Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1007/s12303-008-0029-2
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Title (Primary) A study of preferential flow in heterogeneous media using random walk particle tracking
Author Park, C.-H.; Beyer, C.; Bauer, S.; Kolditz, O. ORCID logo
Source Titel Geosciences Journal
Year 2008
Department ENVINF
Volume 12
Issue 3
Page From 285
Page To 297
Language englisch
Keywords random walk particle tracking; particle resolution; preferential flow; travel time distribution; heterogeneous porous media
Abstract We investigated the onset of preferential flow in heterogeneous porous media using the random walk particle tracking (RWPT) concept. The RWPT model is first used to analyze empirically the required number of particles to achieve accurate concentration distributions in two-dimensional homogeneous media and under uniform flow conditions. The analysis is then extended to randomly heterogeneous systems. By increasing the variance of log-normal hydraulic conductivity fields, the transition between homogeneous and preferential flows is observed. To analyze the degree of preferential flow in the porous media, we provide a diagram that consists of two dimensionless parameters: normalized travel time and distance. All the heterogeneous media synthetically generated show a linear relation in the diagram. The characteristic travel velocity increases with increasing heterogeneity. We found the diagram is a useful tool to analyze preferential flow.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=1289
Park, C.-H., Beyer, C., Bauer, S., Kolditz, O. (2008):
A study of preferential flow in heterogeneous media using random walk particle tracking
Geosci. J. 12 (3), 285 - 297 10.1007/s12303-008-0029-2