A finite difference model for electric field derived solute transport

Abstract

This paper describes a model which is developed to depict solute transport in porous media derived by the action of electric field. The model is developed with capacity to address the mixed fluxes caused by multiple processes identified in soil regime: flow of pore fluid, transmission of electric field, and motion of ionic solutes. Respective driving gradients of these processes are taken into account in the development of the model, i.e. hydraulic, electrical and chemical gradients. Similar to its ‘predecessor’ model EC1, the model of this study adopts a fixed Eulerian co-ordinate, develops an intensively meshed geometry of soil, and involves numerical iterations under the conception of finite differencing. The model is expected to outperform EC1 by exercising finite differencing based modelling methodology to the domain of contaminant (solute) clean-up. In addition to the description of the model, the paper provides verification checks of the model against previous experimental results.