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Constant Rainfall Infiltration Into Bounded Shallow Profiles
Author(s) -
Philip J. R.
Publication year - 1991
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 - 10.1029/91wr02199
Subject(s) - ponding , infiltration (hvac) , hydraulic conductivity , saturation (graph theory) , thermal diffusivity , bounded function , mathematics , soil water , constant (computer programming) , water content , soil science , moisture , thermodynamics , mathematical analysis , geotechnical engineering , physics , environmental science , geology , combinatorics , meteorology , ecology , drainage , computer science , biology , programming language
Broadbridge et al. (1988) studied constant rainfall infiltration into bounded profiles and, in particular, the dependence on profile depth Z * of R crit / K 1 . K 1 is saturated hydraulic conductivity and R crit is the critical rainfall rate for which surface ponding and profile base saturation occur simultaneously. They found for the linear soil that for lim z * →0 R crit/ K 1 ≈ 2.004. The correct value is in fact exactly 2. In the present work a shallow profile flow equation is established and used (1) to prove this result holds exactly for soils with moisture diffusivity D and hydraulic conductivity K quasi‐linearly connected but otherwise arbitrary functions of volumetric moisture content θ; and (2) to develop a physical argument indicating the result is exact in the fully general case with D (θ) and K (θ) unconnected.