Rain Transmission Losses Assessment in Arid Environment, Egypt: Numerical and Experimental Study

Abstract

In water-scarce regions, Transmission Losses Assessment from rainfall is required for the Numerical and Experimental Study of groundwater recharge. This Study is an attempt to assess Transmission Losses and the infiltration rate at Wadi El-Assiuti, Egypt, field infiltration experiments were conducted to measure the infiltration and porosity at the target area, such as using a double-ring infiltrometer. Determination and Quantify the infiltration rate of the soil is very vital as input parameters of the hydrological modeling, irrigation planning and other natural or man-made Processes. Steady state infiltration rates have been determined in selected sites of Wadi El-Assiuti. Accurate determination of infiltration rates is fundamental for trustworthy prediction of surface runoff and groundwater recharge. Double ring infiltrometer was used to measure infiltration rate at selected sites. An important part of the study was the accurate and consistent measurement of infiltration rates‥ The infiltration rate was calculated according to the installation and operating instruction for the double ring in ASTM 2003. Final infiltration rates were 18 cm h−1, for the first observation site, 24.2 cm h−1for the second site and 59 cm h−1for the third site. The analysis indicated that the soil for the three selected areas is sandy soil. Infiltration rates were taken at 0 to70 minutes of 10 minutes intervals. The infiltration rate at the third site is high compared to the other two selected sites. After performing the experiments, soil samples have been gathered and analyzed in the laboratory for porosity analysis. The results of this study can therefore be applied in the prediction of saturated hydraulic conductivity of the surface layers and groundwater recharge, and in developing or selecting the most efficient irrigation methods. The results from this work have been also involved in a numerical hydrological model to estimate the Transmission Losses form rainfall at Wadi El-Assiuti using Hydro-BEAM.