Five models of hysteretic water-retention capacity and their comparison for sandy soil

Abstract

Abstract.A description of five mathematical models of the water-retention capacity of soil is given, taking into account the hysteresis phenomena. A computational experiment was carried out with these models using data on sandy soil. The experiment consisted of: (i) tuning of the models (parameter identification) by the method of dot-approximation of experimental data on the main drying and wetting branches of the hysteresis loop using an optimizing algorithm; (ii) the predictive calculation of the scanning branches of the hysteresis loop; (iii) a comparison of the errors in tuning results and the predictive calculation using the Williams-Kloot criteria. The commensurate and sufficiently low errors in the adjustment of the models have been achieved. The differences in the calculation of the scanning hysteresis branches are revealed. The practical significance of the mathematical models presented is to ensure the calculation of precision irrigation rates. The application of such rates in irrigation farming will help to prevent excess moisture from flowing beyond the root layer of the soil under the influence of gravity and, thus, to minimize the losses (unproductive consumption) of irrigation water, fertilizers, meliorants and plant protection products, and also reduce the risk of groundwater contamination with agrochemicals and eutrophication of water bodies.

Water quality analysis and simulation

“…In industry and construction, the corrosion of building materials (concrete) depends on the value of alkalinity, the precipitation of carbonate scale in boilers feeding steam-power plants. In agriculture, the value of alkalinity determines the possibility of water usability for irrigation [17].…”

“…The proposed method is applicable for another soil properties research, especially hydrophysical properties of the soils [16][17][18][19] (water-retention capacity [18][19][20] and its hysteresis) [21,22].…”

SWAT modeling of the soil properties in GIS-environment: initial calculations

“…The future studies should consider the extension of this research with the use of that data. The proposed method is applicable for another soil properties research, especially hydrophysical properties of the soils [13][14][15][16][17] (water-retention capacity [18][19][20] and its hysteresis) [21,22].…”

The environmentally-efficient canal district design respecting urban context

“…It might as well be important to control different parameters of a canal, such as level of water, pollutants content in water, water temperature, water flow rate, soil properties [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42] and other parameters to properly manage the environment surrounding the canal district. In this sense, the adoption of digital twin technologies [43] of the area and GIS technologies [44][45][46] are useful to analyze the state of water and territory, forecast changes that might occur in the district and make decisions that would anticipate the further changes [18,47].…”