SBIR-STTR Award

Computational algorithms and codes will be tailored specifically to the Air Force's needs in groundwater flow and pollutant transport as required in Environmental Engineering. The project will build heavily on previous and ongoing Ecodynamics work for Sandia Laboratories on the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) project and on proposed work for the U.S. Army Waterways Experiment Station. Robust, efficient, high-accuracy algorithms embodied in user-friendly codes will be developed for 2-D and 3-D time-dependent flows, including single phase miscible flows, multi-phase flows, NAPL, and DNAPL, and saturated and unsaturated (vadose-zone) conditions. Algorithmic innovations (even in Phase I) will include facilitation of grid convergence tests in multiple domains; automatic error estimation; correct treatment of transmissivity factors for unconfined aquifers; multigrid algorithms; a convenient formulation of variable density flow equations in terms of freshwater head; boundary-fitted coordinates; temporal high-order particle tracking; efficient, accurate and robust calculation of contaminant transport (advection, dispersion and diffusion) in (possibly) fractured porous media, and up-scaling of properties in strongly heterogeneous media. The codes will be designed for modern workstations with the highest standards of verification and Quality Assurance. Installation and tutorials will be provided to Tyndall AFB.

Computational algorithms and codes will be tailored specifically to the Air Force's needs in groundwater flow and pollutant transport as required in Environmental Engineering. The project will build heavily on previous and ongoing Ecodynamics work for DOE through Sandia Laboratories on the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) project. Robust, efficient, court-defensible, high-accuracy algorithms embodied in user-friendly codes will be developed for 2-D and 3-D time-dependent flows, including single phase miscible flows, NAPL and DNAPL, and saturated and unsaturated (vadose-zone) conditions. The single phase codes will be validated by a thorough analysis of the MADE-2 data from Columbus AFB in a strongly heterogeneous media. Algorithmic innovations already delivered in the Phase I contract include, among others, the correct treatment of nonlinear phreatic and seepage surface conditions for 3-D unconfined aquifers. The Phase II work will include: adaptive grid generation; accurate treatment of multi-phase, multi-component flow for NAPL's and DNAPL's; and modeling of first-order chemical reactions, radioactive decay, and biological activity with kriging and history matching for the MADE-2 data. The codes are designed for modern workstations with the highest standards of Verification, Validation and Quality Assurance. Installation and tutorials will be provided at Armstrong Laboratory.