Abstract
Open drains are drainage system collecting wastewater containing various contaminants such as agricultural fertilizers, chemicals, and heavy materials. Unconfined aquifers are exposed to seepage from the polluted drains. This study aims to assess the effect of drain geometry on the extension of contaminants into the unconfined aquifer. Three cases of changing drain geometry are applied, including the bottom width (B), the depth (Y), and the bed slope (S). Visual MODFLOW is used to assess these changes and applied to a case study to simulate the contaminant extension in an unconfined aquifer. The results showed that increasing the bottom width has significantly affected the extension of contaminate (XT) into the aquifer more than the depth for the same-cross section area. The results showed that the contamination extension is directly proportionally with hydraulic radius and inversely with bed slope and wetted perimeter. Increasing the drain geometry of bottom width and depth by 25, 50, 75, and 100% increased the contamination extension to 28%, 44%, 57%, and 65% when the bottom width increased while increased to 9%, 25%, 32%, and 40% with increasing depth. Also, the results indicated that increasing the longitudinal slope decreased the contamination due to the increase in velocity. Moreover, increasing the bed slope by 25, 50, 75, and 100% decreased the contamination extension by 3%, 14%, 20%, and 31%. The study recommended that the design of deep and steep drains is more effective than the shallow one because it decreases the extension of contaminants to groundwater aquifers.
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Abd-Elhamid, H.F., Said, A.M., Abdelaal, G.M. et al. Impact of polluted open-drain geometry on groundwater contaminant in unconfined aquifers. Arab J Geosci 14, 432 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-021-06491-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-021-06491-y