Fluid flow in porous media using image-based modelling to parametrize Richards' equation.

ABSTRACT: The parameters in Richards' equation are usually calculated from experimentally measured values of the soil-water characteristic curve and saturated hydraulic conductivity. The complex pore structures that often occur in porous media complicate such parametrization due to hysteresis between wetting and drying and the effects of tortuosity. Rather than estimate the parameters in Richards' equation from these indirect measurements, image-based modelling is used to investigate the relationship between the pore structure and the parameters. A three-dimensional, X-ray computed tomography image stack of a soil sample with voxel resolution of 6 μm has been used to create a computational mesh. The Cahn-Hilliard-Stokes equations for two-fluid flow, in this case water and air, were applied to this m

SUBMITTER: Cooper LJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5719621 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature