UNSAT-H Version 1. 0: unsaturated flow code documentation and applications for the Hanford Site
Waste mangement practices at the Hanford Site have relied havily on near-surface burial. Predicting the future performance of any burial site in terms of the migration of buried contaminants requires a model capable of simulating water flow in the unsaturated soils above the buried waste. The model currently being developed to meet this need is UNSAT-H, which was developed at Pacific Northwest Laboratory for assessing the water dynamics of near-surface waste-disposal sites at the Hanfrod Site. The code will primarily be used to predict deep drainage (i.e., recharge) as a function of environmental conditions such as climate, soil type, and vegetation. UNSAT-H will also simulate various waste-management practices such as placing surface barriers over waste sites. UNSAT-H is a one-dimensional model that simulates the dynamics processes of infiltration, drainage, redistribution, surface evaporation, and uptake of water from soil by plants. UNSAT-H is designed to utilize two auxiliary codes. These codes are DATAINH, which is used to process the input data, and DATAOUT, which is used to process the UNSAT-H output. Operation of the code requires three separate steps. First, the problem to be simulated must be conceptualized in terms of boundary conditions, available data, and soil properties. Next, the data must be correctly formatted for input. Finally, the unput data must be processed, UNSAT-H run, and the output data processed for analysis. This report includes three examples of code use. In the first example, a benchmark test case is run in which the results of UNSAT-H simulations of infiltration are compared with an analytical solution and a numerical solution. The comparisons show excellent agreement for the specific test case, and this agreement provides vertification of the infiltration portion of the UNSAT-H code. The other two examples of code use are a simulation of a layered soil and one of plant transpiration.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC06-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 5368246
- Report Number(s):
- PNL-5899; ON: DE87000273
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
58 GEOSCIENCES
FLOW MODELS
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
U CODES
DOCUMENTATION
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
GROUND WATER
SEDIMENTS
SOILS
TRANSPIRATION
COMPUTER CODES
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
MASS TRANSFER
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
SIMULATION
WATER
053000* - Nuclear Fuels- Environmental Aspects
520301 - Environment
Aquatic- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport- Water- (1987)
510301 - Environment
Terrestrial- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport- Soil- (-1987)
052002 - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Disposal & Storage
580100 - Geology & Hydrology- (-1989)