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- Title
Drying front in a sloping aquifer: Nonlinear effects.
- Authors
Stagnitti, Frank; Li, Ling; Parlange, J.-Yves; Brutsaert, Wilfried; Lockington, David A.; Steenhuis, Tammo S.; Parlange, Marc B.; Barry, D. A.; Hogarth, William L.
- Abstract
The profiles for the water table height h( x, t) in a shallow sloping aquifer are reexamined with a solution of the nonlinear Boussinesq equation. We demonstrate that the previous anomaly first reported by Brutsaert [1994] that the point at which the water table h first becomes zero at x = L at time t = t c remains fixed at this point for all times t > t c is actually a result of the linearization of the Boussinesq equation and not, as previously suggested [ Brutsaert, 1994; Verhoest and Troch, 2000], a result of the Dupuit assumption. Rather, by examination of the nonlinear Boussinesq equation the drying front, i.e., the point x f at which h is zero for times t ≥ t c, actually recedes downslope as physically expected. This points out that the linear Boussinesq equation should be used carefully when a zero depth is obtained as the concept of an 'average' depth loses meaning at that time.
- Publication
Water Resources Research, 2004, Vol 40, Issue 4, pn/a
- ISSN
0043-1397
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1029/2003WR002255