
eigenvectors.
Eispack will
If diagonalization
yieldall
is impossible
the n
the
matrixcan alwaysbe reducedto the Jordancanonicalform.
- j=l• Bi,l(6j,o
- Cj,
o e Thedetailedproceduresof calculating
theeigenvectors
of
multipleeigenvalues
otherthan the generalized
one can be
1730 HWANG ET AL.: SOLUTE TRANSPORT

lOO
found elsewhere[Chen, 1970]. A computersoftwarepackage
is available for the reduction of a generalmatrix to the Jordan i=11
canonicalform and calculatingits eigenvectormatrix [Kag-
stromand Ruhe, 1980]. -(1- 0'){-3.573
x 10-8(Fi,•+ F•,•o)
NUMERICAL EXAMPLES + 1.211x 10- 7(Fi,:+ F•,9)
The resultsof an exampleproblem computedthrough the + 7.877x 10-2(Fi,3+ F•,8)+ 0.4521(F•,½
+ F•,7)
proceduresof this method are presentedand comparedwith
an analytic solution I-Cleary, 1978]. The solution domain is a + 0.5600(F,.s
+ Fi,6)]} (50)
rectangle,548 m x 274 m. The grid usedto comparewith the 2, is theeigenvalue
of B•.•,
analytical solution includes81 rectangularelementsof equal
size (60.96 m x 30.48 m). There are a total of 100 nodes. The r- 11, 12,..-, 100
nodal numbers start from 1 at the southwest corner and in- i=11, 12,.-., 100
creaseby one at each node going north along the west bound-
ary. The samenumberingsystemis repeatedon linesparallel j-- 11, 12,..., 100
to the west boundaryand march toward the east boundary. F is the matrix of the associatedeigenvectors.
Consequently, the nodal number is 100 at the northeast The concentrationat any nodal point at any time can then
corner.
be calculatedby
A exponentiallydecayingstrip sourceis distributedalong lOO
the west boundary beginningat 91.44 m to 182.88m north to
the southwest corner to simulate the emission of leachate from
=
i=11

a wastedisposalfacility in a sandyaquifer.The principal dis-

With 0' = 0.01/day, the concentrationswere computedfor
persioncoefficients
areD,,,,- 7.43m2/day,Dyy= 0.93m2/day all the nodalpointsat the end of 10.5,70, 230, and 461 days.
and the seepagevelocity componentsare Vx= 1.22 m/day,
The concentrationcontoursof 0.2 (normalizedby co) were
• = 0. Supposethat the plume is not retarded.The math-
plottedin Figure 1. For 461 days,0.1 contourwasplotteddue
ematicalformulation of the problem is as follows:
to low concentration.The correspondingcontours derived
•c P2c B2c •c from Cleary's[1978] analytical solution were also shownin
(49) the same figure for comparison.The slight differencemay be
due to spatial discretization.
c = cøe-a' on x = 0 Due to the exponentialdecay of the strip sourcethe con-
(49a) centration along the strip coursereducedby 10%, 50%, 90%,
91.44 • y • 182.88 and 99% of the initial concentration at the end of 10.5, 70,
c =0 on x =0 230, and 461 days.The concentrationcloud enlargesthrough
(49b) dispersionand convectionand movesdownstreamas the strip
0 • y < 91.44 182.88 < y • 274 sourcefadingoff.
Oc/Oy= 0 on y = 0 and on y = 274 (49c) The numerically obtained concentration at 230 and 461
days show some deviation from those obtained analytically.
•c/•x = 0 on x = 548 (49d) This is due mainly to the fact that (49d) was imposed at
c= 0 everywhere t= 0 (49e) x = 548 for numerical calculation and at x - oo for analytic
solution. For large time simulation, x = 548 can no longer be
It should be noted that boundary condition in (49d) was im- assumed as x =
posedat x = oc by Cleary [1978] to obtain the analytic solu- The program was run on Vax 11/750 computer system.
tion. Here m = 10 and n- 100. By applying the Dirichlet Major portion of the cpu time was spent to compute eigen-
boundary condition (44), one obtains values,eigenvectors,
and M-• (cputimesare 3 min., 10 min.,
lO and 1.5 min., respectively).These quantities needbe computed
• Fi.iPj= 0 i = 1,2, 3, 8,9, 10 only once.
j=l

10 CONCLUSIONS

• Fi.jpj= cøe-*t i = 4, 5, 6, 7 The detail proceduresfor applying the eigenvaluetechnique

j=l
Throughtriangularization
of F•.iandbacksubstitution,
P• = P•o = 3.573x 10-8(1 - a)cøe-"
P2-- P9= 1.211x 10- 7(1- a)cøe-*t
P3-- P8= 7.877x 10-2(1 - a)cøe-•
P4 = P7 = 0.4521(1- a)cøe-"
P5 = P6 = 0.5600(1-- a)cøe-*t
After the applicationof initial conditionsand keepingonly the
nonzero term, (47) becomes
to solutions of the linear equation for solute transport in
groundwaterwere presentedin this paper. The boundarycon-
ditions generallyencounteredin groundwater contamination
problems are concentrated sources,impermeable boundaries,
boundaries with known influx, and outward "flow-through"
boundaries with zero normal concentration gradient. The
methodsemployedto imposesuchboundaryconditionsin the
formulation and solution procedureswere describedin detail.
It has been shown how to obtain the entry valuesfor load
vector of the dynamic equation by imposing the isolated
sourcesand Cauchy and Neumann boundary conditions.It is
suggestedthat the Dirichlet boundary nodes should be num-
bered either first or last in order to reduce the matrix size.
Imposing the Dirichlet boundary conditionsis done by modi-
fying the load vector usingmatrix partitioning technique.
 HWANG ET AL.' SOLUTETRANSPORT
! !
Analytic solution
Results of present
Distance
Fig. 1. Comparisonof the computedand analyticconcentrationdistribution.
The boundary conditionscan be time dependent.The final
solutionto groundwatersolutetransportequationis (36) cou-
pled with (47) or (34), dependingon whether there are Dirich-
let boundary conditionsprescribedon portion of the bound-
ary. For time invariant boundaryconditions,(47) and (34) can
readilybe reducedto (48) and (35),respectively.
Using the similarity transformation, the coefficientmatrix B
is diagonalizedor reducedto a Jordancanonicalform having
eigenvalues
of B alongitsdiagonal.
Thelineardynamic
system
is then decoupled,and the time integrationcan be done inde-
pendentlyand continuouslyfor eachnodal point.
In contrast to the situation where the coefficient matrices
are all symmetricfor the groundwaterflow equation,the coef-
ficientmatrix B in a solutetransportequationis asymmetric
due to the convectiveterm. The eigenvalues and eigenvectors
of a symmetricmatrix are all real. However,they can be com-
plex for an asymmetricmatrix. The Eispackcomputerpack-
agecan be usedto calculatea generalreal matrix, whetherit is
symmetricor asymmetric,with satisfactoryresults.
The computedresultsthat usethe eigenvaluetechniquefor
solvinga two-dimensional
groundwatersolutetransportprob-
lem comparewell with the analyticsolution.The resultshould
be at least as good as those usingan equivalentspacedis-
cretization.The truncationerror due to discretetime integra-
tion, as usedin simulation,is essentiallyeliminatedwith the
method presentedherein. Furthermore, all of the built-in fea-
turesof spatial discretizationin simulationare preservedin
the presentmethod.
For the solute transport in steady groundwaterflow field
thematrixB in (1) is timeinvariant]Theeigenvalue
andeigen-
vectorsof B need be calculatedonly once.Thus the numerical
computations are not excessive,and the aforementioned ad-
vantagesof using eigenvaluetechnique for the solution of
solute transport are well taken. For the cases in which B
cannot be assumedto be time invariant, successive integra-
tionsare requiredwhich,in general,involvesexcessive compu-
tations [Chen, 1970].
The present method, which yields solutionscontinuousin
time to the spatiallydiscretizedsolutetransportequation,can
be regarded as semianalytic.It overcomesthe limitations to
1731
i !
.200
. 100
(Cleary, 1978)
computation
(m)
the analytic solution engenderedby heterogeneousgeologic
formationsand irregularboundarygeometry.For someprob-
lemsin which only somebut not all concentrationresponseat
certainlocationsat certaintimesare needed[e.g., Willis, 1979;
Hwang and Koerner, 1983b], the eigenvaluetechniquepresent-
ed herein can be very useful.
Acknowledgments.This paper is basedin part on the project sup-
ported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencythrough Ecol-
ogy and Environment, Inc. (E & E), Buffalo, New York (contract
HQ-8111-03B). The program managers from E & E, S. Richardson
and J. S. Chieh, are acknowledged.
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