Anticipating how stream water quality will respond to change, such as increased pollution or water diversions, requires knowledge of the main mechanisms controlling water and chemical constituent movement and a reasonable representation of those mechanisms. By deriving mathematical models to represent a stream system and collecting supporting field-based measurements, water quality response can be predicted. However, because each stream is unique and the movement of water and constituents is spatially and temporally complex, assessing whether the stream is appropriately represented and whether predictions are trustworthy is still a challenge within the scientific and management communities. Building on decades of stream research, this dissertation provides a step towards better representing some of the complexities found within streams and rivers to better predict water quality responses over long stream distances. First, a method is presented to assess which mechanisms are considered most important in chemical constituent predictions. Next, the number of measurements necessary to represent the general complexities of water, mass, and heat movement in streams was determined. The advancements developed in this dissertation provide a foundation to more efficiently and accurately inform water resource management.

The increasing concentration of CO_(2) has been linked to global warming and changes in climate. Geologic sequestration of CO_(2) in deep saline aquifers is a proposed greenhouse gas mitigation technology with potential to significantly reduce atmospheric emissions of CO_(2). Feasibility assessments of proposed sequestration sites require realistic and computationally efficient models to simulate the subsurface pressure response and monitor the injection process, and quantify the risks of leakage if there is any. This study investigates the possibility of obtaining closed form expressions for spatial distribution of CO_(2) injected in brine aquifers and gas reservoirs. Four new semi-analytical solutions for CO_(2) injection in brine aquifers and gas reservoirs are derived in this dissertation. Both infinite and closed domains are considered in the study. The first solution is an analysis of CO_(2) injection into an initially brine-filled infinite aquifer, exploiting self–similarity and matched asymptotic expansion. The second is an expanding to the first solution to account for CO_(2) injection into closed domains. The third and fourth solutions are analyzing the CO_(2) injection in infinite and closed gas reservoirs. The third and fourth solutions are derived using Laplace transform. The brine aquifer solutions accounted for both Darcyian and non-Darcyian flow, while, the gas reservoir solutions considered the gas compressibility variations with pressure changes. Existing analytical solutions assume injection under constant rate at the wellbore. This assumption is problematic because injection under constant rate is hard to maintain, especially for gases. The modeled injection processes in all aforementioned solutions are carried out under constant pressure injection at the wellbore (i.e. Dirichlet boundary condition). One major difficulty in developing an analytical or semi-analytical solution involving injection of CO_(2) under constant pressure is that the flux of CO_(2) at the wellbore is not known. The way to get around this obstacle is to solve for the pressure wave first as a function of flux, and then solve for the flux numerically, which is subsequently plugged back into the pressure formula to get a closed form solution of the pressure. While there is no simple equation for wellbore flux, our numerical solutions show that the evolution of flux is very close to a logarithmic decay with time. This is true for a large range of the reservoir and CO_(2) properties. The solution is not a formation specific, and thus is more general in nature than formation-specific empirical relationships. Additionally, the solution then can be used as the basis for designing and interpreting pressure tests to monitor the progress of CO_(2) injection process. Finally, the infinite domain solution is suitable to aquifers/reservoirs with large spatial extent and low permeability, while the closed domain solution is applicable to small aquifers/reservoirs with high permeability.

Les mesures de résistivité en forage sont communément utilisées pour obtenirune meilleure caractérisation du sous-sol. L’utilisation d’un tube métallique pourcouvrir le puits complique énormément les simulations numériques pour lepotentiel électrique à cause de la faible épaisseur du tube et de sa conductivitéélevée par rapport à celle des formations du sous-sol. Dans ce travail, motivé pardes configurations réalistes, le tube est modélisé par une couche mincecylindrique d’épaisseur uniforme et la résistivité du tube est proportionnelle aucube de son épaisseur.Dans cette thèse, on se concentre sur ce problème pour obtenir des Conditionsde transmission (ITCs) approchées pour le potentiel électrique à travers le tubemétallique. Pour ce faire, on considère dans une première approche, un modèle2D en coordonnées cartésiennes, puis on résout le problème 3D axisymétriquequi est considéré dans la majorité des simulations de mesures de résistivité enforage à travers un tube. On considère d’abord le cas statique (fréquence nulle),puis on obtient des ITCs pour des fréquences non-nulles, lesquelles sontimportantes pour comprendre certains phénomènes physiques, comme les effetsDelaware et Groningen. Ensuite, on analyse les modèles en prouvant desrésultats de stabilité et convergence, et on évalue la performance numérique deces modèles en utilisant la méthode des éléments finis. Enfin, on construit dessolutions semi-analytiques pour ces modèles, lesquelles nous fournissent unemanière plus efficace d’évaluer nos modèles approchés par rapport aux solutionsnumériques (éléments finis). / Through-casing borehole resistivity measurements are commonly acquired inorder to characterize the Earth’s subsurface. The use of a casing surrounding theborehole highly complicates numerical simulations of the electric potential due toits thinness and a large contrast between casing conductivity and surroundingrock formation conductivity. In this work, we model the casing as a thin cylindricallayer of uniform thickness. Motivated by realistic scenarios, we realize that theconductivity of the case is typically proportional to its thickness to the power ofminus three.In this Ph.D. Dissertation, we focus on the above problem to derive ImpedanceTransmission Conditions (ITCs) in order to replace the metallic casing. To do so,we start by considering a 2D model in Cartesian coordinates that serves as aninitial approximation to solve the more realistic 3D axi-symmetric model (usingcylindrical coordinates) considered in most realistic through casing boreholesimulations. We start by considering the static (zero frequency) case, and we alsoderive ITCs for nonzero frequencies, which are important to understand certainphysical phenomena occurring in through casing borehole measurements,namely, the so called Delaware and Groningen effects. Then, we analyze thesemodels by proving stability and convergence results, and we asses the numericalperformance of these models by employing a Finite Element Method. Finally, wederive semi-analytical solutions for such models, which provide a more efficientway of evaluating our approximate models as in comparison with full numericalsolutions. / Las medidas de resistividad en perforaciones a traves de tubos se utilizan demanera común para obtener una mejor caracterización del subsuelo de la tierra.El uso de un tubo que cubre el pozo complica enormemente las simulacionesnuméricas debido a su finura y al gran contraste entre la conductividad del tuboy la de las formaciones rocosas. En este trabajo, modelizamos el tubo como unamembrana cilíndrica fina de grosor uniforme. Basándonos en configuracionesrealistas, consideramos que la conductividad del tubo es proporcional a su grosora la potencia de menos tres.En esta tesis doctoral, nos concentramos en el problema anterior para obtenercodiciones de transmisión de impedancia (ITCs) que sirvan para reemplazar eltubo metálico. Para ello, empezamos por considerar un modelo 2D encoordenadas cartesianas, que sirve como una primera aproximación pararesolver el problema 3D con simetría axial (empleando coordenadas cilíndricas)considerado en la mayoría de las simulaciones realistas de perforaciones contubos. Empezamos por considerar el caso estático (frecuencia nula), y más tardeobtenemos ITCs para frecuencias no nulas, las cuales son importantes paraentender ciertos fenómenos físicos que ocurren al obtener medidas deresistividad en pozos a través de tubos, como por ejemplo, los efectos deDelaware y Groningen. Después, analizamos estos modelos demostrandoresultados de estabilidad y convergencia, y evaluamos el rendimiento numéricode estos modelos empleando el método de elementos finitos. Por último,obetnemos soluciones semi-analíticas para dichos modelos, las cualesproporcionan una manera más eficiente de evaluar las soluciones a nuestrosmodelos aproximados en comparación con soluciones puramente numéricas.