Estimation of hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils using a geotechnical centrifuge

2002 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 684-694 ◽  
Author(s):  
D N Singh ◽  
Sneha J Kuriyan
Keyword(s):  
Hydraulic Conductivity ◽  
Water Content ◽  
Soil Sample ◽  
Unsaturated Soil ◽  
Unsaturated Soils ◽  
Soil Hydraulic Conductivity ◽  
Centrifuge Testing ◽  
Geotechnical Centrifuge ◽  
Silty Soil ◽  
Unsaturated Hydraulic Conductivity

A saturated silty soil sample is centrifuged in a geotechnical centrifuge to create an unsaturated state. The change in water content of the soil sample is recorded at different points along the length of the sample to obtain the water-content profile, which is then used to obtain the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity of the soil sample. These hydraulic conductivity values are compared with those obtained and reported by previous researchers by conducting accelerated falling-head tests on this soil sample in a centrifuge. The study demonstrates the use of centrifugation techniques to obtain hydraulic conductivities of unsaturated soils.Key words: silty soil, saturated soil, unsaturated soil, hydraulic conductivity, centrifuge testing.

Estimation of unsaturated hydraulic conductivity using soil suction measurements obtained by an insertion tensiometer

2003 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 476-483 ◽  
Author(s):  
D N Singh ◽  
Sneha J Kuriyan
Keyword(s):  
Hydraulic Conductivity ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
Unsaturated Soil ◽  
Characteristic Curve ◽  
Soil Suction ◽  
Soil Hydraulic Conductivity ◽  
Silty Soil ◽  
Soil Water Characteristic Curve ◽  
Unsaturated Hydraulic Conductivity ◽  
Soil Hydraulic

To estimate the unsaturated soil hydraulic conductivity of a silty soil, an insertion tensiometer has been used for measuring its suction corresponding to different water contents. These suction values have been used for developing the soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC). The obtained SWCC has been compared with the trends predicted by various fits available in the literature. Further, with the help of the obtained SWCC, the unsaturated soil hydraulic conductivity has been estimated. The study demonstrates the usefulness of insertion tensiometers for measuring soil suction and for estimating its hydraulic conductivity.Key words: silty soil, suction, insertion tensiometer, soil-water characteristic curve, unsaturated soil hydraulic conductivity.

A Theoretical Study of Some Unsaturated Properties for Different Soils

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (9) ◽  
pp. 149-165
Author(s):  
Mohammed Nawaf Jirjees Alzaidy
Keyword(s):  
Shear Strength ◽  
Hydraulic Conductivity ◽  
Water Content ◽  
Unsaturated Soil ◽  
Basic Relation ◽  
Soil Suction ◽  
Unsaturated Hydraulic Conductivity ◽  
Clayey Silt ◽  
Two Parameters ◽  
Different Soils

Soil–water characteristic curves (SWCC) can be defined as the relationship between the water content and suction of an unsaturated soil. It considered a basic relation to explanation of the engineering behaviour of unsaturated soil such as hydraulic conductivity and shear strength, So the study of SWCC is useful to reduce the time and cost of unsaturated soil testing for different engineering purposes. An approach model has been used to predict the SWCC for different soils. The influence of the soils on SWCC shape, the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity and shear strength parameters have been studied in this paper using mathematical models. The results of SWCC show that suction of clay soil is bigger than sandy soil, while the clayey silt soils exhibit an intermediate behaviour at same water content. The values of unsaturated shear strength are increasing while the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity is decreasing with increasing soil suction. This behaviour of the last two parameters with soil suction should be taken in consideration for engineering purposes.

scholarly journals Modelling the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity of a sandy loam soil using Gaussian process regression

Water SA ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (1 January) ◽  
Author(s):  
Naji Mordi N Al-Dosary ◽  
Mohammed A Al-Sulaiman ◽  
Abdulwahed M Aboukarima
Keyword(s):  
Hydraulic Conductivity ◽  
Gaussian Process ◽  
Unsaturated Soil ◽  
Sandy Loam ◽  
Gaussian Process Regression ◽  
Sandy Loam Soil ◽  
Soil Hydraulic Conductivity ◽  
Unsaturated Hydraulic Conductivity ◽  
Loam Soil ◽  
Water And Solute Transport

Unsaturated soil hydraulic conductivity is a main parameter in agricultural and environmental studies, necessary for predicting and managing water and solute transport in soils. This parameter is difficult to measure in agricultural fields; thus, a simple and practical estimation method would be preferable, and quantitative methods (analytical and numerical) to predict the field parameters should be developed. Field experiments were conducted to collect water quality data to model the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity of a sandy loam soil. A mini disk infiltrometer (MDI) was used to measure soil infiltration rate. Input variables included electrical conductivity and the sodium adsorption ratio of irrigation water. Suction rate (pressure head), soil bulk density, and soil moisture content acted as inputs, with unsaturated soil hydraulic conductivity as output. The performance of Gaussian process regression (GPR) was analysed, with multiple linear regression (LR) and multi-layer perceptron (MLP) models used for comparison. Three performance criteria were compared: correlation coefficient (r), root mean square error (RMSE), and mean absolute error (MAE). The simulations employed the Waikato environment for knowledge analysis (WEKA) open source tool. The results indicate that the GPR with Pearson VII function-based universal kernel (PUK kernel), cache size 250007, Omega 1.0 and Sigma 1.0 performs better than other kernels when evaluating test split data, with a correlation coefficient of 0.9646. The RMSEs for GPR (PUK kernel), MLP, and LR were 1.16 × 10−04, 1.87 × 10−04, and 2.22 × 10−04 cm·s−1, respectively. Predictive data mining algorithms (DMA) enable an estimate of unknown values based on patterns in a database. Therefore, the present methodology can be put to use in predictive tools to manage water and solute transport in soils, as the GPR model provides much greater accuracy than the LR and MLP models in predicting the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity of a sandy loam soil.

Simplified estimation of unsaturated soil hydraulic conductivity using bulk electrical conductivity and particle size distribution

Soil Research ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Reza Neyshabouri ◽  
Mehdi Rahmati ◽  
Claude Doussan ◽  
Boshra Behroozinezhad
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Conductivity ◽  
Particle Size ◽  
Hydraulic Conductivity ◽  
Particle Size Distribution ◽  
Size Distribution ◽  
Unsaturated Soil ◽  
Soil Core ◽  
Soil Hydraulic Conductivity ◽  
Core Samples ◽  
Soil Hydraulic

Unsaturated soil hydraulic conductivity K is a fundamental transfer property of soil but its measurement is costly, difficult, and time-consuming due to its large variations with water content (θ) or matric potential (h). Recently, C. Doussan and S. Ruy proposed a method/model using measurements of the electrical conductivity of soil core samples to predict K(h). This method requires the measurement or the setting of a range of matric potentials h in the core samples—a possible lengthy process requiring specialised devices. To avoid h estimation, we propose to simplify that method by introducing the particle-size distribution (PSD) of the soil as a proxy for soil pore diameters and matric potentials, with the Arya and Paris (AP) model. Tests of this simplified model (SM) with laboratory data on a broad range of soils and using the AP model with available, previously defined parameters showed that the accuracy was lower for the SM than for the original model (DR) in predicting K (RMSE of logK = 1.10 for SM v. 0.30 for DR; K in m s–1). However, accuracy was increased for SM when considering coarse- and medium-textured soils only (RMSE of logK = 0.61 for SM v. 0.26 for DR). Further tests with 51 soils from the UNSODA database and our own measurements, with estimated electrical properties, confirmed good agreement of the SM for coarse–medium-textured soils (<35–40% clay). For these textures, the SM also performed well compared with the van Genuchten–Mualem model. Error analysis of SM results and fitting of the AP parameter showed that most of the error for fine-textured soils came from poorer adequacy of the AP model’s previously defined parameters for defining the water retention curve, whereas this was much less so for coarse-textured soils. The SM, using readily accessible soil data, could be a relatively straightforward way to estimate, in situ or in the laboratory, K(h) for coarse–medium-textured soils. This requires, however, a prior check of the predictive efficacy of the AP model for the specific soil investigated, in particular for fine-textured/structured soils and when using previously defined AP parameters.

Hyphal colonization of Rhizophagus irregularis increases unsaturated hydraulic conductivity of a loamy sand distant from roots

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Bitterlich ◽  
Richard Pauwels
Keyword(s):  
Hydraulic Conductivity ◽  
Water Content ◽  
Hydraulic Properties ◽  
Volumetric Water Content ◽  
Rhizophagus Irregularis ◽  
Loamy Sand ◽  
Soil Hydraulic Properties ◽  
Unsaturated Hydraulic Conductivity ◽  
Soil Hydraulic ◽  
Root Exclusion

&lt;p&gt;Hydraulic properties of mycorrhizal soils have rarely been reported and difficulties in directly assigning potential effects to hyphae of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) arise from other consequences of AMF being present, i.e. their influence on growth and water consumption rates of their host plants that both also influence soil hydraulic properties.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We assumed that the typical nylon meshes used for root-exclusion experiments in mycorrhizal research can provide a dynamic hydraulic barrier. It is expected that the uniform pore size of the rigid meshes causes a sudden hydraulic decoupling of the enmeshed inner volume from the surrounding soil as soon as the mesh pores become air-filled. Growing plants below the soil moisture threshold for hydraulic decoupling would minimize plant-size effects on root-exclusion compartments and allow for a more direct assignment of hyphal presence to modulations in soil hydraulic properties.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We carried out water retention and hydraulic conductivity measurements with two tensiometers introduced in two different heights in a cylindrical compartment (250 cm&amp;#179;) containing a loamy sand, either with or without the introduction of a 20 &amp;#181;m nylon mesh equidistantly between the tensiometers. Introduction of a mesh reduced hydraulic conductivity across the soil volumes by two orders of magnitude from 471 to 6 &amp;#181;m d&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt; at 20% volumetric water content.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We grew maize plants inoculated or not with Rhizophagus irregularis in the same soil in pots that contained root-exclusion compartments while maintaining 20% volumetric water content. When hyphae were present in the compartments, water potential and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity increased for a given water content compared to compartments free of hyphae. These differences increased with progressive soil drying.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We conclude that water extractability from soils distant to roots can be facilitated under dry conditions when AMF hyphae are present.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;

Simulating transient infiltration in unsaturated soils

1998 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 1093-1100 ◽  
Author(s):  
J R McDougall ◽  
I C Pyrah
Keyword(s):  
Hydraulic Conductivity ◽  
Unsaturated Soils ◽  
Flow Model ◽  
Unsaturated Flow ◽  
Surface Region ◽  
Infiltration Rate ◽  
Soil Suction ◽  
Wetting Front ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Unsaturated Hydraulic Conductivity

Transient responses to various infiltration events have been examined using an unsaturated flow model. Numerical simulations reveal a range of infiltration patterns which can be related to the ratio of infiltration rate to unsaturated hydraulic conductivity. A high value of this ratio reflects a prevailing hydraulic conductivity which cannot readily redistribute the newly infiltrated moisture. Moisture accumulates in the near-surface region before advancing down through the soil as a distinct wetting front. In contrast, low values of the ratio of rainfall to unsaturated hydraulic conductivity show minimal moisture accumulation, as the relatively small volumes of infiltrating moisture are readily redistributed through the soil profile.Key words: numerical modelling, infiltration, unsaturated soil, soil suction, groundwater.

Historical development of soil-water physics and solute transport in porous media

2007 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.E. Rolston
Keyword(s):  
Porous Media ◽  
Hydraulic Conductivity ◽  
Solute Transport ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Water Flow ◽  
Unsaturated Soils ◽  
Transport Processes ◽  
Transport In Porous Media ◽  
Unsaturated Hydraulic Conductivity

The science of soil-water physics and contaminant transport in porous media began a little more than a century ago. The first equation to quantify the flow of water is attributed to Darcy. The next major development for unsaturated media was made by Buckingham in 1907. Buckingham quantified the energy state of soil water based on the thermodynamic potential energy. Buckingham then introduced the concept of unsaturated hydraulic conductivity, a function of water content. The water flux as the product of the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity and the total potential gradient has become the accepted Buckingham-Darcy law. Two decades later, Richards applied the continuity equation to Buckingham's equation and obtained a general partial differential equation describing water flow in unsaturated soils. For combined water and solute transport, it had been recognized since the latter half of the 19th century that salts and water do not move uniformly. It wasn't until the middle of the 20th century that scientists began to understand the complex processes of diffusion, dispersion, and convection and to develop mathematical formulations for solute transport. Knowledge on water flow and solute transport processes has expanded greatly since the early part of the 20th century to the present.

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