Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 11.2 Infiltration pattern of a DNAPL in an heterogeneous domain, through the partially
saturated, capillary fringe, and saturated zones; h
c
and H represent the heights of the capillary
fringe and the saturated zone, respectively (Schwille
1988
)
patterns from two experiments, in heterogeneous and homogeneous domains. The
different fingering patterns are clearly observed.
In partially saturated media, the moisture content affects NAPL migration
significantly. Abriola and Pinder (
1985
) suggested that the flux of a phase
p (NAPL, water, or air), J
p
, can be written as
;
dx
þ
q
p
dh
p
J
p
¼
k
p
K
sp
ð
11
:
12
Þ
p
where k
p
is the relative permeability of phase p in the porous matrix, K
s
h
is the
saturated hydraulic conductivity for phase p in the matrix, h
p
is the pressure head
of phase p, q
p
is the density of the phase p, and p
*
is a scaled reference phase
density. Clearly, the actual pressure head in each phase depends on the fluid
configuration within the pores. Flux equations for each of the three phases can be
