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Hydraulic Conductivity and Permeability As Tensors) : 1. Intuitive Thinking
Hydraulic Conductivity and Permeability As Tensors) : 1. Intuitive Thinking
1. Intuitive Thinking
– Scalar: a quantity that has only a magnitude and no direction associated with it, e.g., hydraulic
head, temperature, contaminant concentration
– Vector: a quantity that has both a magnitude and a direction, e.g., hydraulic gradient and flow
velocity
– Tensor: a quantity whose intrinsic properties are invariant under coordinate transformations, e.g.,
K, k, thermal conductivity, diffusion and dispersion coefficients
– Intrinsic properties: (i) length and (ii) orientation relative to some absolute coordinate system
2. Formal Definition
– Scalar—a zero-order tensor. The magnitude of a scalar h(>1, >2, >3, t) is not altered by the change
of translation/rotation of coordinate system
– Vector—a first-order tensor. Similarly, the length of a vector does not change with the
transformation of coordinate system
Let (x1, x2, x3) and (x1', x2', x3') be orthonormal basis sets, i.e., . A vector X can
be expressed in terms of either basis, as:
where (>1, >2, >3) and (>1', >2', >3') are referred to as components/coordinates of the vector X with
respect to the two bases
Vector Algebra
V1@V2 V2@V1
1
Vector, or cross product
V1×V2 1
V1×V2 !V2×V1
Transformation of the components of X when the reference basis is changed can be written as
where 2ij is the angle between the axis and the >j axis, leading to
(i = 1, 2, 3)
– Generally, an nth order Cartesian tensor with components in the coordinate system >1,
>2, >3 has components in the coordinate system , , , defined as
– An nth order tensor has thus 3n components. Yet NOT any 3n scalars qualify to define a tensor
– A scalar, a vector, and a 2nd order tensor have 1, 3, and 9 components, respectively
2
– Dyadic multiplication: the dyadic/cross product of an nth and mth order tensor is an (n+m)th
order tensor
– Single contraction: the dot product of an nth and mth order tensor is an (n+m!2)th order tensor
(i=1,2,3; j=1,2,3)
or or
– When the coordinate axes are not oriented parallel to the principal axes of an anisotropic porous
medium, Darcy’s law is written as