HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Babu, D. K. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Babu, D. K. Agricola Articles by Babu, D. K.

Saturated-Unsaturated Flow in Radial Directions Generated by an Injection Well¹

ABSTRACT

The paper investigates water movement under saturated-unsaturated flow conditions. The flows result from a vertically placed line source that injects water at a constant rate into radial directions in space. Soil water diffusivity is assumed to vary as a positive, arbitrary power of water saturation. Singular perturbation methods are applied to derive an analytical form of the solution as a power series in the perturbation parameter. The solution so concentrated is freed from singularities and breakdowns, and is therefore uniformly valid at all points of space and time. Explicit formulae are derived for the location of the wetting front as well as for the transition face between saturated and unsaturated flow regimes. Several cases of the diffusion function and injection rates are illustrated in the form of graphs. Relevance of the analysis to problems of flushing out dissolved salts from soils is briefly commented on.

¹ Contribution from the Civil Engineering Dep., Princeton Univ., Princeton, N.J. Research supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant no. ENG-78-24413. Part of this work was presented at the Am. Geophysical Union Meetings in Washington, D.C., May 1979, under the title "The retarding influence of an unsaturated zone on a saturated flow under axial symmetry in three dimensions" as Paper no. H-20.

² Research Staff and Project Manager, Dep. of Civil Engineering, Princeton Univ., Princeton, NJ 08544.

Received for publication August 27, 1979. Accepted for publication May 26, 1980.