Unsaturated soil seepage analysis using a rational transformation method with under-relaxation

Abstract

The finite-element method provides a convenient and effective means for solving problems of seepage in unsaturated soils. However, convergence difficulties exist in numerical simulations of unsaturated flow analyses because of the high nonlinearity of the soil hydraulic properties. This technical note presents a combination approach consisting of a rational function transformation method and a common under-relaxation technique to solve the h-based form of Richards equation. Numerical studies show that this combined method can use a larger time step and corresponding oscillation-free mesh size to produce acceptable results and also converge to a stable solution quickly in each time step. © 2008 ASCE.