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Unsaturated hydraulic conductivity function based on a soil fragmentation process
Author(s) -
Assouline Shmuel,
Tartakovsky Daniel M.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/2000wr900332
Subject(s) - hydraulic conductivity , soil water , soil science , conductivity , geotechnical engineering , water retention , geology , chemistry
We present a new two‐parameter expression for relative hydraulic conductivity (RHC) of partially saturated soils. It is based on the premise of Assouline et al . [1998] that soil structures evolve from a uniform random fragmentation process. This assumption allows us to derive hydraulic properties of soils (water retention curves and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity) from primary properties, such as pore geometry and soil structure. We tested our RHC expression against different soil types and found that it fits data better than the widely used models of Brooks and Corey [1964] and van Genuchten [1980].