Abstract
Methods to predict soil hydraulic properties frequently re- quire information on the particle size distribution (PSD). The objectives of this study were to investigate various protocols for rapidly measuring PSD using the laser diffraction technique, compare the obtained PSD with those determined using the traditional hydrometer-and-sieves method (HSM), and assess the accuracy of soil hydraulic properties pre- dicted from the measured PSD. Ten soil samples encompassing a wide textural range were analyzed using the l-1SM and 3 different laser dif- fraction methods (LDM 1, LDM2. and (DM3). In (DM1, the soil sam- ple was thoroughly mixed before analysis. In LDM2, the sand fraction was sieved out and analyzed separately from the silt-clay fraction. l.DM3 was similar to LDM2 except that the silt-clay fraction was diluted so that a large sample volume could he used while maintaining an acceptable level of obscuration. (DM'_' and (DM3 improved the agreement be- tween the PSD with the IISM in comparison to LDM1, without the need of altering the Mie theory parameters or the use of scaling factors. Moreover, a reasonable prediction of measured saturated hydraulic con- ductivity and water retention curve was achieved when using the PSD from LDM2 and (DM3, in conjunction with bulk density information.
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