Steady-State One-Dimensional Flow: Materials in Serial

Capabilities Tested

This one-dimensional, steady-state test shows Amanzi’s capability to simulate flow through a saturated porous medium with constant properties. Capabilities tested include,

  • one-dimensional representation

  • steady-state

  • saturated flow

  • heterogeneous porous medium

  • exactness of the numerical scheme for piecewise linear head

For details on this test, see About.

Background

For one-dimensional, steady-state, flow through a saturated porous medium with constant properties, the general governing differential equation expressing mass conservation and Darcy’s law becomes simply

(1)\[\frac{d^2h}{dx^2} = 0\]

where the total head (\(h\), [L]) is the sum of pressure head (\(P/\rho g\), [L]) and elevation (\(z\), [L])

\[h = \frac{P}{\rho g}+z\]

\(\rho\) = density [M/L3], \(g\) = gravitational acceleration [L/T2], and \(x\) = horizontal distance [L]. The ordinary differential equation (1) is easily solved by direct integration as

(2)\[h = C_1 x + C_2\]

where the integration constants \(C_1\) and \(C_2\) depend on the boundary conditions.

For a simple heterogeneous porous medium composed of two constant-property materials in series, Equation (2) can be applied to each subregion separately with the interface conditions treated as boundary conditions for the two subregions. To analyze this special case, let the subscripts 1 and 2 denote the subregions adjoining the \(x = 0\) and \(x = L\) boundaries respectively, and the subscript i denote the interface.

Model

The analytic solution for prescribed inlet and outlet pressures is presented below.

When hydraulic head is prescribed at both boundaries as

(3)\[\begin{split}h(0) &= h_0\\ h(L) &= h_L\end{split}\]

the analytic solutions (2) for hydraulic head in each subregion become

(4)\[\begin{split}h_1 &= (h_i - h_0) \frac{x}{L_i} + h_0\\ h_2 &= (h_L - h_i) \frac{x-L_i}{L-L_i} + h_i\end{split}\]

where \(L\) = domain length [L], \(L_i\) = position of interface [L], and \(h_i\) is yet to be defined. The volumetric flowrate per unit area through a porous medium, or Darcy velocity (\(U\), [L/T]), is defined by Darcy’s law as

(5)\[U = -\frac{k}{\mu\rho g}\frac{dh}{dx} = -K\frac{dh}{dx}\]

where \(k\) = intrinsic permeability [L2], \(\mu\) = viscosity [M/LT], and \(K\) = hydraulic conductivity [L/T]. Applying Equation (5) to each subregion using Equations (4) yields

(6)\[\begin{split}U_1 &= K_1\frac{h_0 - h_i}{L_i}\\ U_2 &= K_2\frac{h_i - h_L}{L-L_i}\\\end{split}\]

Mass conservation at the interface implies \(U_1 = U_2\), which after some algebra leads to an expression for hydraulic head at the interface:

(7)\[h_i = \frac{K_1(L-L_i)h_0+K_2L_ih_L}{K_1(L-L_i)+K_2L_i}\]

Equations (4) and (7) collectively define hydraulic head across the domain, and Equation (6) or (7) the Darcy velocity. One can also show that

(8)\[U = K_h\frac{h_0 - h_L}{L}\]

where \(K_h\) is the harmonic mean

(9)\[K_h = \frac{K_1K_2L}{K_1(L-L_i) + K_2L_i}\]

Problem Specification

The analytic solutions for hydraulic head and Darcy velocity can be used to test Amanzi implementation of prescribed hydraulic head boundary conditions, Darcy’s law, and mass conservation on an elementary problem with discrete heterogeneity.

Schematic

The domain is shown in the following schematic.

../../../_images/schematic3.png

One-dimensional, steady-state flow through a saturated porous medium with constant properties.

Mesh

A steady-flow mesh is applied.

Variables

To generate numerical results the following specifications are considered:

  • Domain

    • \(x_{min} = y_{min} = z_{min} = 0\)

    • \(x_{max} = 100 \: m, y_{max} = 2 \: m, z_{max} = 10 \: m\)

  • Horizontal flow in the x-coordinate direction

    • no-flow prescribed at the \(y_{min}, y_{max}, z_{min}, z_{max}\) boundaries

    • prescribed hydraulic head at the x-coordinate boundaries: \(h(0) = 20 \: m, h(L) = 19 \: m\)

  • Material properties:

    • \(\rho = 998.2 \: kg/m^3, \mu = 1.002 \times 10^{-3} \: Pa\cdot s, g = 9.807 \: m/s^2\)

    • \(L_i = x_{max}/2\)

    • \(K_1 = 1.0 m/d\) \((k = 1.1847 \times 10^{-12} \: m^2)\)

    • \(K_2 = 10 m/d\) \((k = 1.1847 \times 10^{-11} \: m^2)\)

  • Model discretization

    • \(\Delta x = \: 5 m, \Delta y = 2 \: m, \Delta z = 10 \: m\)

For these input specifications, Amanzi simulation output is expected to closely match

(10)\[h_i = 19.090909 \:m\]

and exhibit a linear head profile within each subregion following Equations (4). The harmonic mean is \(1.818181818 \:m/d\) from Equation (9) and thus the expected Darcy velocity is

(11)\[U = 0.0181818 \: m/d\]

from Equation (8).

Results and Comparison

The discretization is exact for linear solutions, and it is clear in the figure that Amanzi has reproduced the exact solution inside the materials. On the boundary, the observation value is taken from the nearby cell. On the material interface, the head is averaged of head in two neighboring cells. This will be fixed in the future.

(Source code, png, hires.png, pdf)

../../../_images/amanzi_linear_materials_serial_1d.png

This is also shown in the table below.

x [m]

z [m]

Analytic [m]

Amanzi [m]

0.0

5.0

20.0000

19.9545

2.5

5.0

19.9545

19.9545

47.5

5.0

19.1364

19.1364

50.0

5.0

19.0909

19.1114

52.5

5.0

19.0864

19.0864

97.5

5.0

19.0045

19.0045

100.0

5.0

19.0000

19.0045

References

About

  • Directory: testing/verification/flow/saturated/steady-state/linear_materials_serial_1d

  • Authors: Greg Flach

  • Maintainer(s): David Moulton, moulton@lanl.gov

  • Input Files:

    • amanzi_linear_materials_serial_1d-s.xlm

      • Spec Version 2.3.0, structured mesh framework

      • mesh: steady-flow_mesh.h5

      • runs

    • amanzi_linear_materials_serial_1d-u.xml

      • Spec Version 2.3.0, unstructured mesh framework

      • runs

  • Mesh Files:

    • steady-flow_mesh.h5

  • Analytic solution computed with golden output

    • Subdirectory: golden_output

    • Input Files:

      • steady-flow_data.h5