Application of Image Processing for Determination of Contaminant Plume in Porous Media

Abstract

Determination of the extent and growth rate of contamination zones in water resources is a crucial stage in remediation studies. The process is especially complicated due to the multiplicity of the variables involved and the limited access to groundwater aquifers. The present study uses the image processing technique to define the contaminant plume and to analyze diffusivity coefficients for seepage flows in porous media. The image processing algorithm was developed in MATLAB software and the least squares method was used to solve the diffusion equation. Thus, the hydrodynamic dispersion coefficients in porous media were calculated without any turbulence over wide ranges of time and place with an acceptable accuracy. Analysis and verification of the data thus obtained confirmed the accuracy of the proposed model and revealed a limited error range of less than 11%. It may, therefore, be claimed that the proposed method is an effective means for studying diffusivity. The equations for estimating diffusivity coefficients were developed as a function of both the porous media characteristics and the Péclet number.Using the equations, diffusivity coefficients in the range of 0.002 to 0.0028 m were obtained for a porous medium with a grain size varying from 0.5 to 3 mm