Application of the infiltration‐theory to engineering practice

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to furnish a working procedure to engineers whereby the principles of the infiltration‐theory may be utilized to estimate the volumes of infiltration or surface‐runoff from natural basins. While adhering to the basic principles of the infiltration‐theory, the authors have used some approximations and averages in order to simplify the problem and reduce the time and labor otherwise involved. This work has been made possible through the courtesy of the United States Corps of Engineers and the United States Department of Agriculture permitting the use of their data on rainfall, runoff, and their derived average loss‐rates (fav) on basins from 10 to 3,000 square miles in Oklahoma and Mississippi.

Appendix A—The role of the pF in the dynamics of soil‐moisture

“…pF is the abbrevia tion of the latter. The proposal arose as a result of an article by two of us dealing with the elec trical capacity of the two-electrode plaster of Paris block as an indicator of soil-moisture con tent [2]. The seeming undesirability of assigning another totally different meaning in soil-science to the well known symbol pF was pointed out later [1] in another article.…”

“…One following the hydraulic laws of gravity flow, the other following the laws of the capillary movement of water. [2]. All three are empirical or hybrids, although useful in practical applications.…”