Infiltration under Ponded Conditions

Abstract

Ponded infiltration processes occur in agricultural lands irrigated by flooding of their soil surface or under insufficient drainage conditions. The existing equations describing the phenomenon of vertical infiltration under ponded conditions have not considered the actual contribution of the pressure head gradient to the flow. In this study, simple equations are proposed to describe the horizontal and vertical infiltration under various ponding heads incorporating the actual contribution of the pressure head gradient to the flow. Six soils with known hydraulic properties, covering a wide range of soil textures, were used. Horizontal and vertical infiltration data are obtained by numerical simulation for all soils studied using the Hydrus-1D code. To validate the accuracy of the proposed equations, the solutions of horizontal and vertical infiltrations provided by the proposed equations were compared with numerically simulated ones provided by the Hydrus 1-D. The analysis of the results showed a very good agreement in all soils studied. The proposed vertical infiltration equation was also compared to a simple and accurate equation which does not incorporate the actual contribution of the pressure head gradient to the flow and differences between them were observed in all soils studied.