Capillary Barriers: Design Variables and Water Balance
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 126, Issue 8
Abstract
Water balance simulations were conducted with the unsaturated flow model UNSAT-H to assess how layer thicknesses, unsaturated hydraulic properties, and climate affect the performance of capillary barriers. Simulations were conducted for four locations in semiarid and arid climates. Hydraulic properties of four finer-grained and two coarser-grained soils were selected to study how saturated and unsaturated hydraulic properties affect the water balance. Results of the simulations indicate that thickness and hydraulic properties of the surface layer significantly affect the water balance of capillary barriers. As expected, increasing the thickness or reducing the saturated hydraulic conductivity of the finer-grained surface layer reduces percolation. Unsaturated hydraulic properties of the coarser layer also affect the water balance, including the storage capacity of the surface layer as well as the onset and amount of percolation from the cover. Thickness of the coarser layer has a much smaller impact on the water balance. Climate also affects the water balance. Greater soil water storage capacity is required at sites where the season with more frequent and less intense precipitation does not coincide with the season having highest evapotranspiration.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 126 • Issue 8 • August 2000
Pages: 695 - 708
History
Received: Jul 23, 1998
Published online: Aug 1, 2000
Published in print: Aug 2000
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