ANALYSIS OF MASS-TRANSPORT WITH UNCERTAIN PHYSICAL PARAMETERS

The coefficients of the mass transport equation are often characterized by considerable uncertainty. Where the functional form of this uncertainty is known the transport equation can be solved to yield a solution also characterized by uncertainty. The spatial and temporal dependencies of this uncertainty are dependent upon the variance of the velocity and dispersivity, the magnitude of the dispersivity, the functional form of the probability distribution function, and the number of uncertain parameters considered in the analysis. In general the uncertainty, as measured by the coefficient of variation, is considerably smaller for the solution than for the input parameters. While any finite variance theoretically can be accommodated by the method employed for solution of the stochastic partial differential equations, it is nevertheless essential to select numerical parameters (Δx and Δt) such that certain constraints on the form of the coefficient matrix are not violated. Copyright 1979 by the American Geophysical Union.