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Title: Evaluation of help model replacement codes

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1237315· OSTI ID:1237315
 [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States). Savannah River National Lab. (SRNL)

This work evaluates the computer codes that are proposed to be used to predict percolation of water through the closure-cap and into the waste containment zone at the Department of Energy closure sites. This work compares the currently used water-balance code (HELP) with newly developed computer codes that use unsaturated flow (Richards’ equation). It provides a literature review of the HELP model and the proposed codes, which result in two recommended codes for further evaluation: HYDRUS-2D3D and VADOSE/W. This further evaluation involved performing actual simulations on a simple model and comparing the results of those simulations to those obtained with the HELP code and the field data. From the results of this work, we conclude that the new codes perform nearly the same, although moving forward, we recommend HYDRUS-2D3D.

Research Organization:
Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC09-08SR22470
OSTI ID:
1237315
Report Number(s):
SRNL-STI-2009-00572
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English