Infiltration in Shallow Water Table Environments: Simple Two-Phase Model Accounting for Air Compression and Counterflow
Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 20, Issue 10
Abstract
A new method is introduced to simulate air compression and counterflow during infiltration into a shallow water table. The method retains the simplicity of Green and Ampt but with one added term, the air pressure resistance below the wetting front. The method differs from existing methods because it couples air compression and counterflow flux dynamically with infiltration. The new method is original and simple, yet it allows the extension of Green and Ampt to simulate infiltration into shallow water environments or a shallow impervious zone where soil-air pressurization is likely to develop. In shallow water table environments, it is shown that neglecting counterflow of air will cause a rapid decline in infiltration due to unrealistic buildup of air pressure below the wetting front. Accounting for air compression and counterflow seemed necessary to bridge between Hortonian (infiltration excess) and Dunne (saturation excess) mechanisms of runoff.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Ahuja, L. R., Rojas, K. W., Hanson, J. D., Shaffer, M. J., and Ma, L. (1999). Root zone water quality model: Modeling management effects on water quality and crop production, Water Resources Publications, Lone Tree, CO.
Charbeneau, R. (2000). Groundwater hydraulics and pollutant transport, Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 18–90.
Culligan, P., Barry, D., Parlange, J., Steenhuis, T., and Haverkamp, R. (2000). “Infiltration with controlled air escape.” Water Resour. Res, 36(3), 781–785.
Dunne, T., and Black, R. D. (1970). “Partial area contributions to storm runoff in a small New England watershed.” Water Resour. Res., 6(5), 1296–1311.
Freeze, R., and Cherry, J. (2000). “Groundwater and the hydrologic cycle.” Groundwater, Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 192–236.
Guo, H., Jiao, J. J., and Weeks, E. P. (2008). “Rain-induced subsurface airflow and Lisse effect.” Water Resour. Res., 44(7), W07409.
Heliotis, F. D., and Dewitt, C. B. (1987). “Rapid water-table responses to rainfall in a northern peatland ecosystem.” Water Resour. Bull., 23(6), 1011–1016.
Hernandez, T., Nachabe, M., Ross, M., and Obeysekera, J. (2003). “Runoff from variable source areas in humid, shallow water table environments.” J. Am. Water Resour. Assoc., 39(1), 75–85.
Hillel, D., and Gardner, W. (1970). “Transient infiltration into crust-topped profiles.” Soil Sci., 109(2), 69–76.
Hooghoudt, S. B. (1947). “Waarnemingen van grondwaterstanden voor de landbouw. Commissie voor Hydrologisch TNO.” Verslagen Technische Bijeenkomsten, 1–6, 185–201.
Horton, R. E. (1933). “The rôle of infiltration in the hydrologic cycle.” Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 14(1), 446–460.
Morel-Seytoux, H., and Khanji, J. (1975). “Equation of infiltration with compression and counterflow effect.” Hydrol. Sci. Bull., 20(4), 505–517.
Nachabe, M., and Illangasekare, T. (1994). “Use of tension infiltrometer data with unsaturated hydraulic conductivity models.” Ground Water, 32(6), 1017–1021.
Nachabe, M., Masek, C., and Obeyesekera, J. (2004). “Observation and modeling of profile soil water storage above a shallow water table.” Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 68(3), 719–724.
Nachabe, M. H. (2006). “Spatially distributed versus lumped parameter models: A proposed equivalence between the TOPMODEL and SCS curve number method.” J. Am. Water Resour. Assoc., 42(1), 225–235.
Sakaki, T., Limsuwat, A., and Illangasekare, T. H. (2010). “An improved air pressure measuring method and demonstrated application to drainage in heterogeneous soils.” Vadose Zone J., 10(2), 706–715.
Thompson, D. (2003). “Specific yield variability and the evolution of ground-water evapotranspiration in a humid shallow water table environment.” Master’s Degree thesis, Univ. of South Florida, Tampa, FL.
Wang, Z., Feyen, J., Nielsen, D., and van Genuchten, M. (1997). “Two-phase flow infiltration equations accounting for air entrapment effects.” Water Resour. Res., 33(12), 2759–2767.
Wang, Z., Feyen, J., van Genuchten, M., and Nielson, D. (1998). “Air entrapment effects on infiltration rate and flow instability.” Water Resour. Res., 34(2), 213–222.
Weeks, E. P. (2002). “The Lisse effect revisited.” Ground Water, 40(6), 652–656.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 20 • Issue 10 • October 2015
Copyright
© 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 7, 2014
Accepted: Dec 18, 2014
Published online: Jan 29, 2015
Discussion open until: Jun 29, 2015
Published in print: Oct 1, 2015
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.