Revisiting the horizontal redistribution of water in soils: Experiments and numerical modeling.

Autor: Zhuang L; Department of Earth Sciences Utrecht University Utrecht Netherlands., Hassanizadeh SM; Department of Earth Sciences Utrecht University Utrecht Netherlands.; Soil and Groundwater Systems Deltares Utrecht Netherlands., Kleingeld PJ; Department of Earth Sciences Utrecht University Utrecht Netherlands., van Genuchten MT; Department of Earth Sciences Utrecht University Utrecht Netherlands.; Department of Nuclear Engineering Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, UFRJ Rio de Janeiro Brazil.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Water resources research [Water Resour Res] 2017 Sep; Vol. 53 (9), pp. 7576-7589. Date of Electronic Publication: 2017 Sep 01.
DOI: 10.1002/2017WR020410
Abstrakt: A series of experiments and related numerical simulations were carried out to study one-dimensional water redistribution processes in an unsaturated soil. A long horizontal Plexiglas box was packed as homogenously as possible with sand. The sandbox was divided into two sections using a very thin metal plate, with one section initially fully saturated and the other section only partially saturated. Initial saturation in the dry section was set to 0.2, 0.4, or 0.6 in three different experiments. Redistribution between the wet and dry sections started as soon as the metal plate was removed. Changes in water saturation at various locations along the sandbox were measured as a function of time using a dual-energy gamma system. Also, air and water pressures were measured using two different kinds of tensiometers at various locations as a function of time. The saturation discontinuity was found to persist during the entire experiments, while observed water pressures were found to become continuous immediately after the experiments started. Two models, the standard Richards equation and an interfacial area model, were used to simulate the experiments. Both models showed some deviations between the simulated water pressures and the measured data at early times during redistribution. The standard model could only simulate the observed saturation distributions reasonably well for the experiment with the lowest initial water saturation in the dry section. The interfacial area model could reproduce observed saturation distributions of all three experiments, albeit by fitting one of the parameters in the surface area production term.
Databáze: MEDLINE