On the Use of Particle Tracking Methods for Solute Transport in Porous Media

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the use of particle tracking methods for solute transport in porous media. Particle tracking methods have been used to solve partial differential equations in a variety of application areas. They are based on representing the distribution of an extensive quantity, such as the mass of a particular solute species, as a large collection of particles. At every point in time, a particle is associated with a position in the flow domain, and perhaps other attributes, such as mass, charge, or species type. In addition, each particle may be associated with a velocity, certain diffusion characteristics, or other type of forcing vector, each of which may be space dependent. Individual particles are displaced in space over discrete increments of time by these forces. In many cases, a particle distribution at an advanced time level may serve to modify or update the displacement forces. Several particle methods are currently used to solve solute transport problems. They differ in the treatment of the dispersive term and in the meaning of a particle.