Prediction of Unsaturated Relative Hydraulic Conductivity from Kosugi's Water Retention Function

Effective Unsaturated Hydraulic Conductivity

Steady-state and transient one-dimensional unsaturated flow in vertically stratified porous media are examined. Saturated hydraulic conductivity and the alpha parameter of the exponential hydraulic conductivity function were assumed to vary from soil layer to soil layer. The use of effective unsaturated hydraulic conductivity to compute matric potential in the soil profile is demonstrated. Resu...

Prediction of the saturated hydraulic conductivity from Brooks and Coreys water retention parameters

[1] Prediction of flow through variably saturated porous media requires accurate knowledge of the soil hydraulic properties, namely the water retention function (WRF) and the hydraulic conductivity function (HCF). Unfortunately, direct measurement of the HCF is time consuming and expensive. In this study, we derive a simple closed-form equation that predicts the saturated hydraulic conductivity...

Determination of unsaturated hydraulic conductivity by internal drainage assuming a uniform soil water profile

Unsaturated hydraulic conductivity function based on a soil fragmentation process

We present a new two-parameter expression for relative hydraulic conductivity (RHC) of partially saturated soils. It is based on the premise of Assouline et al. [1998] that soil structures evolve from a uniform random fragmentation process. This assumption allows us to derive hydraulic properties of soils (water retention curves and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity) from primary properties, s...

Measurement Scale Effect on Prediction of Soil Water Retention Curve and Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity

Soil water retention curve (SWRC) and saturated hydraulic conductivity (SHC) are key hydraulic properties for unsaturated zone hydrology and groundwater. In particular, SWRC provides useful information on entry pore-size distribution, and SHC is required for flow and transport modeling in the hydrologic cycle. Not only the SWRC and SHC measurements are time-consuming, but also scale dependent. ...