Transient finite element method solution of oxygen diffusion in soil

An accurate knowledge of oxygen diffusion into the soil media is very important to characterize soil physical, chemical, and biological processes. Analytical solutions with limited initial and boundary conditions have limited applicability and are very lengthy. A finite element solution was obtained for the transient-state equation of oxygen diffusion from the atmosphere into the soil profile. For the finite element solution, the one-dimensional partial differential equation governing oxygen diffusion was formulated by using Galerkin method. Results of the numerical method were compared with the solutions obtained from analytical method for a specific problem. Finite element solutions showed excellent agreement with the analytical solutions. Results of this study show that finite element method is applicable with less efforts than analytical methods to accurately predict transient-state oxygen diffusion in soil media.