Simultaneous Determination of Dispersion and Nonlinear Adsorption Parameters by Using Numerical Model and Optimization Techniques

Abstract

The simultaneous determination of the dispersion and nonlinear adsorption (Freundlich or Languuir) parameters is obtained automatically by matching results of nuemerical models with experimental data from a laboratory displacement test. This matching is permormed by applying multivariable optimization techniques to minimize the differences between numerical and experimental results. Numerical solutions are obtained by solving the convection-dispersion-nonlinear adsorption equation by finite differences using the Crank-Nicolson method with iterations to account for nonlinearities.
These results show that whenever the three parameters are simultaneously determined, the vector solution is not unique and it depends on the adsorption model. Therefore, the paramenters are correlated.