J. Hydrol. Hydromech., Vol. 73, No. 2 - Early view, 2025, p. 1 - 10, doi:
Scientific Paper, English

Corrado Fidelibus, Chaoshui Xu, Zhihe Wang, Peter Dowd: A code for the 2D simulation of the steady-state fluid flow in porous blocks containing transmissive fractures

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• Modelling fluid flow through a porous rock mass containing fractures is a common issue in many applications in civil engineering, mining engineering, and extraction of energy resources such as petroleum, gas, and geothermal heat. Fractures in these applications normally play the dominant role in conducting the fluid through the media but the contribution from the porous rock cannot be ignored, particularly when the relative conductivity is significantly high. In this case, flow through both the fractures and the porous rock must be considered simultaneously and their interactions could potentially be very complex. The Dual Porosity/Permeability Model (DPM) is commonly used to address the problem, however it has in general the limitation of over-simplified representation of fractures and fracture network within the rock mass. In this paper, for the solution of the fluid flow in such media, a numerical modelling approach based on the application of the Boundary Element Method (BEM) on the fluid flow in the block in combination with the Finite Element Method (FEM) on the fractures is presented, where fractures are represented explicitly in the model as discretised boundaries. A code dedicated to this approach was developed and is presented in this paper, together with results from illustrative examples demonstrating the effectiveness of the approach. The proposed method has the additional benefit of reducing computational costs, which is particularly useful for cases with large-scale fracture networks embedded in a conductive rock matrix. The source code is available for downloading at the link: https://github.com/cx-adelaide/BEMFEM_FlowSim.
  
  KEY WORDS: Flow in fractured porous rocks; Flow through fracture networks; Boundary element method; Coupling BEM and FEM solutions; Handling flow discontinuities; Equivalent porous medium.
  
  Address:
  - Corrado Fidelibus, Institute of Geosciences and Earth Resources, National Research Council of Italy, Torino, Italy. Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Innovazione, Universita del Salento, Lecce, Italy. (Corresponding author. Tel.: Fax.: Email: corrado.fidelibus@unisalento.it)
  - Chaoshui Xu, School of Chemical Engineering, University of Adelaide, Australia.
  - Zhihe Wang, School of Chemical Engineering, University of Adelaide, Australia.
  - Peter Dowd, School of Chemical Engineering, University of Adelaide, Australia.

J. Hydrol. Hydromech., Vol. 73, No. 2 - Early view, 2025, p. 1 - 10, doi:
Scientific Paper, English

Šimon Pospíšilík, Stanislav Kotaška, David Duchan, Zbyněk Zachoval, Martin Orfánus, Andrej Šoltész, Andrzej Tadeusz Gruchot, Tymoteusz Zydroń: Free flow over a partially contracted thin-plate weir with a triangular notch of angle 20.23° and zero weir height

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• The paper explores flow characteristics in the case of free flow of clean water over a partially contracted thin-plate weir with a triangular notch of angle 20.23° and with zero weir height above the bottom of the approach channel of rectangular cross-section at 5 approach channel widths and 7 heads. The description was based on the results from experimental research and numerical simulations. The numerical simulations allowed the description of the characteristics in parts of the flow where measurements were difficult to perform. The experimental research quantifies the validity of the numerical simulations and establish recommendations for construction of numerical models. The boundary between a partially contracted weir and a fully contracted weir was established by dimensionless approach channel width of the value 0.32, the flow characteristics (water surface, velocity) in the full range of the partially contracted weir (dimensionless approach channel width in range 0.32 ≤ BU* ≤ 1.00), and recommendations for the placement of a cross-section to measure water surface level for determine the heads (dimensionless distance −4 ≤ x* ≤ −2) were verified.
  
  KEY WORDS: Triangular-notch (V-notch) thin-plate weir; Free overflow; Experimental research; Numerical simulations; Partially contracted weir.
  
  Address:
  - Šimon Pospíšilík, Brno University of Technology, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Institute of Water Structures, Veveří 331/95, 602 00 Brno, Czech Republic.
  - Stanislav Kotaška, Brno University of Technology, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Institute of Water Structures, Veveří 331/95, 602 00 Brno, Czech Republic. (Corresponding author. Tel.: Fax.: Email: stanislav.kotaska@vut.cz)
  - David Duchan, Brno University of Technology, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Institute of Water Structures, Veveří 331/95, 602 00 Brno, Czech Republic.
  - Zbyněk Zachoval, Brno University of Technology, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Institute of Water Structures, Veveří 331/95, 602 00 Brno, Czech Republic.
  - Martin Orfánus, Slovak University of Technology, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Department of Hydraulic Engineering, Radlinského 11, 810 05 Bratislava, Slovak Republic.
  - Andrej Šoltész, Slovak University of Technology, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Department of Hydraulic Engineering, Radlinského 11, 810 05 Bratislava, Slovak Republic.
  - Andrzej Tadeusz Gruchot, University of Agriculture in Krakow, Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Geodesy, Department of Hydraulic Engineering and Geotechnics, Adama Mickiewicza 24/28, 30-059 Kraków, Poland.
  - Tymoteusz Zydroń, University of Agriculture in Krakow, Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Geodesy, Department of Hydraulic Engineering and Geotechnics, Adama Mickiewicza 24/28, 30-059 Kraków, Poland.

J. Hydrol. Hydromech., Vol. 73, No. 2 - Early view, 2025, p. 1 - 10, doi:
Scientific Paper, English

Stuti Mishra, Deo Raj Kaushal: Highly concentrated iron ore slurry flow through pipeline with and without chemical additive; part I: Experimental investigations and proposed model for the prediction of pressure drop

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• The present study comprises experimental and numerical analysis for flow of iron ore slurry (having particles with mean diameter, geometric standard deviation, and maximum static settled concentration of 55 µm, 2, and 75.2 w/w, respectively) flow through a 2-inch diameter pipeline in the flow velocity range of 1 to 3.5 m/s at high concentrations ranging from 60 to 72 % w/w without, and with chemical additive (Sodium-hexametaphosphate) at different dosages from 0.1 to 1.5% w/w of solids. The optimal dosage of chemical additive for maximum reduction in the rheological properties (absolute viscosity and yield stress) and pressure drop varies with solids concentration and increases from 0.8 to 1.2 % w/w of solids with an increase in solids concentration from 60 to 72% w/w. The critical deposition velocity also increases with an increase in solids concentration and additive dosages used in the present study in the range of 1 to 1.95 m/s. Modified Slatter’s method is proposed by replacing d85 with a more accurate optimum particle diameter using the rheological and pilot plant pipe loop testing data collected in the present study. Based on comparison with experimental data, it is observed that the proposed modified Slatter’s method can predict the pressure drop with an error of ±15%.
  
  KEY WORDS: Iron ore; Slurry flow; Chemical additive; Rheology.
  
  Address:
  - Stuti Mishra, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, India. (Corresponding author. Tel.: Fax.: Email: stuti.mishra@civil.iitd.ac.in)
  - Deo Raj Kaushal, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, India.

J. Hydrol. Hydromech., Vol. 73, No. 2 - Early view, 2025, p. 1 - 10, doi:
Scientific Paper, English

Stuti Mishra, Deo Raj Kaushal: Highly concentrated iron ore slurry flow through pipeline with and without chemical additive; part II: 3d cfd modelling

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• This study involves a computational analysis of the flow of iron ore (with a mean particle diameter of 55 microns) slurry flow through a pipeline of 2-inch diameter. The analysis covers a flow velocity range of 1 to 3.5 m/s at high concentrations ranging from 60 to 72 % w/w without and with additive (Sodium-hexametaphosphate) at different dosages from 0.1 to 1.5% w/w of solids. A three-dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (3D CFD) model is developed and validated using experimental data collected in our previous studies (Part I). The Eulerian multiphase model is used with K-epsilon turbulence settings to simulate the flow. Based on comparison with experimental data, it is observed that the 3D CFD model can predict the pressure drop with an error band of ±30%. However, the 3D CFD model predicts the pressure drop very accurately for the velocity range of 2 to 3m/s for the entire range of solids concentrations considered in the present study. Distributions of concentration, velocity, and slip velocity along with granular pressure and granular viscosity are also computed and presented using the 3D CFD model developed in the present study for the entire ranges of solids concentration and flow velocity covered in the present study.
  
  KEY WORDS: Iron ore; Slurry flow; CFD.
  
  Address:
  - Stuti Mishra, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, India. (Corresponding author. Tel.: Fax.: Email: stuti.mishra@civil.iitd.ac.in)
  - Deo Raj Kaushal, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, India.

J. Hydrol. Hydromech., Vol. 73, No. 2 - Early view, 2025, p. 1 - 10, doi:
Scientific Paper, English

Deep Roy, Simone Pagliara, Michele Palermo: Clear water scour at eco-friendly wood-based structures in vegetated channels

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• Worked Wood Piles (WWP) belong to the category of low-head eco-friendly restoration structures made from large woody debris that are often placed in the vicinity of riverbanks to realign the flow towards the central part of the channel, thereby stabilizing river embankment. Moreover, significant growth of in-stream vegetation usually occurs in the downstream wake region of WWPs, affecting the scour and dune morphology formed around such structures crucial for promoting biodiversity. To model these phenomena, we conducted experiments under clear water condition with isolated and multiple WWPs in series in the presence and absence of in-stream vegetation in horizontal channels under a large range of hydraulic, structural and vegetation configurations. The results captured the effect of growing stages of in-stream natural vegetation on the scour process in correspondence with WWPs. It was observed that inflow conditions and structure geometry greatly affect the equilibrium scour morphology whereas the number and height of vegetation impacts the maximum scour and dune lengths. In addition, different scour morphology types were distinguished and their fields of existence were established based on flow, structure and vegetation parameters. Finally, we derived empirical equations allowing practitioners to quantify the maximum scour depth and length as well as the dune height.
  
  KEY WORDS: Hydraulics; Scour; Vegetation; Worked Wood Pile (WWP).
  
  Address:
  - Deep Roy, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur, Howrah, West Bengal 711103, India.
  - Simone Pagliara, Laboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology (VAW), ETH Zurich, Zurich 8093, Switzerland. (Corresponding author. Tel.: Fax.: Email: pagliara@vaw.baug.ethz.ch)
  - Michele Palermo, DESTEC-Department of Energy, Systems, Territory and Construction Engineering, University of Pisa, Via Gabba 22, Pisa 56122, Italy.

J. Hydrol. Hydromech., Vol. 73, No. 2 - Early view, 2025, p. 1 - 10, doi:
Scientific Paper, English

José Carvajal-Pachón, Laura Cambronero-Ruiz, Francisco Serrano-Bernardo, Víctor Hugo Durán Zuazo, Jesús Rodrigo-Comino: Introducing earhtworms to generate sustainable microenvironments able to modify soil hydrological properties on vineyards

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• Water infiltration and other physical soil properties are crucial determinants of soil quality and productivity. While it's established that earthworms can enhance soil structure, there's limited research quantifying their impact on these processes, particularly in vineyards. This study assesses the effect of introducing earthworms (Lumbricus terrestris) into soils under controlled conditions, focusing on improvements in soil infiltration, respiration, aggregate stability, moisture, and other key soil properties within Mediterranean vineyards. The research was conducted from December 2023 to April 2024, utilizing experimental microenvironments designed to mimic the natural conditions of vineyard soils in Granada, Spain. Results demonstrated that earthworm activity significantly increased both infiltration capacity and rate. Notably, infiltration was twice as fast in the treated plots from the third measurement onward. Furthermore, earthworms enhanced organic matter accumulation, with gains exceeding 1%, and boosted soil respiration by over 50 ppm. Although aggregate stability showed less dramatic improvement, the data indicate that earthworm-created galleries foster beneficial microenvironments for soil dynamics. These findings highlight the potential of earthworms as regenerative agents in degraded agricultural soils, emphasizing their capacity to support sustainable agricultural practices and mitigate the effects of climate change. Further long-term research in real-world settings is recommended to validate the scalability of these results.
  
  KEY WORDS: Earthworms; Viticulture; Soil hydrology; Climate change mitigation; Soil management.
  
  Address:
  - José Carvajal-Pachón, Departamento de Análisis Geográfico Regional y Geografía Física, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Campus Universitario de Cartuja, Universidad de Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain.
  - Laura Cambronero-Ruiz, Departamento de Análisis Geográfico Regional y Geografía Física, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Campus Universitario de Cartuja, Universidad de Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain. Andalusian Research Institute in Data Science and Computational Intelligence, DaSCI, University of Granada, 18071, Granada, Spain.
  - Francisco Serrano-Bernardo, Departamento de Ingeniería Civil, ETSI Caminos, Canales y Puertos, Universidad de Granada, Campus Fuentenueva, s/n, 18071-Granada, Spain.
  - Víctor Hugo Durán Zuazo, Andalusian Institute of Agricultural and Fisheries Research and Training (IFAPA). IFAPA Center “Camino de Purchil”, Granada, Spain.
  - Jesús Rodrigo-Comino, Departamento de Análisis Geográfico Regional y Geografía Física, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Campus Universitario de Cartuja, Universidad de Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain. Andalusian Research Institute in Data Science and Computational Intelligence, DaSCI, University of Granada, 18071, Granada, Spain.

J. Hydrol. Hydromech., Vol. 73, No. 2 - Early view, 2025, p. 1 - 10, doi:
Scientific Paper, English

Ali Ashrafi, Martinus Th. van Genuchten, Behzad Ghanbarian, Hamed Ebrahimian: Analytical solute transport modeling of furrow fertigation using the STANMOD software package

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• Understanding and better managing the environmental fate of water and fertilizers in agricultural operations requires accurate modeling of the fertilization process under field conditions, including when using furrow fertigation. The STANMOD model has become a popular tool for simulating a range of laboratory- and field-scale solute transport problems. By comparison, few if any studies have used this model to analyze solute transport in overland water during furrow fertigation. In this study, we investigate the efficacy of STANMOD in simulating overland solute transport in four irrigated furrows. STANMOD solves the governing advection-dispersion equation (ADE) for the solute transport process analytically. Experimental data were sourced from furrow fertigation experiments carried out at the University of Arizona. This study presents the results of fitting the ADE model in STANMOD to breakthrough curves measured at individual points along furrows, not the entire system. By directly fitting the ADE to measured solute concentrations, the average (or effective) values of dispersion coefficient (or longitudinal dispersivity) and fluid flux in the furrows were optimized using STANMOD. We found the coefficient of determination to be greater than 0.5 for all stations in all furrows, indicating a satisfactory fit of the model to the observed furrow concentration data. Root mean square error (RMSE) values varied over a wide range from 9.9 to 101.7 mg/L. We should point out that in practice flux does decrease along furrows due to infiltration. However, STANMOD assumes flux is constant and does not take its variability into account. Therefore, the optimized pore water velocity and dispersion coefficient represent values averaged over the corresponding domain. We conclude that STANMOD can provide a useful analytical description of solute transport in flowing overland water, thus facilitating furrow fertigation management.
  
  KEY WORDS: Fertigation; furrow irrigation; solute transport; STANMOD.
  
  Address:
  - Ali Ashrafi, Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA.
  - Martinus Th. van Genuchten, Department of Nuclear Engineering, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Department of Earth Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
  - Behzad Ghanbarian, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington TX, United States. Department of Civil Engineering, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington TX, United States. Division of Data Science, College of Science, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington TX, United States.
  - Hamed Ebrahimian, Department of Irrigation and Reclamation Engineering, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran. (Corresponding author. Tel.: Fax.: Email: ebrahimian@ut.ac.ir)

J. Hydrol. Hydromech., Vol. 73, No. 2 - Early view, 2025, p. 1 - 10, doi:
Scientific Paper, English

Ismail Bilal Peker, Ali Arda Sorman, Gokhan Cuceloglu, Sezar Gülbaz: Impact of topographic conditions on the modelling performance of various global precipitation products in a mountainous basin

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• This study aims to conduct a comparative analysis of global precipitation products and ground station data using a hydrological model. The effects of different gridded precipitation datasets and topographic model inputs, such as subbasin delineation and elevation band details, on streamflows were investigated. The study focused on the mountainous Nilüfer Basin in Türkiye. Ground station data (GSD) and three different global precipitation datasets —Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR), Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station (CHIRPS), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration–Prediction of Worldwide Energy Resources (NASA–POWER)— were used. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was employed for hydrological modelling and Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) was utilized as the performance criterion for model calibration. The results showed that GSD, CHIRPS, and NASA–POWER achieved reasonable NSE levels (>0.5) without calibration, whereas CFSR performed poorly (NSE<0.2). After calibration, all models indicated successful results (NSE>0.70), with a notable improvement in CFSR (NSE increased from 0.12 to 0.71). Increasing the number of subbasins slightly improved the results, with the highest change in NSE of 0.09. Generating too many subbasins, though, lead to longer processing times without further improvements. However, introducing elevation bands significantly enhanced model performance (NSE increased by 0.21–0.27 across all datasets). An increase in the number of bands yielded only slight improvements, with NSE increasing by 0.03 at most.
  
  KEY WORDS: Global precipitation products; Topographic conditions; Subbasin delineation; Elevation band; Mountainous basin; SWAT.
  
  Address:
  - Ismail Bilal Peker, Faculty of Engineering, Civil Engineering Department, Hydraulics Division, Istanbul University–Cerrahpaşa, Avcilar Campus, Istan-bul 34320, Türkiye. (Corresponding author. Tel.: Fax.: Email: pekerbilal@iuc.edu.tr)
  - Ali Arda Sorman, Faculty of Engineering, Civil Engineering Department, Hydraulics Division, Eskişehir Technical University, Eskişehir 26555, Türkiye.
  - Gokhan Cuceloglu, Institute of Earth and Marine Sciences, Gebze Technical University, Gebze, Kocaeli, 41400, Türkiye.
  - Sezar Gülbaz, Faculty of Engineering, Civil Engineering Department, Hydraulics Division, Istanbul University–Cerrahpaşa, Avcilar Campus, Istan-bul 34320, Türkiye.

J. Hydrol. Hydromech., Vol. 73, No. 2 - Early view, 2025, p. 1 - 10, doi:
Scientific Paper, English

Tibor Zsigmond, Csilla Farkas, Andor Bódi, Zsófia Bakacsi, Eszter Tóth, Márton Dencső, Ágota Horel: Stream water quality variation as a function of physical environmental condi-tions in an agriculturally dominated catchment

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• The aim of the present study was to investigate stream turbidity and water chemical parameters under varying environmental conditions. We analyzed a three-year-long (2021-2023) daily and bi-weekly dataset collected at six points (P1-P6) along a small stream. We measured stream water turbidity (FNU), total dissolved inorganic nitrogen (TDIN) content, water pH, and specific conductivity (SPC). Meteorological data were collected at the catchment outlet. Daily data showed a moderate positive correlation between FNU and precipitation (r=0.42, p<0.001), while weak negative connections were observed between SPC and FNU values (r=-0.14, p=0.011, n=349). The FNU values at the groundwater spring-fed sampling point (P3) were significantly different from the other sampling points on most parameters (p<0.05). The results of the cluster analysis revealed three main clusters based on daily turbidity data. These groups of daily precipitation totals were i) below 4.8 mm, ii) averaging 6.3 mm, and iii) averaging 23.7 mm. The clusters were most significantly separated along precipitation and FNU values. Turbidity values were strongly correlated with precipitation events for two days, after which stream water quality returned to baseline. Stream water quality was not significantly influenced by soil management or antecedent moisture content but rather by water origin (i.e., precipitation, groundwater).
  
  KEY WORDS: Turbidity; Suspended sediment; Antecedent soil moisture content; Small catchment.
  
  Address:
  - Tibor Zsigmond, Department of Soil Physics and Water Management, Institute for Soil Sciences, HUN-REN Centre for Agricultural Research, H-1116 Fehérvári út 132-144., Hungary. National Laboratory for Water Science and Water Security, Institute for Soil Sciences, HUN-REN Centre for Agricultural Research, H-1116 Fehérvári út 132-144., Hungary. Doctoral School of Environmental Sciences, Loránd Eötvös University, H-1053 Budapest, Egyetem tér 1–3., Hungary.
  - Csilla Farkas, Department of Soil Physics and Water Management, Institute for Soil Sciences, HUN-REN Centre for Agricultural Research, H-1116 Fehérvári út 132-144., Hungary. Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, 1430 As, Norway.
  - Andor Bódi, Department of Soil Physics and Water Management, Institute for Soil Sciences, HUN-REN Centre for Agricultural Research, H-1116 Fehérvári út 132-144., Hungary.
  - Zsófia Bakacsi, Department of Soil Physics and Water Management, Institute for Soil Sciences, HUN-REN Centre for Agricultural Research, H-1116 Fehérvári út 132-144., Hungary. National Laboratory for Water Science and Water Security, Institute for Soil Sciences, HUN-REN Centre for Agricultural Research, H-1116 Fehérvári út 132-144., Hungary.
  - Eszter Tóth, Department of Soil Physics and Water Management, Institute for Soil Sciences, HUN-REN Centre for Agricultural Research, H-1116 Fehérvári út 132-144., Hungary.
  - Márton Dencső, Department of Soil Physics and Water Management, Institute for Soil Sciences, HUN-REN Centre for Agricultural Research, H-1116 Fehérvári út 132-144., Hungary. (Corresponding author. Tel.: Fax.: Email: dencso.marton@atk.hun-ren.hu)
  - Ágota Horel, Department of Soil Physics and Water Management, Institute for Soil Sciences, HUN-REN Centre for Agricultural Research, H-1116 Fehérvári út 132-144., Hungary. National Laboratory for Water Science and Water Security, Institute for Soil Sciences, HUN-REN Centre for Agricultural Research, H-1116 Fehérvári út 132-144., Hungary.