GeoSysBRNS-A flexible multidimensional reactive transport model for simulating biogeochemical subsurface processes

  • Authors:
  • Florian Centler;Haibing Shao;Cecilia De Biase;Chan-Hee Park;Pierre Regnier;Olaf Kolditz;Martin Thullner

  • Affiliations:
  • UFZ - Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Department of Environmental Microbiology, Permoserstraíe 15, D-04318 Leipzig, Germany;UFZ - Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Department of Environmental Informatics, Permoserstraíe 15, D-04318 Leipzig, Germany;UFZ - Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Department of Environmental Microbiology, Permoserstraíe 15, D-04318 Leipzig, Germany;UFZ - Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Department of Environmental Informatics, Permoserstraíe 15, D-04318 Leipzig, Germany;Utrecht University, Department of Earth Sciences-Geochemistry, PO Box 80021, 3508TA Utrecht, The Netherlands and Université Libre de Bruxelles, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, ...;UFZ - Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Department of Environmental Informatics, Permoserstraíe 15, D-04318 Leipzig, Germany;UFZ - Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Department of Environmental Microbiology, Permoserstraíe 15, D-04318 Leipzig, Germany

  • Venue:
  • Computers & Geosciences
  • Year:
  • 2010

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Abstract

The description of reactive transport processes in subsurface environments requires a sound understanding of both the biogeochemical complexity of the system and the spatially resolved transport of reactive species. However, most existing reactive transport models, for example in the field of contaminant hydrology, are specialized either in the simulation of the reactive or of the flow and transport processes. In this paper, we present and test the coupling of two highly flexible codes for the simulation of reactive transport processes in the subsurface: the Biogeochemical Reaction Network Simulator (BRNS), which contains a solver for kinetically and thermodynamically constrained biogeochemical reactions, and GeoSys/RockFlow, a multidimensional finite element subsurface flow and transport simulator. The new model, named GeoSysBRNS, maintains the full flexibility of the original models. The coupling is handled using an operator splitting scheme, which allows the reactive solver to be compiled into a problem specific library that is accessed by the transport simulator at runtime. The accuracy of the code coupling within GeoSysBRNS is demonstrated using two benchmark problems from the literature: a laboratory experiment on organic carbon degradation in a sand column via multiple microbial degradation pathways, and a dispersive mixing controlled bioreactive transport problem in aquifers, assuming three different reaction kinetics.