|
Most groundwater contamination problems can be attributed to either surface
spills or leaks from surface or near surface storage tanks and facility
operations. As a result, the behaviour of the contaminants in the unsaturated
zone plays a critical role in the potential impact these spills will have on the
groundwater system. However, despite this fact, the vast majority of
contamination studies still neglect the contributions and influence of the
unsaturated zone. This is due to several reasons:
- lack of regulations dealing with the unsaturated zone
- lack of data for the unsaturated zone
- lack of easy-to-use software
Fortunately, many states are now adopting stricter risk-based policies for
evaluating contamination in the unsaturated zone. In addition, software packages
like the UnSat Suite Plus are making unsaturated zone modeling easier and more
cost effective.
UnSat Suite Plus is a fully-integrated software package that combines the
most popular and widely-used models for simulating one-dimensional groundwater
flow and contaminant transport in the unsaturated zone (includes SESOIL, VS2DT,
VLEACH, PESTAN and the HELP model). These models have all been compiled and
optimized to run as native Windows applications and are seamlessly integrated
within the UnSat Suite Plus graphical modeling environment.
UnSat Suite Plus is specifically designed to handle one-dimensional
groundwater flow and contaminant transport in the unsaturated zone. This one
dimensional model simulates the downward vertical flow of groundwater and
migration of dissolved contaminants in the groundwater through a thin column of
soil. This a thin column of soil is referred to as a model profile.
Each model profile you create will have different numerical requirements
depending on the conditions at the site, the amount of data available, the
objectives of the project and the budget for the project. The revolutionary
design of the UnSat Suite Plus interface allows you to quickly and easily create
a 1-D unsaturated zone model using the simulation code that best suits your site
conditions.
UnSat Suite Plus uses the latest techniques in software engineering to
integrate the existing technologies in unsaturated zone modeling and to
introduce many new methods for visualizing and managing your projects,
generating input data, presenting modeling results, and sharing data between
models. The result is a powerful and easy-to-use modeling tool that makes
unsaturated zone flow and transport simulations more practical and accessible
than ever before! |
