Abstract
The Darcy–Buckingham (DB) law, critical to the prediction of unsaturated flow, is widely used but has rarely been experimentally tested, and therefore may not be adequate in certain conditions. Failure of this law would imply that the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity is not constant for a given water content, as assumed in nearly all subsurface flow models. This study aims to test the DB law on unsaturated porous rock, complementing the few previous tests, all done on soils. Two lithotypes of calcareous porous rocks were tested. The quasi-steady centrifuge method was used to measure the flux density for different centrifugal driving forces while maintaining essentially constant water content, as required. Any deviations from the direct proportionality of the measured flux and the applied force would indicate a violation of the DB law. Our results show that, for the tested rocks and conditions, no physical phenomena occurred to cause a failure of the DB law.
Highlights
Darcy’s law has been central to subsurface hydrology for well over a century [1]
Its application to flow in unsaturated media, made possible by essential concepts developed by Buckingham [2] and often referred to for this purpose as the Darcy–Buckingham (DB) law, is a principal foundation of the hydrology of soils and rock above the water table
It is routinely applied without question in hydrology, agriculture, soil mechanics, ecology, waste disposal, mining, and contaminant transport, it has been subjected to remarkably few rigorous tests
Summary
Its application to flow in unsaturated media, made possible by essential concepts developed by Buckingham [2] and often referred to for this purpose as the Darcy–Buckingham (DB) law, is a principal foundation of the hydrology of soils and rock above the water table. It is routinely applied without question in hydrology, agriculture, soil mechanics, ecology, waste disposal, mining, and contaminant transport, it has been subjected to remarkably few rigorous tests.
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