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Numerical Modelling of Groundwater Flow in the Presence of Temperature Gradients
by
Irene Pestov
Land and Water Sciences Division, Bureau of Rural Sciences
This talk will focus on physics and mathematics behind the numerical software. As an example we consider the main fresh water aquifer of the Great Artesian Basin (GAB). Large temperature variation in the horizontal direction and higher than normal geothermal gradients have been recorded in the GAB during measurements. These temperature differences significantly affect thermodynamic properties of a saturated fluid such as dynamic viscosity and density. Our calculations show that the density variation due to temperature triggers the onset of thermal convection and the viscosity variation enhances the flow within the convective cells.
A rigorous approach to modelling convective flows is to invoke a numerical program that solves the continuity equation for a variable density fluid, the energy equation to account for heat transfer, and the momentum equation in the form of the generalised Darcy's law. A brief review of modern software for simulating non-isothermal flow through porous media and numerical simulation results will be presented.
Date received: July 28, 1999
Copyright © 1999 by the author(s). The author(s) of this document and the organizers of the conference have granted their consent to include this abstract in Atlas Conferences Inc. Document # cadk-60.