Publications [#58022] of Zbigniew J. Kabala

Papers Published

1. Kabala, Z.J. and Milly, P.C.D., Sensitivity analysis of flow in unsaturated heterogeneous porous media: theory, numerical model, and its verification, Water Resour. Res. (USA), vol. 26 no. 4 (1990), pp. 593 - 610 [89WR03163]
   (last updated on 2007/04/09)

   Abstract:
   Sensitivity analysis is one of the tools available for analyzing the effects of parameter uncertainty and soil heterogeneity on the transport of moisture in unsaturated similar porous media. Direct differentiation of the discretized Richards equation with respect to the parameters defining the spatial variability leads to linear systems of equations for elementary sensitivities that are readily solved in conjunction with the original equation. These elementary sensitivities can be easily transformed into approximations of the functional sensitivities and into the sensitivities of the boundary fluxes. A numerical implementation of this technique in one space dimension yields results that are consistent with exact analytical solutions and with numerical perturbation calculations. The effects of a given heterogeneity can be modeled adequately provided that the maximum relative change of the scale factor from one grid point to the next does not exceed a number on the order of unity

   Keywords:
   flow through porous media;groundwater;hydrology;moisture;sensitivity;soil;