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A Numerical Model For Areal Migration Of Water And Light Hydrocarbon In Unconfined Aquifers, Jagath J. Kaluarachchi, J. C. Parker, R. J. Lenhard

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

A finite element model has been developed to simulate simultaneous flow of water and light hydrocarbon in an areal flow region of an unconfined aquifer for analyses of hydrocarbon spreading from subsurface leaks or spills and for use in design of free product recovery systems. Vertically integrated governing equations for water and oil flow are employed which assume local vertical equilibrium and negligible gas pressure gradients. Multiple water and free product recovery wells are handled as internal type-I boundary conditions by stipulating air-oil table elevation and free product height with corrections to convert grid averaged nodal heads to actual well …