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A Computational Investigation of Some Effects of Temperature on Soil Moisture
Author(s) -
Ferrand Lin A.,
Sulayman Jamal A.
Publication year - 1996
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 - 10.1029/96wr02328
Subject(s) - porous medium , drainage , water content , soil science , saturation (graph theory) , capillary pressure , capillary action , geotechnical engineering , soil water , materials science , moisture , pore water pressure , mechanics , environmental science , thermodynamics , geology , porosity , mathematics , composite material , physics , ecology , combinatorics , biology
A pore‐scale lattice model for fluid displacement in porous media is used to investigate the effect of temperature on (1) soil drainage and (2) soil freezing. The model is calibrated for a given soil, that is, input parameters for the lattice model are determined, using a single soil drainage curve measured at a given temperature. The calibrated model may be used to simulate drainage at different temperatures (1) using adjusted fluid parameters or (2) freezing at subzero temperatures. Drainage simulations are used to generate capillary pressure‐saturation or soil water characteristic function curves, while freezing simulations give rise to temperature‐liquid water content or soil freezing characteristic function curves. These curves are compared to experimental data to test the validity of assumptions regarding the pore‐scale mechanisms and processes underlying these continuum‐scale phenomena.