Optimized Petrov-Galerkin model for advective-dispersive transport
Petrov-Galerkin finite element models (PGFEMs) appear to be the preferred choice for simulating advective-dispersive transport of chemicals in the natural environment for their ability to provide oscillation-free results. The PGFEM, however, provides oscillation-free results at the expense of introducing significant artificial dispersion. Introduction of artificial dispersion may lead to erroneous prediction of faster movement of the chemical and underestimation of the peak concentration. The objective of this paper is to develop an optimized PGFEM (OPGFEM). The OPGFEM developed is found to predict advective-dispersive transport of chemicals more accurately than the PGFEM.