A Novel Three-Segment Model to Describe the Entire Soil–Water Characteristic Curve

Abstract

This study aims to accurately describe the soil–water characteristic curve (SWCC) across the full range from saturation to oven dryness. We propose a smooth, continuous three-segmented SWCC model that divides the saturation range into wet, air-dried, and oven-dried segments. The two model junction points are anchored at matric suctions of 104.5 and 106.5 cm, respectively. The soil water content at 104.5 cm represents the maximum soil hygroscopy, reflecting the maximum water content in air-dried soil, while the soil water content at 106.5 cm characterizes the minimum soil water content. This imbues the junction points with specific physical significance regarding soil moisture content and matric potential. The model was tested with the water retention data of nine soils across the SWCC and compared with three existing SWCC models based on the adjusted coefficient of determination (adjR2) and root mean square error (RMSE). The results indicated that the proposed model accurately described the entire SWCC. The three-segmented model yielded an adjR2 of >0.99 and an RMSE of ≤0.022 cm3 cm−3, outperforming other models. We also introduce a new method for predicting soil water data in air-dried and oven-dried segments. The results showed that the predicted soil water content values were accurate.