Laboratory and numerical investigation of flow and transport near a seepage-face boundary

Laboratory and numerical modeling investigations were completed to study the unconfined ground water flow and transport processes near a seepage-face boundary. The laboratory observations were made in a radial sand tank and included measurements of the height of the seepage face, flow velocity near the seepage face, travel time distribution of multiple tracer slugs, and streamlines. All the observations were reliably reproduced with a three-dimensional, axi-symmetric, variably saturated ground water flow model. Physical data presented in this work demonstrate and quantify the importance of three-dimensional transport patterns within a seepage-face zone. The results imply that vertically averaged flow models that employ Dupuit approximations might introduce error in the analysis of localized solute transport near a seepage-face boundary. The experimental dataset reported in this work will also be of interest for those who are attempting to validate a numerical algorithm for solving ground water and contaminant discharge patterns near a surface-water boundary.