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A Similarity During Early Stages of Rain Infiltration
Author(s) -
Ahuja L. R.,
Romkens M. J. M.
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
soil science society of america journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1435-0661
pISSN - 0361-5995
DOI - 10.2136/sssaj1974.03615995003800030046x
Subject(s) - infiltration (hvac) , water content , soil water , soil science , environmental science , thermal diffusivity , similarity (geometry) , richards equation , hydrology (agriculture) , geology , geotechnical engineering , meteorology , physics , computer science , thermodynamics , artificial intelligence , image (mathematics)
A similarity is shown to exist during early stages of rain infiltration into a relatively dry soil in which the diffusivity varies exponentially with the water content. The similarity leads to simple expressions for describing the wet‐front progress and the water‐content change at the soil surface. The wet‐front equation adequately describes the experimental data for four different soils. The approach can be extended to some cases of rainfall when the intensity is time‐dependent, and to infiltration with transient surface sealing.