The Dual Formulation of Flow for Contaminant Transport Modeling: 2. The Borden Aquifer

Abstract

The dual formulation of flow in terms of potentials and stream functions is applied to a groundwater system containing a well‐monitored chloride plume. It is found that field measurements of head alone, regardless of detail, are not sufficient to arrive at a description of the flow system that is meaningful within the context of a contaminant transport modeling study. Problems identified include the incompatibility of the time‐specific hydraulic data with the longer time frame of the transport phenomenon and the susceptibility of the potential solution to numerical error. In overcoming these problems, plumebased data are used in the dual model of potentials and stream functions to determine the hydrogeologic parameters that are needed for the description of the flow system in a transport model. A companion paper reviews the underlying theory.