Rj. Glass et Mj. Nicholl, PHYSICS OF GRAVITY FINGERING OF IMMISCIBLE FLUIDS WITHIN POROUS-MEDIA- AN OVERVIEW OF CURRENT UNDERSTANDING AND SELECTED COMPLICATING FACTORS, Geoderma, 70(2-4), 1996, pp. 133-163
While gravity fingering of water in unsaturated sands has been demonst
rated and studied under constrained laboratory conditions, its signifi
cance under field conditions in the vadose zone is still under debate.
We review current understanding of the gravity fingering process as d
eveloped through linear stability analysis and laboratory experiments.
With respect to many complicating factors inherent in the field, this
understanding is deficient in determining the field conditions where
gravity fingering can be expected and the behavior of the field-scale
fingering process when it occurs. This deficiency is exemplified in th
e results we present of a field experiment conducted in a sandy alluvi
al deposit. While simple extrapolation of current understanding of the
process predicted instability, fingers did not occur. To begin to und
erstand the influence of complicating factors inherent in the field, w
e conducted several laboratory experiments that address three importan
t complicating factors: uniform and non-uniform initial moisture conte
nt, media heterogeneity, and the presence of macropores and fractures.
These factors can fundamentally alter the gravity fingering process,
its scale of expression and, under many field conditions, suppress its
occurrence entirely. While the significance of gravity fingering of w
ater in a wettable vadose zone is still inconclusive, gravity fingerin
g will likely play a significant role in water/NAPL (nonaqueous-phase
liquid) or water/NAPL/air systems, as occur within the saturated and v
adose zones, respectively, at many contaminated industrial sites. To d
emonstrate this role, the results of a simple experiment are presented
.