Understanding the dynamics of water distribution in soil is crucial for enhancing our knowledge of managing soil and water resources. The application of X-ray computed tomography (CT) to the plant and soil sciences is now well established. However, few studies have utilized the technique for visualizing water in soil pore spaces. Here this method is utilized to visualize the water in soil in si...

Modeling flow and solute transport in the unsaturated zone on the basis of the Richards equation requires specifying values for unsaturated hydraulic conductivity and water potential as a function of saturation. The objectives of the paper are to evaluate the design of a transient, radial, multi-step outflow experiment, and to determine unsaturated hydraulic parameters using inverse modeling. W...

Numerical models can be valuable tools in the prediction of seepage. The results can often be misleading if proper variational analysis is not performed. Measurement of the soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) or saturated and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity information is often neglected or minimized. The modeller is therefore forced to develop a seepage model based on estimated soil prop...

The Soil-Water Characteristic Curve (SWCC) is an important soil function relating the water content of a soil to soil suction. Many unsaturated soil properties (or soil property functions) can be related to the water content versus suction relationship of a soil. Hydraulic conductivity, shear strength, chemical diffusivity, water storage, unfrozen volumetric water content, specific heat, and th...

The water flow in unsaturated soils is governed by Richards equation, a nonlinear parabolic partial differential equation. In a layered unsaturated soil, enforcing the continuity of both pressure head and flux across the interface of distinct soil materials leads to a non-linear interface equation. This interface equation may exhibit multiple solutions. Using different averaging methods for cel...

The aim of this paper was to verify the common methods of hydraulic conductivity estimation for soil assessment in respect to wastewater disposal. The studies were conducted on three types of sandy soils. Hydraulic conductivity was determined using a scale effect-free laboratory method, empirical equations and compared with measurements estimated from a laboratory infiltration column with ident...

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) proliferate in soils and are known to affect soil structure. Although their contribution to structure is extensively investigated, the consequences of those processes for soil water extractability and transport has, so far, gained surprisingly little attention. Therefore we asked, whether AMF can affect water retention and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity un...