RW3D - Reactive Transport with Random-Walk Particle-Tracking

Christopher V. Henri [1], Daniel Fernandez-Garcia [2]

With the essential inputs from: Thomas Harter [3], Anker Lajer Højberg [1], Raphael J.M. Schneider [1], Lars Troldborg [1]

Version: 1.0

Manual generated : Apr 21, 2026

Tip

You can download a pdf version of this manual by going to the “latest” window that should be on the lower right side of your screen. Click, and under “Download”, click on “PDF”.

Note

This project is still under active development.

Note

How to cite?

Henri and Fernàndez-Garcia. (2025). RW3D’s User Manual. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.15118405. https://rw3d-manual.readthedocs.io

Contents

• Getting Started
  • An Intro to RW3D
  • How do I get set up?
    • Get the code
    • Run the executable
    • Build a solution
      • DFS file reader
      • Makefile
      • Visual Studio
  • How to run RW3D?
• Random-Walk Particle-Tracking
  • Background
  • Mathematical Model
  • Advantages
  • Limitations
• Method
  • Transport
  • Advective Motion
    • Flux interpolation
    • Time discretization
    • Special cases
    • Backward particle tracking
  • Reactions
    • First-order decay networks
    • Bimolecular reaction networks
    • Linear Sorption
  • Multirate Mass Transfer
  • Sink
    • Sink-cells
    • Wells
  • Outputs
    • Plume snapshots
    • Cumulative breakthrough curves
    • Breakthrough curves
      • Kernel Density Estimation
      • Plugin Method
    • Plume history
    • Particle paths
    • Spatial Moments
    • Temporal moments of BTCs from wells and planes
• Input Instructions
  • Type of inputs
    • File format for a parameter of type array
    • File format for time function
  • Parameter file
    • General setup
    • Species and Phases
    • Time
    • Geometry
    • Time step
    • Advection
    • Heads
    • Sinks
    • Dispersion / Diffusion
    • Mass transfer
    • Reactions
      • Retardation
      • First-order decay
      • Bimolecular reactions
    • Observation
      • Extraction well
      • Control plane
      • Registration lense
    • Injection
    • Well recirculation
    • Outputs
• Examples
  • Bornholm’s groundwater bodies characterization
    • Input description
    • Output Analysis
  • Reactive transport
• Bibliography

[1] (1,2,3,4)

Department of Hydrology, Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Copenhagen, Denmark. cvh@geus.dk

[2]

GHS - Hydrogeology Group Department, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain. daniel.fernandez.g@upc.edu

[3]

Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, University of California, Davis, USA.

RW3D is released under the GNU LGPL License

This manual is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Copyright © 2025 Christopher V. Henri, Daniel Fernandez-Garcia.