Seepage through an aquifer, the hydraulic conductivity of which varies vertically, is studied using the Dupuit-Forchheimer approximation (Girinskii's potential) and numerically by FDM-MODFLOW and FEM-HYDRUS-2D. In urban water hydrology, the effect of compaction of the top stratum of an aquifer on the flow rate and the position of the water table (characterized by an integral quantity of the saturated/dry area) is analysed. The area of the saturated zone is evaluated as a function of the conductivity ratio of the two strata, and their thicknesses. Conductivity varying linearly and exponentially is also analytically studied. Boundary-value problems are solved for a linear (nonlinear) ordinary differential equation if the evaporation rate is constant (decreasing exponentially with depth). The MODFLOW and HYDRUS-2D simulations give consistent fields of the piezometric head, pressure head, and Darcian velocity, as well as the water table position, which may have a global minimum (watershed).
Abstract Design of managed aquifer recharge ( MAR ) for augmentation of groundwater resources often lacks detailed data, and simple diagnostic tools for evaluation of the water table in a broad range of parameters are needed. In many large‐scale MAR projects, the effect of a regional aquifer base dip cannot be ignored due to the scale of recharge sources (e.g., wadis, streams, reservoirs). However, Hantush's (1967) solution for a horizontal aquifer base is commonly used. To address sloping aquifers, a new closed‐form analytical solution for water table mound accounts for the geometry and orientation of recharge sources at the land surface with respect to the aquifer base dip. The solution, based on the Dupiuit‐Forchheimer approximation, Green's function method, and coordinate transformations is convenient for computing. This solution reveals important MAR traits in variance with Hantush's solution: mounding is limited in time and space; elevation of the mound is strongly affected by the dip angle; and the peak of the mound moves over time. These findings have important practical implications for assessment of various MAR scenarios, including waterlogging potential and determining proper rates of recharge. Computations are illustrated for several characteristic MAR settings.
A hydropedological study was conducted to investigate the impact of the construction of Al-Khoud recharge dam on soil development in a dry region of Oman. The study involved detailed descriptions of pedons, surface and subsurface soil textural analyses, and double-ring and tension infiltrometer tests in areas inside and adjacent to the dam. The reservoir area of this 25-year-old hydraulic structure has rapidly changed due to spatiotemporally variable deposition of sediments from the dammed water and intensive scraping of the silt cake. This resulted in the formation of multiple micro depressions and a nonflat shape of the reservoir bed. The subsurface soils of the bed showed heterogeneity and complex patterns of sediment deposition as a response to the human-induced changes in the soil development, geomorphology, and hydrological properties of the dam area. In most pedons, a sequence of Stokes' law–generated porous layers indicates ponded conditions of flood events and reservoir filling correlated with the hydrographs of the gaging station that feeds the reservoir. Textural analysis indicates the difference of ponding depth durations and sediment load is highly variable for pedons inside the reservoir and in the off-dam adjacent zones, both upstream and downstream of the embankment. The formation of a unique three-dimensional cascade of silt blocks, sandwiched by sand-filled horizontal and vertical fractures, was discovered. The propagation of silt entrained by infiltrated water into an originally coarse parent alluvium and the ensuing reduction of permeability were detected. Cumulative infiltration and infiltration rate curves and saturated hydraulic conductivities are related to the soil hydraulic-capillary properties.
Abstract Large quantities of water are usually produced in conjunction with oil production in Oman. Because this water is saline and heavily contaminated with oil, it is not suitable for domestic or agricultural uses. A short-duration comparative study on the effects of using treated oily-water and fresh water on soil physical properties has been performed. It was found from this study that the use of treated oily-water caused a sodicity problem, which has adverse effects on the soil physical properties of the soil such as infiltration rate, saturated hydraulic conductivity and pore size distribution. The reduction in the saturated hydraulic conductivity reached up to 43% of the initial value.
Abstract Riesenkampf's (1938), R‐38 (referred to here as R‐38), analytical solution for steady 2‐D flow from a buried line source in a homogeneous Green‐Ampt soil, with a wetting plume bounded by a free surface (capillary fringe), is compared with Philip's (1969), (P‐69), one for genuinely unsaturated wetting of Gardner's infinite‐extension soil. Conformal mappings are used in R‐38, from which we derived the flow net, pore‐water isobars, isochrones, fields of Darcian velocity and resultant force acting on saturated porous skeleton, fine geometry (shape and size) of the constant‐head contour encompassing a mole‐emitter or leaky‐pipe, as well as the dependence of the total discharge per unit pipe length on uniform pressure in the pipe, capillarity of the soil, radius of the pipe, and saturated hydraulic conductivity. An ovalic “water table” isobar, encompassing P‐69 source, is compared with one of R‐38 for a fixed discharge and saturated conductivity but adjusted sorptive numbers. The Whisler and Bouwer (1970) relation between the static height of capillary rise and sorptive number is shown to give a good match between R‐38 and P‐69 isobars. This allows to use R‐38 in the source vicinity and P‐69 in the far‐field zone. Computer algebra ( Mathematica ) routines are used for visualization of the known and extended R‐38 and P‐69 solutions.
Steady laminar viscous 2-D flow through straight cylindrical tubes is studied. By comparison of the film-type Averyanov flow in an annular domain and the common Poiseuille flow in a circular tube, it is deduced why at high suctions sands are less conductive than clays. Flows in noncircular tubes with cusps modeling contact zones of solid particles are considered. Using conformal mappings, the Poisson equation in the physical plane is reduced to the Laplace equation in an auxiliary disk. The Dirichlet problem in this disk is solved by the Poisson integral formula. The value of maximal velocity at the center of the tube and the total flow rate (conductivity) are calculated.
Summary Transport phenomena in porous media depend strongly on three‐dimensional pore structures. Macropore networks enable water and solute to move preferentially through the vadose zone. A complete representation of their geometry is important for understanding soil behaviour such as preferential flow. Once we know the geometrical, topological and scaling attributes of preferential flow paths, we can begin computer simulations of water movement in the soil. The box‐counting method is used in three dimensions (i.e. cube‐counting algorithm) to characterize the mass fractal dimension of macropore networks using X‐ray computed tomography (CT) matrices. We developed an algorithm to investigate the mass fractal dimension in three dimensions and to see how it compares with the co‐dimensions obtained using the box‐counting technique in two dimensions. For that purpose, macropore networks in four large undisturbed soil columns (850 mm × 77 mm diameter) were quantified and visualized, in both two and three dimensions, using X‐ray CT. We observed an increasing trend between the fractal dimension and macroporosity for the four columns. Moreover, similar natural logarithm functions were obtained for the four cores by a least squares fit through plots of mass fractal dimension against macroporosity.
