Prediction of infiltration from soil hydraulic properties

Year 2018, Volume: 7 Issue: 1, 64 - 72, 01.01.2018

Henry Oppong Tuffour Joseph Asare Gilbert Mcphelan Nutakor

https://doi.org/10.18393/ejss.336816

Abstract

Field and laboratory infiltration measurements
using infiltrometers have been the only methods of effectively determining the
infiltration rates of soils. Infiltration is mainly controlled by soil
hydraulic properties, especially the hydraulic conductivity. Due to the ease
with which the saturated hydraulic conductivity can be determined, it is often
preferred to the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity in hydrological studies. It
is well known that, at saturation the steady state infiltrability controls the
infiltration process. Thus, it is very clear that the saturated hydraulic
conductivity



















 and
steady state infiltrability

 may be
closely related in one way or the other, as suggested in some few studies,
wherein functions have been developed to relate these two parameters. However,
these functions are often site specific and do not always carry out accurately
all the time. Determination of

 can be
tedious and time consuming, whereas

 can be
easily determined in the laboratory. The present study aimed to assess the
predictability of a modified Philip’s equation by substituting

 for

. In this study, field infiltration measurements
were conducted in two soil types under three different land use systems with a
single ring infiltrometer. Field and laboratory hydraulic and hydrologic
experiments were conducted on soils in a turf grass, an arable land and a
pastureland in the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi,
Ghana. Goodness-of-fit was used to compare the measured and predicted
cumulative infiltration amounts from both

 and

. The results showed that there was a robust
relationship between the measured and predicted cumulative infiltration amount
values from the Philip’s and modified Philip’s equations, respectively for all
three fields. However, the use of

 in place of

 produced
the best outcome in all the study areas. Thus, substituting

 for

 in the
Philip’s infiltration equation can better predict cumulative infiltration
amount. The proposed modified Philip’s infiltration equation and the key
parameters (i.e.,

 and

) provide new understanding into the realistic
flow processes in soil. Furthermore, the

 in the
new equation is very close to the measured

.

Keywords

Cumulative infiltration amount, manometer, saturated hydraulic conductivity, sorptivity, steady state infiltrability

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