Análise comparativa da dispersão de poluentes em rios por meio dos métodos numéricos de elementos finitos e diferenças finitas e da solução analítica

Abstract

Pollution in a river due to the release of effluents may threaten the whole watershed. Therefore, an efficient management of water resources requires the development of information systems which are capable of recognizing the hydrologic system and the dynamics of contaminants transportation, as well as create technical conditions that may help decision taking related to many sectors. So, the water quality models are a very important tool in this decision taking. In order to determine the distribution of a pollutant along the river a pulse of a conservative substance is poured into the river. Analytic and numerical solutions by using Finite Elements Methods and Finite Difference Methods to the one-dimensional case are shown in order to compare them. The methods used show a good fit, what guarantees their reliability.