The Effect of Surface Roughness on Fluid Configuration and Solute Transport in Unsaturated Porous Media
Abstract
When describing the configuration of water in unsaturated media, a distinction is often made between water that is held by capillary forces between grains (capillary water), and water associated with adsorbed films on solid surfaces (film water). The objective of this work was to better understand the nature of the water associated with solid surfaces, with emphasis on understanding the configuration of water on rough natural surfaces. Stereoscopic SEM was used to determine elevation maps on a range of different natural solid surfaces. A computational technique was then developed to calculate the configuration of water on the surfaces as a function of capillary pressure. Calculations of fluid configurations show that, except at extremely high capillary pressures, fluid configuration is dominated by bridging of surface roughness features, even for extremely smooth surfaces. Results suggest that true adsorbed films are likely extremely rare in the environment except under near-dry, ultra-high capillary pressure conditions. This result has significant implications for understanding fate and transport within the unsaturated zone. Preliminary simulations exploring the impact on transport will be discussed.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2013
- Bibcode:
- 2013AGUFM.H13B1322K
- Keywords:
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- 1875 HYDROLOGY Vadose zone