Single and dual domain models to evaluate the effects of preferential flow paths in alluvial porous sediments

Typical features of preferential flow paths were evidenced by numerical tests of convective transport of conservative solutes performed in three blocks of alluvial sediments at the scale of depositional elements. The numerical experiments are analysed with standard single-domain models (SDMs) and with dual-domain models (DDMs): the model parameters are identified by minimisation of the misfit between the "experimental" and the modelled cumulative breakthrough curves (BTCs) and between the "experimental" and the modelled temporal moments of the BTCs. The results for the SDMs show different behaviours for the three model blocks and for the different flow directions, in good agreement with their hydrostratigraphic characteristics. The results for the DDMs sometimes correspond to cases for which one of the two domains is dominant and its values of diffusivity and average velocity are close to those obtained for the SDM; in some cases the DDM performs much better than the SDM and correctly represents the effects of preferential flow paths. Finally the relevance of the DDM is analysed in the framework of multi-objective optimisation: a proper choice of the objective-functions yields Pareto sets whose geometries are different for single- and dual-domain media.