Laboratory modeling of drainage flow through fine sandy aquifers and evaluation of available analytical methods

In this paper, subsurface water profile and seepage discharge through fine porous media were modeled experimentally and their results were compared with the data of Dupuit- Forchheimer, Chapman, Bear and Castro- Orgaz et al. methods. Laboratory model consist of fine porous media having 5 m long, 0.6 m wide and 1 m deep. For different water levels. The seepage discharge and water profiles were measured and then were compared with analytical relationship. The values of relative error percent and NOF function for computed and measured variables were compared. After comparison of experimental results and analytical solutions, the drawbacks and capabilities of each method has been revealed. After comparing the results of the discharge experimental with the analytical relationship based on Dupuit- Forchheimer assumption analytical the relative error was between 4.2 to 6.4 percent. By the comparison of the experimental results with analytical solution for subsurface flow profile, the NOF for analytical method were between 0.012 to 0.048 for Chapman, 0.011 to 0.081 for Bear and 0.011 to 0.078 for Castro- Orgaz et al, respectively, which indicated a proper confirmation.