Title
The MAST-edge centred lumped scheme for the flow simulation in variably saturated heterogeneous porous media
Abstract
A novel methodology is proposed for the solution of the flow equation in a variably saturated heterogeneous porous medium. The computational domain is descretized using triangular meshes and the governing PDEs are discretized using a lumped in the edge centres numerical technique. The dependent unknown variable of the problem is the piezometric head. A fractional time step methodology is applied for the solution of the original system, solving consecutively a prediction and a correction problem. A scalar potential of the flow field exists and in the prediction step a MArching in Space and Time (MAST) formulation is applied for the sequential solution of the Ordinary Differential Equation of the cells, ordered according to their potential value computed at the beginning of the time step. In the correction step, the solution of a large linear system with order equal to the number of edges is required. A semi-analytical procedure is also proposed for the solution of the prediction step. The computational performance, the order of convergence and the mass balance error have been estimated in several tests and compared with the results of other literature models.
Year
DOI
Venue
2012
10.1016/j.jcp.2011.10.012
J. Comput. Physics
Keywords
Field
DocType
flow field,computational domain,sequential solution,heterogeneous porous media,correction problem,computational performance,flow equation,fractional time step methodology,time step,flow simulation,correction step,prediction step,finite element,analytical solution,mass conservation
Discretization,Mathematical optimization,Ordinary differential equation,Linear system,Mathematical analysis,Scalar potential,Finite element method,Rate of convergence,Hydraulic head,Mathematics,Conservation of mass
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
231
4
0021-9991
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
0
0.34
4
Authors
3
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Costanza Aricò121.45
Marco Sinagra200.34
Tullio Tucciarelli331.53