Analysis of changes in moisture transport parameters in soils under waterlogged conditions

Abstract

The article considers changes in natural patterns of moisture transport parameters under waterlogging and lowering of groundwater table, in conditions of filtration-anisotropic strata. The nature of anisotropy characteristic of river sediments (alluvial, pluvial, deltaic and their combinations) is the most widespread in the surface zone of the earth’s crust. Impact factors: external and artificial, in the process of waterlogging and drainage, affect both positively and negatively the thickness of the active zone, capacity and water permeability values. The research method is based on the generalization of different approaches, causes and factors of moisture movement and on the results of field experiments to determine the nature to reveal the essence of “gravity moisture discharge”. In more exact statement the problem of stationary filtration is solved by Laplace equation. The state of moisture in the aeration zone has been studied: unsteady, transient and gravitational. By investigating the nature of this process, it is established that the evaporation process takes place not from the surface of groundwater table, but from aeration zone located between air (above ground surface) and water space (lower boundary of aeration zone).