Date of Award:

5-1992

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department:

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Committee Chair(s)

Christopher J. Duffy

Committee

Christopher J. Duffy

Committee

Upmanu Lall

Committee

Marian W. Kemblowski

Committee

David G. Tarboton

Committee

Joseph Koebbe

Abstract

This research examines density driven groundwater flow (free convection) in closed desert basins as controlled by various physical factors. It addresses three issues. The occurrence of free convection under field conditions is first examined, based on an extensive literature review of field investigations. It discusses the evidence for or against the hypothesis of free convection and the various physiographic factors that determine the conditions for free convection. The research then turns to a more quantitative and systematic investigation of the closed basin hydrogeologic system. With dimensional analysis, the numerous variables in the system are transformed into fewer dimensionless and physically more meaningful ratios. The effect of each ratio is investigated through numerical simulations. The physical insight from the dimensional analysis and the quantitative relationships from the numerical experiments are combined to construct a set of diagrams that characterize the dynamics of the closed basin system in a changing environment. In the third part of the research, climate fluctuations on seasonal to secular scales are characterized with stochastic methods. The effect of the fluctuations on an equilibrium free convection cell in the groundwater is investigated by introducing various perturbations to the boundary conditions in numerical experiments. Response of the groundwater system is discussed qualitatively.

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