Search results for "HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY"

Testing the concentric-disk tension infiltrometer for field measurement of soil hydraulic conductivity

2010

Abstract The concentric-disk tension infiltrometer (CDTI) may be used to simultaneously measure the confined ( K c ) and the unconfined ( K u ) soil hydraulic conductivity, but it has received little testing. Comparison between K c and K u can be affected by the calculation approach applied to analyze unconfined steady-state infiltration rates. The objectives of this investigation were to: i) establish the effect of the calculation approach on the estimates of K u ; and ii) compare the K c and K u values measured by the CDTI. A clay soil, a structureless sandy loam soil, and a sandy loam soil with a relatively high gravel content were sampled using a disk of radius equal to 107.5 mm, compri…

Use of BEST Procedure to Assess Soil Physical Quality in the Baratz Lake Catchment (Sardinia, Italy)

2016

Conversion of Mediterranean maquis and/or natural forest into agro-pastoral lands is a cause of soil degradation in many Mediterranean areas. Indicators of soil physical quality (SPQ) quantitatively linked to soil hydraulic properties are a valuable tool to assess the effect of land use changes. In this investigation, the Beerkan Estimation of Soil Transfer parameters (BEST) procedure for soil hydraulic characterization was used to estimate SPQ indicators. Four areas of the Baratz Lake watershed, Sardinia, Italy, characterized by both typical natural vegetation (holm oak [ Quercus ilex L.] forest and high maquis) and degraded vegetation (grassland established after fire or clearing of the m…

Comparison of Procedures to estimate Steady Flow Rate in Field Measurement of Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity by the Guelph Permeameter Method

1999

Abstract Different procedures for estimating steady flow rate during field application of the Guelph permeameter method were compared in terms of field-saturated hydraulic conductivity K fs and equilibration time t s estimates. The steady flow rate was evaluated by the slope of the linear portion of the cumulative drop in water level in the permeameter reservoir versus time plot (reference procedure) and by approximate procedures that use the first three or four consecutive values of the rate of fall of the water level equal or differing by less than a given percentage. The influence of the selected time interval between two successive readings ( Δt =2 or 10 min) at the permeameter was also…

Impact of secondary succession in abandoned fields on some properties of acidic sandy soils

2020

Abstract Abandonment of agricultural lands in recent decades is occurring mainly in Europe, North America and Oceania, and changing the fate of landscapes as the ecosystem recovers during fallow stage. The objective of this study was to find the impact of secondary succession in abandoned fields on some parameters of acidic sandy soils in the Borská nížina lowland (southwestern Slovakia). We investigated soil chemical (pH and soil organic carbon content), hydrophysical (water sorptivity, and hydraulic conductivity), and water repellency (water drop penetration time, water repellency cessation time, repellency index, and modified repellency index) parameters, as well as the ethanol sorptivit…

Comparison of unconfined and confined unsaturated hydraulic conductivity

2007

Abstract The field tension infiltrometer (TI) and the laboratory unit hydraulic gradient (UHG) methods are widely applied to determine the near-saturated soil hydraulic conductivity, K . Comparison between the two methods is relevant given that they differ in the explored soil volume (undetached or detached) and in the flow process (unconfined or confined). The objective of this investigation was to compare unconfined and confined measurements of unsaturated hydraulic conductivity. Twenty TI experiments were conducted in a relatively coarse-textured soil having an appreciable hysteretic behavior by using two different dry-to-wet-to-dry (DTWTD) sequences of pressure head, h 0 , values that d…

A Check of Water Drop Impact Effects on Surface Soil Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity

2020

The post-tillage dynamics of the surface soil saturated hydraulic conductivity, Ks, was studied at the Masse experimental station (central Italy, silty-clay-loam soil). A sequence of experiments was performed by rainfall simulation on two replicated micro-plots (width 1 m, length 0.92 m, slope 16%) established on bare soil. Each high-intensity rainfall simulation was preceded by a low-intensity wetting phase. The soil water content, w, was measured before wetting and both before and after simulation. Runoff was measured at 5 min intervals. The infiltration rate was calculated as the difference between rainfall intensity and runoff rate. Finally, Ks was assumed to be equal to the infiltratio…

Comparing Beerkan infiltration tests with rainfall simulation experiments for hydraulic characterization of a sandy-loam soil

2017

[EN] Saturated soil hydraulic conductivity, K-s, data collected by ponding infiltrometer methods and usual experimental procedures could be unusable for interpreting field hydrological processes and particularly rainfall infiltration. The K-s values determined by an infiltrometer experiment carried out by applying water at a relatively large distance from the soil surface could however be more appropriate to explain surface runoff generation phenomena during intense rainfall events. In this study, a link between rainfall simulation and ponding infiltrometer experiments was established for a sandy-loam soil. The height of water pouring for the infiltrometer run was chosen, establishing a sim…

Run duration effects on the hydrodynamic properties of a loam soil estimated by steady-state infiltration methods

2020

Steady-state methods for the analysis of single-ring infiltration data are commonly applied. However, the duration of an infiltrometer experiment is often established quite subjectively based on the assumption that in general infiltration stabilizes rather quickly in the field. For a loam soil, the effect of the duration of a beerkan run on sorptivity, S, and saturated hydraulic conductivity, Ks, was tested by using the BEST (Beerkan Estimation of Soil Transfer parameters)-steady method and SSBI (Steady version of the Simplified method based on a Beerkan Infiltration run) method for data analysis. The standard experiment, based on a total of 15 water volumes each establishing an initial pon…

Comparing two methods of analysis of single-ring infiltrometer data for a sandy – loam soil

2009

The single-ring pressure i n filtrometer (PI) with the steady-state Two-Ponding-Depth (TPD) applic ation method were developed to simulta neously determine the saturated soil hydraulic conductivity, K , and the α ⁎ -parameter in the fi eld. Methods of analysis of transient PI data are also available but they have received little testing so far. The transient WU method and the TPD method were compared for a sandy-loam soil. A linearization technique o f the in filtration curve yielded more reliable K fs fs and α ⁎ results (i.e., falling within expected ranges) than a non-linear optimization technique. The WU method gave both positive and reasonable K and α ⁎ values for all infi ltration tests. U…

Improvement of BEST (Beerkan Estimation of Soil Transfer parameters) method for soil hydraulic characterization

Interpreting and modeling soil hydrological processes require the determination of the soil hydraulic characteristic curves, i.e. the relationships between volumetric soil water content, pressure head, and hydraulic conductivity. Using traditional methods to determine these properties is expensive and time consuming. Haverkamp et al. (1996) pioneered a specific method for soil hydraulic characterization known as the “Beerkan method”. An improved version of this methodology, called the Beerkan Estimation of Soil Transfer parameters (BEST) procedure, was developed by Lassabatère et al. (2006) to simplify soil hydraulic characterization. BEST considers certain analytic formulae for hydraulic c…