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The Effect of Constant Anisotropy on Capillary Barrier Performance
Author(s) -
Stormont J. C.
Publication year - 1995
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 - 10.1029/94wr03001
Subject(s) - hydraulic conductivity , capillary action , anisotropy , infiltration (hvac) , conductivity , materials science , divergence (linguistics) , mechanics , chemistry , composite material , physics , geology , optics , soil science , soil water , linguistics , philosophy
Ross' solution for the divergence capacity of a capillary barrier is modified to incorporate constant hydraulic conductivity anisotropy of the fine layer. The analysis assumes steady infiltration and that the principal directions of the hydraulic conductivity tensor are parallel and normal to the fine‐coarse contact. The solutions for divergence capacity and length have two terms. The first term, similar to the solution of Ross, represents the diversion due to the presence of the capillary barrier and is proportional to the hydraulic conductivity parallel to the contact. The second term, which arises from infiltration into an anisotropic medium independent of the capillary barrier, is a function of the fine layer thickness and will be small for engineered barriers. Thus an anisotropic fine layer with a greater hydraulic conductivity in the direction parallel to the fine‐coarse contact will extend the performance of a capillary barrier as measured by its divergence capacity and length.