Numerical Procedure for Simulating the Two-Phase Flow in Unsaturated Soils with Hydraulic Hysteresis
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 16, Issue 1
Abstract
When modeling the seepage process in a variably saturated porous medium, it is crucial to properly characterize the effects of hydraulic hysteresis. In this paper, a theoretical model of two-phase flow in porous media is introduced, in which an internal state variable-based model of capillary hysteresis is incorporated. Using this theoretical model, a fully coupled finite-element procedure is developed and implemented into a computer code. The numerical procedure is used to simulate the two-phase flow in the unsaturated soils experiencing various drying/wetting cycles. The simulative results are then compared with the experimental data available in existing literature, showing that the proposed procedure is capable of simulating the two-phase flow processes in the porous media subjected to arbitrary drying/wetting cycles. It is demonstrated that under a nonmonotonic flow condition, the effects of hydraulic hysteresis on the water infiltration and redistribution processes in a soil-column test are significant, and in addition, the effects of air phase cannot be neglected. Noticeably, the proposed procedure can be used to track the hydraulic paths that a soil layer experiences, and hence, the procedure is useful in modeling the water infiltration and moisture redistribution processes in soil layers during a long-term intermittent precipitation event or nonmonotonic underground water-table variation.
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Acknowledgments
This research was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11302243 and 11372078) and the Major Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51239010).
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Published In
International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 16 • Issue 1 • February 2016
Copyright
© 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 18, 2014
Accepted: Feb 19, 2015
Published online: May 28, 2015
Discussion open until: Oct 28, 2015
Published in print: Feb 1, 2016
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