The forcing out of saline water by fresh water during filtration from a mole irrigator (Q805454)

The question of the possible dimensions of the lens of fresh waters which is formed during filtration from a mole irrigator is investigated using Polubarinova-Kochina's method based on the analytical theory of differential equations. The problem reduces to an investigation of an ordinary second-order linear differential equation of the Fuchs class where fundamental difficulties arise during its integration. The difficulties are primarily due to the fact that this equation belongs to a class which has not been thoroughly studied and, also, due to the fact that the coefficients of the equation contain unknown parameters, the determination of which is one of the basic and most difficult problems of the whole theory. A method is proposed for setting up the integrals and for determining the unknown constants for one class of Fuchs equations with four singular points. It is shown that the Fourier method also yields similar results in the case under consideration. Results of numerical calculations are presented together with an analysis of the effect of the decisive physical parameters of the scheme on the filtration characteristics.