Measurement of Surface-Soil Hydraulic Properties: Disk Permeameters, Tension Infiltrometers, and Other Techniques

White, Ian; Sully, M. J.; Perroux, K. M.

doi:10.2136/sssaspecpub30.c5

Cited by 34 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…Th e α parameter in the Gardner equation (Gardner, 1958) given by the slope of a line fi tted to lnQ and ψ, is an important scaling parameter (White et al, 1992), and because it is related to mean pore size, it is a useful measure of soil structure (White and Sully, 1987). Our α values for clay soils are consistent with those reviewed by Tartakovsky et al (2003).…”

Section: Development Of Structure In the Capillary Matrixsupporting

confidence: 78%

Soil Management and Grass Species Effects on the Hydraulic Properties of Shrinking Soils

Gregory

Webster

Watts

et al. 2010

Soil Science Soc of Amer J

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In this study, we explored the effect of the roots of different forage grasses on soil hydraulic properties at the plot scale. To achieve this, we set up a field experiment in which six different grass cultivars were grown on replicated field plots at North Wyke, UK. We used tension infiltration measurements to assess soil hydraulic properties and structure. These measurements were made over two consecutive seasons. Measurements of shrinkage, water repellence, and the water release characteristic on soil samples taken from the North Wyke site were also made. We also wanted to compare the effects of different grasses on soil structure with the effects of differences in soil management; we therefore made tension infiltration measurements on fallow soil, permanent grassland, and arable land on a long‐term experiment at Rothamsted, Harpenden, UK. Our data showed that the saturated hydraulic conductivity of the capillary matrix of the soil sown with grass depended on the grass species. Grass species affected the characteristic pore size estimated from tension infiltration data. At the Rothamsted site, we were able to infer that the development of macropore structure can be ranked grassland > arable > fallow (from the greatest to the least amount of macropores). In the North Wyke site, all the grass plots showed evidence of a macropore structure, consistent with the grassland site at Rothamsted, but there did not appear to be any variation between grass species. We concluded that changes to soil structure were probably due to physical rearrangement of soil particles by shrinkage.

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Section: Development Of Structure In the Capillary Matrixsupporting

confidence: 78%

Soil Management and Grass Species Effects on the Hydraulic Properties of Shrinking Soils

Gregory

Webster

Watts

et al. 2010

Soil Science Soc of Amer J

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“…[41] Sorptivity was estimated using the early-time approximation for the first 0.4 L, where S ¼ I(t À0.5 ) [White et al, 1992], and is presented as a mean and standard deviation of all 12 points on a single date. Due to the short duration of the infiltration tests (lasting from >1 to $20 min in dry conditions and >1À4 h in wet conditions), it was assumed that material swelling was not significant and that the early time approximation was valid.…”

Section: Application-sorptivity Isolinesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[4] At early times (i.e., t << S 2 /C 2 ) sorptivity dominates the infiltration behavior, and for very early times (t ! 0) the second term on the right hand side may be neglected [White et al, 1992]. Conversely, the second term dominates as time increases, subject to the limit of t ¼ S 2 /C 2 , when the series expansion from which equation (1) was derived is no longer accurate.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The field data come from a soil with vertic (shrink-swell) properties, which has varying effective hydraulic conductivity (K eff ) as macropores open and close. Sorptivity was estimated using the early time approximation ofWhite et al [1992]. The arrows indicate chronological progression of estimates sorptivity taken at different times of the year (resulting in different initial soil moisture contents).…”

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Modeling effect of initial soil moisture on sorptivity and infiltration

et al. 2013

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[1] A soil's capillarity, associated with the parameter sorptivity, is a dominant control on infiltration, particularly at the onset of rainfall or irrigation. Many mathematical models used to estimate sorptivity are only valid for dry soils. This paper examines how sorptivity and its capillary component (as wetting front potential) change with initial degree of saturation. We capture these effects with a simple modification to the classic Green-Ampt model of sorptivity. The modified model has practical applications, including (1) accurately describing the relative sorptivity of a soil at various water contents and (2) allowing for quantification of a soil's saturated hydraulic conductivity from sorptivity measurements, given estimates of the soil's characteristic curve and initial water content. The latter application is particularly useful in soils of low permeability, where the time required to estimate hydraulic conductivity through steady-state methods can be impractical.

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“…Over the last two decades tension disc infiltrometers (Perroux and White, 1988) have become very popular devices for in situ estimates of soil surface hydraulic properties such as saturated and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity and sorptivity (White et al, 1992) and macropore flow contribution (Angulo-Jaramillo et al, 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Malleable disc base for direct infiltration measurements using the tension infiltrometry technique

Moret‐Fernández

Blanco

Martínez-Chueca

et al. 2012

Hydrological Processes

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Abstract:The correct use of the tension disc infiltrometer requires the membrane of the disc base to be completely in contact with the soil surface. To achieve this contact, a thick layer of sand is commonly placed between the soil surface and the disc base. This paper presents an alternative disc (M DB ), which, by incorporating a malleable membrane, allows direct infiltration measurements without using a contact sand layer. Infiltration curves obtained with this new design in a soil under three different tillage management treatments were compared with the corresponding curves obtained with a conventional disc (C DB ) that uses a contact sand layer. The cumulative infiltration curves measured with C DB were analysed by the differentiated linearization (DL) method, and the corresponding curves obtained with M DB were analysed using both the DL and the cumulative linearization (CL) models. The values of hydraulic conductivity (K 0 ) and sorptivity (S 0 ) estimated with C DB were also compared with those obtained with M DB . Finally, the cumulative infiltration curves measured with C DB and M DB were compared with the corresponding modelled function for the respective K 0 and S 0 values calculated with the CL and DL models. The results show that, compared with C DB without a contact sand layer, M DB allows complete soil surface wetting even when non-smoothed soil surfaces are used. The C DB , which yielded average K 0 values 18% lower than those estimated with M DB , gave the highest values of standard error for the hydraulic parameters calculated. Furthermore, the subjective method employed in the C DB -DL technique, which requires the first points of the differential infiltration line corresponding to the sand layer to be manually removed, introduces additional uncertainties in estimating S 0 and K 0 . Comparison between the modelled and measured infiltration curves demonstrates that the DL or CL methods applied to M DB gave excellent estimates of S 0 and K 0 .

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Measurement of Surface-Soil Hydraulic Properties: Disk Permeameters, Tension Infiltrometers, and Other Techniques

Cited by 34 publications

References 60 publications

Soil Management and Grass Species Effects on the Hydraulic Properties of Shrinking Soils

Soil Management and Grass Species Effects on the Hydraulic Properties of Shrinking Soils

Modeling effect of initial soil moisture on sorptivity and infiltration

Malleable disc base for direct infiltration measurements using the tension infiltrometry technique

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