Finite‐element analysis of multiphase immiscible flow through soils

Abstract

A finite‐element model is developed for multiphase flow through soil involving three immiscible fluids: namely, air, water, and a nonaqueous phase liquid (NAPL). A variational method is employed for the finite‐element formulation corresponding to the coupled differential equations governing flow in a three‐fluid phase porous medium system with constant air phase pressure. Constitutive relationships for fluid conductivities and saturations as functions of fluid pressures, which are derived in a companion paper by J. C. Parker et al. (this issue) and which may be calibrated from two‐phase laboratory measurements, are employed in the finite‐element program. The solution procedure uses backward time integration with iteration by a modified Picard method to handle the nonlinear properties. Laboratory experiments involving water displacement from soil columns by p cymene (a benzene‐derivative hydrocarbon) under constant pressure were simulated by the finite‐element program to validate the numerical model and formulation for constitutive properties. Transient water outflow predicted using independently measured saturation‐capillary head data agreed with observed outflow data within the limits of precision of the predictions as estimated by a first‐order Taylor series approximation considering parameter uncertainty due to experimental reproducability and constitutive model accuracy. Two‐dimensional simulations are presented for a hypothetical field case involving introduction of NAPL near the soil surface due to leakage from an underground storage tank. Subsequent transport of NAPL in the variably saturated vadose and groundwater zones is analyzed.