Abstract
An equation is derived to calculate the specific interfacial area of any two continuous immiscible fluids contained in a porous medium. Use of the equation requires the volume fraction of fluids, a capillary water retention relation and the specific solid surface area of the porous medium of interest. Calculations of the air-water interfacial area as a function of volumetric water content are presented for a hypothetical sand, silt loam and clay soil. These values are compared to those calculated from two other equations that have been proposed in the literature. The method presented here is novel in that it is based on the area of continuous liquid films covering the solid phase matrix and so includes both convex and concave curvatures. It also is developed such that it converges to the correct known areas at total saturation and at monolayer coverage of the solid matrix.
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