Open AccessResearch Spotlight: Modeling saturation overshoot in porous media
Author(s) -
Tretkoff Ernie
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
eos, transactions american geophysical union
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.316
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 2324-9250
pISSN - 0096-3941
DOI - 10.1029/2011eo210012
Subject(s) - overshoot (microwave communication) , saturation (graph theory) , porous medium , porosity , infiltration (hvac) , water content , soil water , mechanics , soil science , materials science , geotechnical engineering , environmental science , geology , mathematics , engineering , physics , composite material , electrical engineering , combinatorics
Infiltration of water into soils or porous rocks often follows unpredictable, preferential flow paths, also known as fingers. These fingers are caused by a condition called saturation overshoot, where the water content in the finger tip is greater than the water content in the finger tail. Why this happens has puzzled researchers,as overshoot cannot occur in traditional models. DiCarlo et al. used modeling and experiments to bridge the pore‐level and continuum‐scale physics behind saturation overshoot. Their model predicts the types of soils and initial conditions that are susceptible to overshoot and preferential flow. ( Water Resources Research , doi:10.1029/ 2010WR009879, 2011)