Analytical solutions for benchmarking cold regions subsurface water flow and energy transport models: one-dimensional soil thaw with conduction and advection

Advances in Water Resources
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Abstract

Numerous cold regions water flow and energy transport models have emerged in recent years. Dissimilarities often exist in their mathematical formulations and/or numerical solution techniques, but few analytical solutions exist for benchmarking flow and energy transport models that include pore water phase change. This paper presents a detailed derivation of the Lunardini solution, an approximate analytical solution for predicting soil thawing subject to conduction, advection, and phase change. Fifteen thawing scenarios are examined by considering differences in porosity, surface temperature, Darcy velocity, and initial temperature. The accuracy of the Lunardini solution is shown to be proportional to the Stefan number. The analytical solution results obtained for soil thawing scenarios with water flow and advection are compared to those obtained from the finite element model SUTRA. Three problems, two involving the Lunardini solution and one involving the classic Neumann solution, are recommended as standard benchmarks for future model development and testing.
Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Analytical solutions for benchmarking cold regions subsurface water flow and energy transport models: one-dimensional soil thaw with conduction and advection
Series title Advances in Water Resources
DOI 10.1016/j.advwatres.2014.05.005
Volume 70
Year Published 2014
Language English
Publisher Elsevier Science Ltd.
Publisher location England
Contributing office(s) National Research Program - Western Branch
Description 13 p.
Larger Work Type Article
Larger Work Subtype Journal Article
Larger Work Title Advances in Water Resources
First page 172
Last page 184
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