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Hydrodynamic Dispersion During Absorption of Water by Soil
Author(s) -
Smiles D. E.,
Philip J. R.,
Knight J. H.,
Elrick D. E.
Publication year - 1978
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/sssaj1978.03615995004200020002x
Subject(s) - dispersion (optics) , water content , soil water , soil science , absorption (acoustics) , absorption of water , moisture , salt (chemistry) , porous medium , chemistry , environmental science , materials science , geology , geotechnical engineering , porosity , optics , physics , composite material
The paper reports an experimental study of hydrodynamic dispersion of low concentration solutions during absorption into horizontal columns of soil with initially uniform moisture and solute contents. The initial soil solutions were of relatively high salt concentration. It was found that both the water and salt concentration profiles preserved similarity in terms of distance divided by the square root of time. This observation implies that the longitudinal dispersion coefficient is insensitive to pore water velocity and may be taken as a function of the volumetric water content only, at least for a given initial (low) moisture content. The formulation which follows is frankly phenomenological. It provides a simple means of predicting dispersion during flow in unsaturated soils which promises to be sufficiently accurate for most purposes.