Repository logo

Infoscience

  • English
  • French
Log In
Logo EPFL, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne

Infoscience

  • English
  • French
Log In
  1. Home
  2. Academic and Research Output
  3. Journal articles
  4. Examination of the seepage face boundary condition in subsurface and coupled surface/subsurface hydrological models
 
research article

Examination of the seepage face boundary condition in subsurface and coupled surface/subsurface hydrological models

Scudeler, C.
•
Paniconi, C.
•
Pasetto, D.  
Show more
2017
Water Resources Research

A seepage face is a nonlinear dynamic boundary that strongly affects pressure head distributions, water table fluctuations, and flow patterns. Its handling in hydrological models, especially under complex conditions such as heterogeneity and coupled surface/subsurface flow, has not been extensively studied. In this paper, we compare the treatment of the seepage face as a static (Dirichlet) versus dynamic boundary condition, we assess its resolution under conditions of layered heterogeneity, we examine its interaction with a catchment outlet boundary, and we investigate the effects of surface/subsurface exchanges on seepage faces forming at the land surface. The analyses are carried out with an integrated catchment hydrological model. Numerical simulations are performed for a synthetic rectangular sloping aquifer and for an experimental hillslope from the Landscape Evolution Observatory. The results show that the static boundary condition is not always an adequate stand-in for a dynamic seepage face boundary condition, especially under conditions of high rainfall, steep slope, or heterogeneity; that hillslopes with layered heterogeneity give rise to multiple seepage faces that can be highly dynamic; that seepage face and outlet boundaries can coexist in an integrated hydrological model and both play an important role; and that seepage faces at the land surface are not always controlled by subsurface flow. The paper also presents a generalized algorithm for resolving seepage face outflow that handles heterogeneity in a simple way, is applicable to unstructured grids, and is shown experimentally to be equivalent to the treatment of atmospheric boundary conditions in subsurface flow models.

  • Details
  • Metrics
Type
research article
DOI
10.1002/2016Wr019277
Web of Science ID

WOS:000400160500006

Author(s)
Scudeler, C.
Paniconi, C.
Pasetto, D.  
Putti, M.
Date Issued

2017

Publisher

Amer Geophysical Union

Published in
Water Resources Research
Volume

53

Issue

3

Start page

1799

End page

1819

Subjects

seepage face

•

boundary conditions

•

integrated hydrological modeling

•

surface

•

subsurface interactions

•

Richards' equation

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
ECHO  
Available on Infoscience
May 30, 2017
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/138032
Logo EPFL, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne
  • Contact
  • infoscience@epfl.ch

  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Instagram
  • Follow us on LinkedIn
  • Follow us on X
  • Follow us on Youtube
AccessibilityLegal noticePrivacy policyCookie settingsEnd User AgreementGet helpFeedback

Infoscience is a service managed and provided by the Library and IT Services of EPFL. © EPFL, tous droits réservés