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Modelling two‐dimensional heat and moisture transfer in unsaturated soils, including gravity effects
Author(s) -
Thomas H. R.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
international journal for numerical and analytical methods in geomechanics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.419
H-Index - 91
eISSN - 1096-9853
pISSN - 0363-9061
DOI - 10.1002/nag.1610090606
Subject(s) - vaporization , moisture , mechanics , soil water , heat transfer , evaporation , stratum , geotechnical engineering , water content , finite element method , latent heat , flow (mathematics) , thermodynamics , materials science , environmental science , geology , soil science , physics , composite material
A theoretical model is presented to predict simultaneous transient coupled heat and moisture transfer in partly saturated soils. The formulation is in terms of volumetric moisture content, is two dimensional, includes gravitational flow and takes into account latent heat of vaporization effects. The numerical solution of the problem is accomplished by means of a finite element solution algorithm. Predictions from the numerical model are used to investigate the importance of gravitational flow, for the case of a soil stratum subjected to evaporation losses at the surface. The results achieved show good qualitative agreement with expected behaviour.