A three-dimensional boundary element method for steady unsaturated quasi-linear flow in porous media

Journal Article · Fri Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 1994 · Water Resources Research; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/94WR00753· OSTI ID:6916966

Subia, S R; Ingber, M S ^[1]; Martinez, M J ^[2]

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1. Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States)
2. Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)

A three-dimension boundary element method is developed to study unsaturated groundwater flows in heterogeneous porous media. The method is based on the Kirchhoff transformation of variables which transforms the nonlinear Richards equation into the Fokker-Planck equation. Several benchmark problems are considered involving cavity infiltration exclusion to demonstrate the reliability of the boundary element formulation. As an example application problem, the effective conductivity of a porous medium containing randomly positioned impermeable spherical inclusions is considered. 22 refs., 7 figs., 6 tabs.

• DOE Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000
• OSTI ID: 6916966
• Journal Information: Water Resources Research; (United States), Journal Name: Water Resources Research; (United States) Vol. 30:7; ISSN WRERAQ; ISSN 0043-1397
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540220* -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
990200 -- Mathematics & Computers
BOUNDARY ELEMENT METHOD
CALCULATION METHODS
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
EQUATIONS
FINITE ELEMENT METHOD
FLOW MODELS
FLUID FLOW
FOKKER-PLANCK EQUATION
GROUND WATER
HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
MASS TRANSFER
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NUMERICAL SOLUTION
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
RELIABILITY
ROCK-FLUID INTERACTIONS
ROCKS
WATER