Impact of evaporation on field capacity during water drainage redistribution in a soil

Abstract

AbstractTo this day, field capacity (FC) is rarely defined in the context of soil properties, and the use of non‐physical simplistic models is the common way to normalize water content at FC. In this study, the problem of water drainage redistribution in a soil column with and without the presence of evaporation (EV) was extensively studied. Analytical solutions for the Richards equation were established for the case of water drainage redistribution through a deeply wetted soil water column with and without EV at FC conditions. Water retention and depth evolution curves were plotted first, using different EV values of (2 , 5 and 8 ) and second, for different drainage redistribution durations of (1 day, 4 days and 6 days) where EV was set to zero for the case with no EV or to a fixed value of 5 for the case with EV. The results suggest that EV plays a significant role in soil water drainage suggesting that, in the presence of EV, the FC drying front reaches much higher depths in the soil water profile than if EV is turned off. It was also concluded that FC reaches deeper depths faster the stronger EV is acting at the surface of a soil water column. Additionally, the results suggest that the texture of the soil receiving drainage controls the amount of water available for EV and as a result, EV was found to play a stronger role the smaller the hydraulic conductivity of the soil is.