Diffusion of solute in soil media

 Diffusion is the process by which matter is transported from one part of a system to another as a result of the random moleculer motion (Crank, 1957). Fick's law is used to simulate the rate of the diffusiove mass transport (Crank, 1957; Kirkham and Powers, 1972). Combining Fick's law into the law of mass conservation produces a parabolic partial differential equation (PDE) for simulating diffusive mass transport under transient conditions (Allen III et al., 1988; Crank, 1957). Numerical and analytical solutions of the PDE were developed for a collection of initial and boundary conditions. This program demonstrates the one-dimensional spreading of a chemical plume of width h in a semi-infinite system of zero background concentration. The spreading process is illustrated in a graph. A user can view the concentration distributions at different times by inputing the times of interest interactively.

Model Description

Simplifications

Glossary

Bibliography and Contributors



Send email to david.nofziger@okstate.edu

Last Modified: January 16, 2008.