Optimal control of soil venting: Mathematical modeling and applications (Q1281956)

The incorporation of organic solvents, benzene, mineral oil, and other pollutants under the subsurface leads to long-term contaminations of soils and ground water systems and affects ecosystems globally. The soil venting technique is now commonly used as a remedy for this contamination; the process consists in pumping out the soil air and in injecting the fresh air from the atmosphere into and through the soil. The authors study in this monograph the equations of the corresponding mathematical model with some applications as well as with an optimization. To emphasize better the topics considered, we mention the chapters: 1. Introduction; 2. Modeling of soil venting; 3. Stationary problem and optimal control; 4. Well-posedness and optimality; 5. Optimization of simple well configurations; 6. Estimating the coefficients; 7. Numerical methods and optimization; 8. Applications; 9. Stochastic optimization; 10. Discussions and conclusions. This is followed by a rich up-to-date bibliography (121 titles). In the reviewer's opinion, the monograph is a valuable contribution to the existing literature.