ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the use of the finite element method to calculate the flow field for an ideal fluid and looks at how to solve problems in which both diffusion and convection affect the transport. It also looks at some practical situations including pollutant transport, ground water flow, and lubrication. The study of species transport crosses many disciplines, for example, heat transfer and combustion processes in fluid dynamics, chemical kinetics, mass transport, pollutants in lakes and oceans, aerosol dispersion in the atmosphere and contaminant transport in groundwater flow. Since flow velocities within the soil are relatively slow, one can assume that the frictional resistance to the flow is proportional to the flow rate. There are other finite element algorithms that have been successfully used to treat convective transport. Regardless of the type of problem being solved, many facets of the finite element method are generic, that is, the same formulations and coding instructions apply.
