Conservation laws for equations related to soil water equations.pdfVIP

CONSERVATION LAWS FOR EQUATIONS RELATED TO SOIL WATER EQUATIONS C. M. KHALIQUE AND F. M. MAHOMED Received 10 April 2003 and in revised form 7 May 2004 We obtain all nontrivial conservation laws for a class of (2 + 1) nonlinear evolution partial differential equations which are related to the soil water equations. It is also pointed out that nontrivial conservation laws exist for certain classes of equations which admit point symmetries. Moreover, we associate symmetries with conservation laws for special classes of these equations. 1. Introduction and theory A mathematical model was developed to simulate soil water infiltration, redistribution, and extraction in a bedded soil profile overlaying a shallow water table and irrigated by a line source drip irrigation system (see [ 19, 20]). The governing partial differential equa- tion can be written as C(ψ)ψt = K (ψ)ψx x + K (ψ) ψz − 1 z − S(ψ), (1.1) where ψ is soil moisture pressure head, C(ψ) is specific water capacity, K (ψ) is unsatu- rated hydraulic conductivity, S(ψ) is a sink or source term, t is time, x is the horizontal axis, and z is the vertical axis which is considered positive downward. Equation ( 1.1) is an approximation within the context of the theory of mixtures. It is studied here in the form (1.1) as a first step. An introduction to the general theory of mixtures can be found in the book by Rajagopal and Tao [ 17] which contains references to the earlier papers of Truesdell that have had a great impact on the development of the theory. This approach is rather general and takes into account a variety of physical mechanisms and chemical reactions. Also of crucial importance within such a theory is the choice of boundary conditions and the problems associated with the choice of these conditions (see [6]). The book also provides numerous references on flow through por