Patent ID: 8615379

Claim:
A method for selecting optimal sampling locations for mass discharge analysis comprising: a) obtaining measurements of contaminant concentration and hydraulic conductivity from a plurality of samples comprising a contaminant from set of initial sampling locations, b) using a computer to perform the steps of: i) generating a probability distribution of mass discharge using said measurements, ii) estimating conditional variance of contaminant concentration and local sampling density from said measurements at each of said sampling locations, iii) using said conditional variance as the first sampling criterion, and local sampling density as the second sampling criterion, calculating membership functions of said sampling criteria at each of said sampling locations; iv) calculating information entropy for said conditional variance and said local sampling density; v) automatically calculating weights using said information entropy for said conditional variance and said local sampling density; and vi) selecting one or a plurality of different sampling locations for a next sampling location from said sampling locations by ranking said candidate locations using the numeric value of a compromise solution at each of said candidate locations; c) obtaining additional contaminant concentration and hydraulic conductivity measurements from said selected sampling next sampling locations; and d) using a computer to perform the steps of i) updating said probability distribution of mass discharge using said additional measurements; and ii) generating an accuracy plot of said probability distribution of mass discharge.