Water flow and conductivity into capillary and non-capillary pores of soils

Abstract

Downward water flow in the vadose zone occurs principally through the non-capil lary pores, while the redistribution and lateral and upward flow occurs in the capil lary pores. The purpose of this study was to propose equations to estimate water flow, Q(θ), and hydraulic conductivity, K(θ), in the capillary and non-capillary soil pores. The equations related K(θ) to soil pore radius (r) were based on soil hydraulic data, including water retention h(q), field basic infiltration rate, water sorptivity (S) and distribution density function f(r) of the soil pore size. Calcareous sandy loam and alluvial clay soils located at the Nile Delta were used to test the validity of the assumed equations. Data showed that the values of K(θ) calculated by the proposed equations were in the common ranges for such soils. The equations are therefore expected to be applicable for both coarse and fine textured soils. Also, an equation was derived to estimate the sorptivity at steady state infiltration. It was observed that S is decreased in going from the un-saturation condition to steady state infiltration by 15.1% and 45.9% in sandy loam and clay soils, respectively.