Saturated zone s-subregion Majid Hassanizadeh
and q
u
is the horizontal fraction of watershed area covered by the unsaturated zone. The mass exchange terms repre-
sent, in order of appearance, the exchange towards the neighbouring REWs across the mantle segments, the
exchange across the external watershed boundary non- zero only for REWs which have one or more mantle seg-
ments in common with the external watershed boundary, the recharge to or the capillary rise from the saturated zone,
the infiltration from the areas affected by concentrated overland flow i.e rills, gullies or Hortonian overland
flow, and the water phase evaporation or condensation within the soil pores, respectively.
6.1.2 Conservation of momentum The next equation is given by the balance of forces acting on
the water body within the unsaturated zone. As mentioned before, the equation is vectorial and is subsequently asso-
ciated with a resultant direction. The momentum balance for the water phase is derived from eqn A18 and is given in the
general form by eqn A20. Multiplication of the mass con- servation eqn A19 by the macroscopic velocity v
u w
and subsequent subtraction from the momentum balance A20
yields: r
u w
y
u
e
u
s
u w
q
u
d dt
v
u w
¹ r
u w
y
u
e
u
s
u w
g
u w
q
u
¼ X
l
T
uA w
, l
þ T
uA w
, ext
þ T
us w
þ T
uc w
þ T
u wg
þ T
u wm
ð 18Þ
The terms on the l.h.s are the inertial term and the water weight, respectively. The r.h.s. terms represent various
forces: the total pressure forces acting on the mantle seg- ments in common with neighbouring REWs and with the
external watershed boundary, the forces exchanged with the atmosphere and the deep groundwater, the forces trans-
mitted to the saturated zone across the water table, to the concentrated overland flow across the land surface, and,
finally, the resultant forces exchanged with the gas phase and the soil matrix on the water–gas and water–solid inter-
faces, respectively.
6.1.3 Conservation of thermal energy The REW-scale water phase conservation of thermal energy
for the unsaturated zone is derived from the conservation of total energy eqn A32 by subtracting the balance of
mechanical energy eqn A33. The result is:
r
u w
y
u
e
u
s
u w
q
u
d dt
E
u w
¹ r
u w
y
u
e
u
s
u w
h
u w
w
u
¼ X
l
Q
uA w
, l
þ Q
uA w
, ext
þ Q
us w
þ Q
uc w
þ Q
u wg
þ Q
u wm
ð 19Þ
where the terms on the l.h.s. are the energy storage due to change in internal energy and the external energy supply
i.e. solar radiation, geothermal energy sources. The terms on the r.h.s. are REW-scale heat exchange terms across the
mantle segments, the exchanges with the saturated zone, the concentrated overland flow, the gaseous phase and the
soil matrix, respectively. 6.1.4 Balance of entropy
The balance of entropy is given once again by multiplying the equation of mass conservation eqn A19 by the REW-
scale entropy and subtracting it subsequently from eqn A34. The operation leads to the entropy equation in the
following form:
r
u w
y
u
e
u
s
u w
q
u
d dt
h
u w
¹ r
u w
y
u
e
u
s
u w
q
u
¼ L
u w
q
u
þ X
l
F
uA w
, l
þ F
uA w
, ext
þ F
us w
þ F
uc w
þ F
u wg
þ F
u wm
ð 20Þ
where the the terms on the l.h.s. represent the entropy sto- rage and external supply, whereas the first term on the r.h.s.
accounts for the internal production of entropy due to gen- eration of heat by internal friction. The remaining REW-
scale entropy exchange terms express the interaction with the surrounding REWs, subregions and phases in the same
order as in the previous equations.