New piecewise‐continuous hydraulic functions for modeling preferential flow in an intermittent‐flood‐irrigated field

Abstract

Modeling water flow in macroporous field soils near saturation has been a major challenge in vadose zone hydrology. Using in situ and laboratory measurements, we developed new piecewise‐continuous soil water retention and hydraulic conductivity functions to describe preferential flow in tile drains under a flood‐irrigated agricultural field in Las Nutrias, New Mexico. After incorporation into a two‐dimensional numerical flow code, CHAIN_2D, the performance of the new piecewise‐continuous hydraulic functions was compared with that of the unimodal van Genuchten‐Mualem model and with measured tile‐flow data at the field site during a number of irrigation events. Model parameters were collected/estimated by site characterization (e.g., soil texture, surface/subsurface saturated/unsaturated soil hydraulic property measurements), as well as by local and regional‐scale hydrologic monitoring (including the use of groundwater monitoring wells, piezometers, and different surface‐irrigation and subsurface‐drainage measurement systems). Comparison of numerical simulation results with the observed tile flow indicated that the new piecewise‐continuous hydraulic functions generally predicted preferential flow in the tile drain reasonably well following all irrigation events at the field site. Also, the new bimodal soil water retention and hydraulic conductivity functions performed better than the unimodal van Genuchten–Mualem functions in terms of describing the observed flow regime at the field site.