Full and boundary-layer solutions of the steady air sparging problem

摘要

The one previous analytical solution to the steady sparging problem in a homogeneous soil was in the boundary-layer approximation that neglects the vertical capillary pressure gradient. The present study gives an analytical solution to the full air-flow equation, with the corresponding boundary-layer solution for comparison. The full solution predicts sparging below the air-injection point, whereas the boundary-layer solution does not. Solutions are expressed both in terms of the dimensionless Kirchhoff potentialθ(increasing monotonically with capillary pressure and air saturation also)and the dimensionless Stokes stream function F(mapping the pattern of air flow).