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

9313260 Protopapas本奖项旨在为以下研究提供支持：推进非均质土壤中流动和运移的宏观描述，提高对流体渗入土壤的微观机制的认识，更好地理解小颗粒对土壤中现场尺度流体行为的影响。在描述多孔介质的流动和输运特性的数值模型中，考虑了土壤水力特性的随机性。研究人员计划从理论和实验两方面解决这些问题，通过开发新的实验技术来分析孔隙尺度的渗透，验证非均质土壤中现有的非稳态渗透理论，并改进由额外的理论努力和实验验证产生的模型。预计该项目的成果将用于涉及从地表位置通过土壤渗透到地下水含水层的水和废水管理系统的工程设计。这项工作还有望开发新的实验室方法和技术，用于研究非均质多孔介质中的流体行为，从而协助将所得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遏制水、废水或危险废物的截流墙。

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.