Author(s): Seyed Mohammad Hossein Jazayeri Shoushtari; Peter Nielsen; Nick Cartwright; Pierre Perrochet
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Keywords: Groundwater; Seepage face; Capillary fringe; Richards equation
Abstract: Detailed measurements of piezometric head from sand flume experiments of an idealized coastal aquifer forced by a simple harmonic boundary condition across a vertical boundary are presented. The data is used to assess the predictive capabilities of a numerical solution of the Richards equation. The numerical model implements the complex periodic boundary condition by dividing the boundary into three distinguished parts. The first part is below the “ocean” level where the water pressure distribution is considered to be hydrostatic. The second part is the seepage face which may exist above the ocean level. The third part of the boundary is above the watertable exit point where the water pressure is negative (i. e. less than atmospheric pressure). This study focuses on the implementation of this boundary condition using the mixed (Cauchy) type boundary condition. The comparison between numerical modeling results and laboratory data shows a good agreement
Year: 2014