Chapter 1 Introduction

The contaminant impact from sources such as landfills and spills will be dependent on the interaction between the engineered systems and the hydrogeology. Computer modeling may be used to simulate this interaction and to assess the probable contaminant impact of a contaminant source. In addition, computer modeling may be used to examine the effects of changes in the design and performance of the engineered systems, or the local hydrogeology.

POLLUTEv8 is used to provide fast, accurate, and comprehensive contaminant migration analysis capabilities. The program implements a one and a half dimensional solution to the advection-dispersion equation.

Unlike finite element and finite difference formulations, POLLUTEv8 does not require a time-marching procedure, and thus involves relatively little computational effort while also avoiding the numerical problems of alternate approaches. With more then thirty years utilization in industry, POLLUTEv8 is a well tested contaminant migration analysis program that is widely used internationally. Models that can be considered range from simple systems on a natural clayey aquitard to landfill designs with composite liners, multiple barriers and multiple aquifers. In addition to advective-dispersive transport, POLLUTEv8 can consider non-linear sorption, radioactive and biological decay, transport through fractures, passive sinks, time-varying properties, and phase changes.

The program is based upon the project concept for data storage, where the user has numerous projects and within each project there are numerous models. Using this method, a Microsoft Access database is used to store each project. Each project is stored in a separate directory, which can be on the same computer or spread across a network. A master database is used to keep track of projects and their locations, so that there is no need to remember the location of data files.