Abstract
We describe a formulation to solve reactive transport problems. The
basic idea is to represent transport as mixing water instead of
individual solute concentrations, hence the Water Mixing Approach (WMA)
name. This representation simplifies calculations as it decouples
transport from chemical calculations. Transport is first solved in terms
of water mixing ratios (λ), which is feasible for any transport
solution method. Chemical calculations can then be written as reactive
mixing calculations, which may be non-linear but local, so that they do
not need to iterate with transport. We have implemented the WMA to a
mixed Eulerian-Lagrangian method transport solver with
streamline-oriented grid and constant travel time between sequential
cells (isochronal grid), which is free of numerical dispersion. We test
the WMA on two reactive transport cases. First, an existing analytical
solution of binary system case is used compared to test accuracy of the
using of mixing ratios. Second, a calcite dissolution case compared the
WMA to the Direct Substitution Approach to test both accuracy and
computational cost (CPU). Results confirm the high accuracy and
efficiency (low CPU cost) due decoupling transport and chemical steps,
especially for a refined grid was. Transport through highly
heterogeneous media remains a challenge, but the definite separation of
mixing processes in WMA opens a new path for reactive transport
modelling.