Numerical simulation of the transport of water in soil with macropores

摘要

Exact description of water movement in soil needs a model that can reflect the physical character of the soil. In this paper, we assume that soil is divided into two porous media, one for matrix flow and one for macropore flow. A macropore is assumed to extend vertically from the soil surface down to the desired depth.Macropore density is also incorporated into the model to describe the complex distribution of macropores in soil. Water movement in the two flow domains is simulated using different models. In order to improve the computational efficiency, the domain decomposition method is adopted. From the comparison of the simulation results, it can be seen that the models and methods that are used in this research can depict the characteristic of macropore flow and improve the practicability and applicability of the model.