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Pressurized steady state flows from horizontal cylindrical cavities
Author(s) -
Pullan A. J.,
Hannaford R. H.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/91wr00097
Subject(s) - dimensionless quantity , mechanics , pressure head , hydrostatic pressure , radius , hydrostatic equilibrium , materials science , hydraulic head , geotechnical engineering , boundary value problem , finite element method , geology , physics , thermodynamics , mathematics , mathematical analysis , computer security , quantum mechanics , computer science
The coupled saturated‐unsaturated flow that results from a horizontal pressurized water‐filled cylindrical cavity is studied, under the assumption of quasilinearization for the unsaturated flow, using a combined boundary element—finite element method. Earlier work on this problem considered infiltration under hydrostatic pressure alone. That work is extended here by the inclusion of an additional pressure head in the cavity. Detailed results are calculated for a range of pressure heads and dimensionless cavity radii, and the size of the saturated region as a function of these two parameters is illustrated. These show that even for small cavities and comparatively high pressure heads, gravity effects cannot be ignored. The calculations also reveal a linear relationship between the flux from the cavity and the applied pressure head, with the slope of this line varying approximately as the two‐thirds power of the dimensionless cavity radius.