Premium
Hysteretic storativity concept for aquifer simulation
Author(s) -
Stauffer Fritz,
Franke HansJoerg,
Dracos Themistocles
Publication year - 1992
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 - 10.1029/92wr01148
Subject(s) - phreatic , aquifer , geology , mechanics , flow (mathematics) , groundwater flow , hysteresis , dimensionless quantity , wetting , water flow , geotechnical engineering , groundwater , soil science , physics , thermodynamics , quantum mechanics
The influence of the capillary zone on groundwater flow is usually taken into account by a constant storativity parameter in vertically integrated models of extended phreatic aquifers. Hysteresis of the water content characteristics may, however, significantly influence the response of phreatic aquifers in time‐dependent flow processes. For this reason a variable storativity concept is introduced. It is based on the hysteresis model of Mualem and is restricted to primary wetting or drying curves. Assuming a static pressure distribution in the vertical, storativity is a function of the position of the phreatic surface. The unsteady vertically integrated groundwater model thus becomes nonlinear. The model is checked with data from sandbox experiments. It accurately reproduces the time‐dependent flow influenced by hysteresis in the water content characteristics. Applications to unidirectional flow are presented in dimensionless form.