Verification, conservation, stability and efficiency of a finite volume method for the 1D Richards equation

Richards equation is a non-linear partial differential equation that describes flow in porous media. To solve it, numerical methods that need to be conservative, stable, accurate and efficient, are required. Finite volume methods have not been reported as widely as finite difference or finite element methods. This work is focused on providing numerical results and analysis of several finite volume schemes in one dimension. The formulation of time discretization schemes is revisited, a stability analysis is performed, and analytical and experimental benchmakrs are provided. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.