A linear graphical method for determining hydrodispersive characteristics in tracer experiments with instantaneous injection

A rapid method to determine the hydrodispersive characteristics of an aquifer from tracer experiments with instantaneous injection is proposed and applied on experimental data. This method named the “Linear Graphical Method” is based on the use of an analytical expression for mass transport in porous media under classic hypothesis and leads to the estimation of the dispersivity α L (and α T ) and porosity ω. The method is economical in computation time and equipment (pocket calculator, graph paper). Moreover, the method permits identification of some singular experimental data, assumed erroneous, and determination of characteristic parameters is realized using selected data. The results obtained by this method are in a fairly good agreement with those obtained by other rapid methods.