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Variations non‐uniformes de volume et de teneur en eau en sol argileux gonflant: I. Analyse théorique
Author(s) -
VOLTZ M.,
CABIDOCHE Y.M.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
european journal of soil science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.244
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1365-2389
pISSN - 1351-0754
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2389.1995.tb01330.x
Subject(s) - soil water , infiltration (hvac) , soil science , volume (thermodynamics) , swelling , water content , wetting , swell , water retention curve , geotechnical engineering , soil horizon , field capacity , environmental science , geology , materials science , thermodynamics , composite material , physics , oceanography
Summary In many clay soils, drying and wetting cause non‐uniform changes in water content and in the volume of soil and peds. Theoretical relations between total volume of soil, soil thickness and water content are sought for non‐uniformly swelling and shrinking soil. Such soil is assumed to be composed of small elemental volumes, each of which does swell or shrink uniformly. It is also assumed that the non‐uniformity of swelling or shrinking in such soils arises solely from spatial variation brought about by variations in evapotranspiration and infiltration. A constant ratio between movement of the soil in the vertical and horizontal dimensions is assumed for all elements of soil. By averaging over the soil volume the equations describing the volume change of individual elemental volumes, the averaged equations for non‐uniform volume changes may be obtained. They show that the average and the spatial distribution of the changes in soil thickness determine the average changes in water content of the soil. It is concluded that the equations for uniform and non‐uniform volume changing soils, though formally different, should in practice produce nearly identical results for clay soils.