ABSTRACT
The heterogeneous nature of the transport medium causes spreading of a solute in terms of the spatially or temporally dependent dispersion and seepage velocity. Variations in seepage velocity are due to varying hydraulic conductivity. This chapter obtains the analytical solution of the ADE for exponentially increasing/decreasing, sinusoidal seepage velocity pattern in a heterogeneous medium for the Dirichlet, the Cauchy-type boundary conditions. It analyzes the effect of media heterogeneity on the solute transport, in terms of spatially or temporally dependent flow parameters. The chapter discusses the influence of the in-homogeneity parameter on the solute transport in the gravel, sand, clay medium. It explores the effect of the non-dimensional numbers on the contaminant transport and presents the practical application of the considered model. The ballooned value of the Peclet number represents the domination of advection over dispersion, while the decreased numerical value of the number implies that the dispersion overcomes the effect of advection in solute transport process.
