MODEL FOR PREDICTING VIRUS MOVEMENT THROUGH SOILS

A numerical model, VIROTRANS, is developed for simulating the vertical movement of water and virus through soils treated with waste-water effluents and sewage sludges. The expression describing transient flow of water is coupled with the convective-dispersive equation for subsurface solute transport. The resulting methodology is a coupled set of partial differential equations that describe the transient flow of water and suspended virus particle movement through variably saturated media. Solutions to the partial differential equations are accomplished by a Galerkin finite element method. Several example problems are used to provide a quantitative verification and validation of the model. The model simulations are compared to an analytical solution and to experimental measurements of soil moisture content and poliovirus 1 transport. The comparisons show reasonable agreement between model simulations and measured data. Sensitivity of the model's prediction to variations in pertinent input parameters are also analyzed.