Assessment of Three Infiltration Formulas based on Model Fitting on Richards Equation
Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 7, Issue 5
Abstract
The Richard’s equation was used to numerically model 1D flow within unsaturated topsoil and solved using a two-step Crank-Nicolson scheme. Under constant water supply, the Darcy velocity obtained at the upper boundary, the ground surface, is regarded as the correct infiltration rate. Based on this, three infiltration-capacity formulas by Horton, Philip, and Green-Ampt were evaluated for three types of soil. Results demonstrated that all three formulas provide similar fits to the numerical results, but the Horton formula differs most as compared to the other two formulas in terms of infiltration rate. The cumulative infiltration curves were not distinguishable from each other. By perturbing the rainfall intensity, duration, and initial soil moisture content, regression results demonstrated that only the saturated hydraulic conductivity can be used as a good estimator for parameter k (or in all formulas. The other two parameters, however, will deviate from their original values. Only the late-time infiltration parameter (k or can be predicted a priori using measured values.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Bouwer, H. (1978). “Chap. 8: Surface-subsurface water relations.” Groundwater hydrology, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Buckingham, E. (1907). “Studies on the movement of soil moisture.” U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA), Soils Bull., 38, Washington, D.C.
Chow, V. T., Maidment, D. R., and Mays, L. W. (1988). Applied hydrology, McGraw-Hill, Singapore, 99–126.
Eagleson, P. S. (1970). Dynamic hydrology, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Freeze, R. A., and Cherry, J. A. (1979). Groundwater, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
Green, W. H., and Ampt, G. A.(1911). “Studies on soil physics, part I: The flow of air and water through soils.” J. Agric. Sci., 4(1), 1–24.
Hills, R. G., Porro, I., Hudson, D. B., and Wierenga, P. J.(1989). “Modeling one-dimensional infiltration into very dry soils: 1. Model development and evaluation.” W. R. R., 25(6), 1,259–1,269.
Horton, R. E.(1933). “The role of infiltration in the hydrologic cycle.” Trans., Am. Geophys. Union, 14, 446–460.
Hsu, S. H. M., Ni, C. F., and Hung, P. F.(1995). “Numerical and analytical solution of Richards equation.” Feng Chia Academic Journal, 28, 197–210 (in Chinese).
Jury, W. A., Gardner, W. R., and Gardner, W. H. (1991). Soil Physics, 5th Ed., Wiley, New York, 87–112, 130–137.
Philip, J. R.(1957a). “The theory of infiltration: 1. The infiltration equation and its solution.” Soil Sci., 83(5), 345–357.
Philip, J. R.(1957b). “The theory of infiltration: 4. Sorptivity and algebraic infiltration equations.” Soil Sci., 84(3), 257–264.
Philip, J. R.(1957c). “The theory of infiltration: 5. The influence of the initial moisture content.” Soil Sci., 84(4), 329–339.
Raudkivi, A. J. (1979). Hydrology, Pergamon, Tarrytown, N.Y., 136–163.
Rawls, W. J., Brakensiek, D. L., and Miller, N.(1983). “Green-Ampt infiltration parameters from soils data.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 109(1), 62–70.
Segol, G. (1993). Classic groundwater simulations, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 283–330.
Smith, R. E.(1972). “The infiltration envelope: Results from a theoretical infiltrometer.” J. Hydrol., 17, 1–21.
Smith, R. E., and Woolhiser, D. A. (1971). “Mathematical simulation of infiltrating watersheds.” Hydrology Paper 47, Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, Colo.
Touma, J., and Vauclin, M.(1985). “Experimental and numerical analysis of two-phase infiltration in a partially saturated soil.” Transp. Porous Media, 1, 28–55.
van Genuchten, M. T.(1980). “A closed-form equation for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils.” Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 44, 892–898.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 7 • Issue 5 • September 2002
Pages: 373 - 379
Copyright
Copyright © 2002 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 6, 1999
Accepted: Jan 4, 2002
Published online: Aug 15, 2002
Published in print: Sep 2002
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.