Uncertainty, sensitivity and geostatistical studies of flow and contaminant transport in heterogeneous unsaturated zone

Uncertainty, Sensitivity and Geostatistical Studies of Flow and Contaminant Transport in Heterogeneous Unsaturated Zone by Feng Pan Dr. Zhongbo Yu, Examination Committee Chair Associate Professor of Hydrology University of Nevada Las Vegas Dr. Jianting Zhu, Examination Committee Co-Chair Associate Professor of Hydrologic Science Desert Research Institute The objectives of this study are: (1) to develop a methodology of estimating probability density functions (PDFs) of unsaturated hydraulic parameters when field samples are sparse, (2) to evaluate the predictive uncertainties in flow and contaminant transport due to parameter uncertainties in the layerand local-scale heterogeneities of hydraulic parameters in unsaturated zone (UZ), (3) to investigate the contributions of the parameter uncertainties to the flow and transport uncertainties, and (4) to estimate the spatial correlation structures of hydraulic parameters by incorporating prior information and site measurements. At layer scale, the uncertainty assessment of flow and contaminant transport in UZ entails PDFs of the hydraulic parameters. A non-conventional maximum likelihood (ML) approach is used in this study to estimate the PDFs of water retention parameters (e.g., van Genuchten a and ri) for situations common in field scale applications where core samples are sparse and prior PDFs of the parameters are unknown. This study also investigates the effects of the uncertainties in the water retention parameters on the predictive uncertainties in flow and transport in UZ. By comparing the predictive uncertainties with and without incorporating the random water retention parameters, it is found that the random water retention parameters have limited effects on the mean predictions of the state variables including percolation flux, normalized cumulative mass arrival, and contaminant travel time. However, incorporating the uncertainties in the water retention parameters significantly increases the magnitude and spatial extent of predictive uncertainties of the state variables. The layer-scale uncertainty is specific to hydrogeologic layers, while the localscale heterogeneity refers to the spatial variation of hydraulic properties within a layer. The local-scale heterogeneity is important in predicting flow path, velocity, and travel time of contaminants, but it is often neglected in modeling practices. This study incorporates the local-scale heterogeneity and examines its relative effects to the layerscale uncertainty on flow and transport uncertainties in UZ. Results illustrate that localscale heterogeneity significantly increases predictive uncertainties in the percolation fluxes and contaminant plumes, whereas the mean predictions are only slightly affected by the local-scale heterogeneity. Layer-scale uncertainty is more important than localscale heterogeneity for simulating overall contaminant travel time, suggesting that it would be more cost-effective to reduce the layer-scale parameter uncertainty in order to reduce predictive uncertainty in contaminant transport.