Numerical Study of Hyporheic Flow across Bedforms of Different Type

C. Gualtieri [1],
[1] University of Napoli Federico II, Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering (DICEA), Napoli, Italy
Published in 2016

Despite the traditional separation between the studies of surface water and groundwater flows, it has been long recognized that rivers and aquifers are strongly connected and that their interaction gives rise to a continuous exchange of water and solutes. The volume within the porous medium where groundwater and stream water mix is termed hyporheic zone, which has hydrodynamic, physiochemical and biotic characteristics different from those of both the river and the subsurface environments. The paper presents results from a numerical study carried out to investigate the influence the geometry of a bedform on coupled free-fluid, porous-medium flow. The results confirmed the close relationship between the characteristics of the separation region in the water column downstream of the bedform crest and those of the hyporheic zone in the porous medium. The numerical data were validated by comparing numerical and experimental data from the laminar backward-facing step flow.

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