Numerical modeling airflow in soil with impact of groundwater

Abstract

In order to simulate the airflow in anhydrous case and the water-air flow in groundwater case, a numerical model of airflow in soil was developed. For the nonlinearity of the governing partial differential equation, the corresponding discretization and linearization methods were given. Due to the mass transfer between air-phase and water-phase, phase states of the model elements were constantly changing. Thus, parameters of the model were divided into primary ones and secondary ones, and the primary variables changing with phase states and the secondary variables can be obtained by their functional relationship with the primary variables. Additionally, the special definite condition of this numerical model was illustrated. Two examples were given to simulate the airflow in soil whether there was groundwater or not, and the effectiveness of the numerical model is verified by comparing the results of simulation with that of experiment.

Keywords

groundwater / water-air flow / capillary pressure / finite difference method / compressed air

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