The problem of identifying an unknown pollution source in polluted aquifers, based on known contaminant concentration measurements, is part of the broader group of issues called inverse problems. This paper investigates the feasibility of solving the groundwater pollution inverse problem by using artificial neural networks (ANNs). The approach consists first in training an ANN to solve the direct problem, in which the pollutant concentration in a set of monitoring wells is calculated for a known pollutant source. Successively, the trained ANN is frozen and is used to solve the inverse problem, where the pollutant source is calculated which corresponds to a set of concentrations in the monitoring wells. The approach has been applied for a real case which deals with the contamination of the Rhine aquifer by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) due to a tanker accident. The obtained results are compared with the solution obtained with a different approach retrieved from literature. The results show the suitability of ANN-based methods for solving inverse non-linear problems.
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Research Article|
June 30 2015
ANN-based approach for the estimation of aquifer pollutant source behaviour Available to Purchase
Maria Laura Foddis;
1Department of Civil, Environmental Engineering and Architecture – Sector of Applied Geology and Applied Geophysics, University of Cagliari, via Marengo 3, 09123 Cagliari, Italy
E-mail: [email protected]
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Philippe Ackerer;
Philippe Ackerer
2Laboratory of Hydrology and Geochemistry of Strasbourg (LHyGeS), University of Strasbourg, 1 rue Blessig, 67084 Strasbourg Cedex, France
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Augusto Montisci;
Augusto Montisci
3Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (DIEE), University of Cagliari, via Marengo 3, 09123 Cagliari, Italy
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Gabriele Uras
Gabriele Uras
1Department of Civil, Environmental Engineering and Architecture – Sector of Applied Geology and Applied Geophysics, University of Cagliari, via Marengo 3, 09123 Cagliari, Italy
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Water Supply (2015) 15 (6): 1285–1294.
Article history
Received:
January 19 2015
Accepted:
June 09 2015
Citation
Maria Laura Foddis, Philippe Ackerer, Augusto Montisci, Gabriele Uras; ANN-based approach for the estimation of aquifer pollutant source behaviour. Water Supply 1 December 2015; 15 (6): 1285–1294. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/ws.2015.087
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