Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Anis Younes, Hussein Hoteit, Rainer Helmig, Marwan Fahs
Summary: The mixed finite element method is suitable for simulating fluid flow in heterogeneous porous media, but it can generate unphysical oscillations when used for the transport equation. This work proposes a robust upwind MFE scheme that combines the upwind finite volume method with the hybrid formulation of the MFE method. Numerical simulations show that the new scheme generates stable solutions without oscillations and is robust for solving nonlinear problems.
HYDROLOGY AND EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Soil Science
Zaher A. Jarrar, Riyadh I. Al-Raoush, Jamal A. Hannun, Khalid A. Alshibli
Summary: In this study, geometric tortuosity of natural unconsolidated sand packs was directly determined from 3D tomography images, and a simple model to predict tortuosity of variably saturated porous media was developed. Wetting phase saturation was found to provide a good estimate of relative tortuosity. The proposed regression model showed better estimates of geometric tortuosity compared to existing theoretical and analytical models.
SOIL SCIENCE SOCIETY OF AMERICA JOURNAL
(2021)
Article
Agronomy
Aram Ali, John McL Bennett, Andrew A. J. Biggs, Alla Marchuk, Afshin Ghahramani
Summary: This study evaluated the effects of alkaline irrigation water on soil properties using long leaching columns in different water qualities. The results showed that increased solution alkalinity led to higher pH, alkalinity, and sodicity in the soil profile, particularly for the soil surface and acidic soils. The HYDRUS-1D model was able to simulate these effects and the associated reduction in hydraulic conductivity, with potential for further improvement by incorporating a non-linear approach for determining pH hydraulic reduction scaling factor.
AGRICULTURAL WATER MANAGEMENT
(2021)
Article
Mathematics, Applied
B. Ashby, C. Bortolozo, A. Lukyanov, T. Pryer
Summary: This article introduces an adaptive finite element method for subsurface flow problems in porous media with seepage faces, focusing on steady state flows. By using a dual-weighted a posteriori error estimate, the solutions to the variational inequality problem were investigated to reduce error in a specific target quantity. The method was applied to challenging numerical examples and case studies, showing rapid error reduction in practical situations.
QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF MECHANICS AND APPLIED MATHEMATICS
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Hector Aguilera, Javier Heredia Diaz, Almudena de la Losa Roman
Summary: Simulating flow through multilayer aquifer systems is crucial for groundwater management, but existing codes have limitations in dealing with variably saturated porous media. This paper introduces a simple approach using the Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions, illustrated with the VS2DTI code, to efficiently model unsaturated flow and assess the impact of disturbances on groundwater systems.
VADOSE ZONE JOURNAL
(2021)
Article
Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications
He Chen, Shi-Jin Feng
Summary: This study develops a simple water retention model for dual-porosity soils that considers the self-similar characteristics of the pore size distribution (PSD) between macropore and micropore regions. The model simulates the macropore PSD using the differential VG model, which is then shifted and scaled to capture the micropore PSD. The results show that the proposed model can accurately predict the water retention behavior and hydraulic conductivity of dual-porosity soils.
COMPUTERS AND GEOTECHNICS
(2023)
Article
Nuclear Science & Technology
Seok Yoon, Geon-Young Kim
Summary: The engineered barrier system (EBS) for high-level radioactive waste disposal includes buffer, gap-filling, and backfill materials to prevent radionuclide leakage. Research on the thermal-hydro-mechanical-chemical (THMC) properties of the buffer material in saturated conditions is crucial, leading to the proposal of new measurement and saturation methods.
NUCLEAR ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Chengcheng Gong, Peter G. Cook, Rene Therrien, Wenke Wang, Philip Brunner
Summary: Groundwater models that simulate only saturated flow use groundwater recharge as an input parameter. However, variably saturated subsurface flow models require climate data such as precipitation and potential evapotranspiration instead of recharge. Despite the challenges in defining groundwater recharge in these models, variably saturated subsurface flow models can still provide crucial information for water resources management.
WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Water Resources
Xiang Huang, David L. Rudolph
Summary: This study presents a fully coupled thermal-hydraulic-mechanical model for variably saturated freezing soil, examining processes such as heat conduction, phase change, water movement, and ice lens development. The model's mechanisms were verified through laboratory experiments and parametric analyses, showing good agreement with literature data. Sensitivity analysis indicated that thermally-induced cryosuction is the main driver for water migration, while ice lens expansion causes consolidation and pore reduction in the unfrozen zone.
ADVANCES IN WATER RESOURCES
(2021)
Article
Water Resources
Yaser Hoseini
Summary: Statistical analysis of saturated hydraulic conductivity is crucial for water resource projects. The Kriging method is used to estimate variables such as hydraulic conductivity. The results show that the simple kriging method has the highest accuracy in modeling the saturated hydraulic conductivity function.
APPLIED WATER SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Richard E. Fewster, Paul J. Morris, Graeme T. Swindles, Andy J. Baird, T. Edward Turner, Ruza F. Ivanovic
Summary: This study examined the hydraulic properties of a degrading Swedish palsa mire and found that depth, humification, and dry bulk density are the main controls on hydraulic conductivity (K-h). The site-specific model performed better in predicting K-h compared to the multi-site model, possibly due to differences in peat compaction, floristic composition, and climate. However, the multi-site model still showed low bias and could be useful for estimating peat K-h at high latitudes. Permafrost peatlands are currently underrepresented in multi-site models, and studies like this could help improve future iterations.
WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Richard E. Fewster, Paul J. Morris, Graeme T. Swindles, Andy J. Baird, T. Edward Turner, Ruza F. Ivanovic
Summary: This study determined the hydraulic properties of peat in a degrading Swedish palsa mire and found that depth, humification, and dry bulk density are significant controls on hydraulic conductivity. The site-specific model showed better predictive performance than the existing multi-site model, but the multi-site model can still be useful for estimating peat hydraulic properties in high latitudes.
WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Civil
Shawkat B. M. Hassan, Giovanna Dragonetti, Alessandro Comegna, Asma Sengouga, Nicola Lamaddalena, Antonio Coppola
Summary: The main purpose of this paper is to develop a bimodal pedotransfer function to obtain soil water retention curves and hydraulic conductivity curves. By incorporating aggregate-size distribution, the proposed function improves the prediction accuracy of soil hydraulic properties compared to the traditional unimodal approach.
JOURNAL OF HYDROLOGY
(2022)
Article
Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications
Yijin Zeng, Qinghua Lei, Zineng Wang, Shidong Ding, Kui Liu, Xin Huang, Zhaoqin Huang, Xiaoguang Wang
Summary: This study examines the impact of reservoir heterogeneity on fault slip in shale reservoirs subjected to hydraulic stimulation through a numerical model simulating coupled hydro-mechanical processes. The research findings indicate the significant role of reservoir heterogeneity in fault reactivation when the hydraulic fracture is away from the fault but at a distance smaller than the correlation length.
COMPUTERS AND GEOTECHNICS
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Civil
Uttam Singh, Pramod Kumar Sharma
Summary: This study used eight empirical equations to estimate the saturated hydraulic conductivity of soil, and found that most of them had poor correlation with surface NMR hydraulic conductivity. The Kozeny-Carman, Hazen, and Zamarin equations showed the best performance. The Kozeny-Carman equation was modified to improve its accuracy and had the highest correlation with the surface NMR hydraulic conductivity.
JOURNAL OF HYDROLOGY
(2023)