Numerical Study of Contamination Risk of a waste deposit

In recent years waste deposits have become a major worldwide problem. In order to quantify the risks involved, especially the contamination of valuable groundwater, numerical methods are increasingly applied to simulate the situation in the field. In this paper a newly developed finite element code is used for a numerical investigation of possible contamination of groundwater by an existing waste deposit. Some worst case assumptions as e.g. a leaking of the slurry wall surrounding the deposit together with a lowering of the groundwater table outside the deposit have been analysed. The results give a clear picture of the development of pollution with time despite the uncertainties inherent in the mathematical model. Some remarks about the FE-code are also included in this paper because some features concerning the user-interface and advanced hardware utilization seem to be worth mentioning.