Experimental Determination of the Parameters of the Liquid Infiltration into the Sand

Abstract

Based on the Green-Ampt model we plotted the curve to show the dependence between the time and the depth of the liquid infiltration into the loose material. This curve was obtained by solving the system of differential equations. One of these equations describes a decrease in the surface liquid layer thickness and the other equation describes the in-depth infiltration dynamics. The logarithmic function expansion into series allows us to turn from the irrational expression to the approximating polynomial. Polynomial coefficients are defined by the least square method. Using as an example the infiltration of the raw oil into the sand we showed that the polynomial with the addends of the second and third orders satisfactory approximates the specified dependence of the infiltration time on the infiltration depth. In this case, the approximation error is within 10% after the first minute of the accidental spill. A linear character of the relationship between the thickness of the liquid layer spilled on the sand surface and the infiltration depth enables the evaluation of the statistical parameter of infiltration, i.e. the porosity factor.