Multidimensional Flow and Transport in Heterogeneous Unsaturated Porous Media: Theory and Experiments

9313260 Protopapas这是一个为研究提供支持的奖项，其目的是促进对非均质土壤中流动和运输的宏观描述，增进对流体渗透到土壤中的微观尺度机制的认识，比目前更好地了解微小颗粒对土壤中现场尺度流体行为的影响，并在旨在描述多孔介质的流动和运输特性的数值模型中考虑土壤水力特性的随机性。研究人员计划通过开发新的实验技术来分析孔隙尺度的入渗，验证现有的关于非均质土壤中非稳定入渗的理论，并通过额外的理论工作和实验验证来改进模型，从而从理论和实验上解决这些问题。该项目的成果预计将用于水和废水管理系统的工程设计，这些系统涉及从地表通过土壤渗入地下含水层。这项工作还有望为研究非均质多孔介质中的流体行为开发新的实验室方法和技术，从而帮助将所产生的模型应用于流体管理系统的工程设计，例如用于废水处理的人工湿地和用于容纳水、废水或危险废物的防渗墙。

9313260 Protopapas This is a award to provide support for research, the objective of which is to advance the macroscopic description of flow and transport in heterogeneous soils, improve knowledge of the microscale mechanism of fluid infiltration into soil, obtain a better understanding than now exists of the effect that small particulates have on field-scale fluid behavior in soil, and accounting for randomness of the hydraulic properties of soil in numerical models that are intended to describe flow and transport properties of porous media. The investigator plans to address these issues both theoretically and experimentally by developing new experimental techniques for analyzing pore scale infiltration, validation of existing the existing theory regarding unsteady infiltration in heterogeneous soils, and improvement of the models that result from additional theoretical effort and experimental validation. Results of this project are expected to be utilized in engineering design of water and wastewater management systems that involve seepage from surface locations through soil and into groundwater aquifers. The work is also expected to develop new laboratory methods and techniques for study of fluid behavior in heterogeneous porous media, thus assisting in applying resultant models in the engineering design of fluid management systems such as artificial wetlands for wastewater treatment and cutoff walls for containment of water, wastewater or hazardous wastes.