CE 137

ASSIG
NMENT
1
INFILTRATION
-is the process by which water on the ground surface enters the soil. It is
commonly used in both hydrology and soil sciences. The infiltration
capacity is defined as the maximum rate of infiltration. It is most often
measured in meters per day but can also be measured in other units of
distance over time if necessary. The infiltration capacity decreases as
the soil moisture content of soils surface layers increases. If
the precipitation rate exceeds the infiltration rate, runoff will usually
occur unless there is some physical barrier.
 Factors affecting infiltration, and infiltration
measurements
-Precipitation
Precipitation can impact infiltration in many ways. The amount, type
and duration of precipitation all have an impact. Rainfall leads to faster
infiltration rates than any other precipitation events, such as snow or
sleet. In terms of amount, the more precipitation that occurs, the more
infiltration will occur until the ground reaches saturation, at which point
the infiltration capacity is reached. Duration of rainfall impacts the
infiltration capacity as well. Initially when the precipitation event first
starts the infiltration is occurring rapidly as the soil is unsaturated, but as
time continues the infiltration rate slows as the soil becomes more
saturated. This relationship between rainfall and infiltration capacity also
determines how much runoff will occur. If rainfall occurs at a rate faster
than the infiltration capacity runoff will occur.

-Soil characteristics
The porosity of soils is critical in determining the infiltration capacity.
Soils that have smaller pore sizes, such as clay, have lower infiltration
capacity and slower infiltration rates than soils that have large pore size,
such as sands. One exception to this rule is when clay is present in dry
conditions. In this case, the soil can develop large cracks which leads to
higher infiltration capacity.[3]
Soil compaction also impacts infiltration capacity. Compaction of soils
results in decreased porosity within the soils, which decreases
infiltration capacity.[4]
Hydrophobic soils can develop after wildfires have happened, which can
greatly diminish or completely prevent infiltration from occurring.

-Soil moisture content

Soil that is already saturated has no more capacity to hold more water,
therefore infiltration capacity has been reached and the rate cannot
increase past this point. This leads to much more surface runoff. When
soil is partially saturated then infiltration can occur at a moderate rate
and fully unsaturated soils have the highest infiltration capacity.

-Organic materials in soils

Organic materials in the soil (including plants and animals) all increase
the infiltration capacity. Vegetation contains roots that extend into the
soil which create cracks and fissures in the soil, allowing for more rapid
infiltration and increased capacity. Vegetation can also reduce surface
compaction of the soil which again allows for increased infiltration.
When no vegetation is present infiltration rates can be very low, which
can lead to excessive runoff and increased erosion levels.[3] Similarly to
vegetation, animals that burrow in the soil also create cracks in the soil
structure.

-Land cover
If land is covered by impermeable surfaces, such as pavement,
infiltration cannot occur as the water cannot infiltrate through an
impermeable surface This relationship also leads to increased runoff.
Areas that are impermeable often have storm drains which drain directly
into water bodies, which means no infiltration occurs.[5]
Vegetative cover of the land also impacts the infiltration capacity.
Vegetative cover can lead to more interception of precipitation, which
can decrease intensity leading to less runoff, and more interception.
Increased abundance of vegetation also leads to higher levels
of evapotranspiration which can decrease the amount of infiltration rate.
[5]
  Debris from vegetation such as leaf cover can also increase
infiltration rate by protecting the soils from intense precipitation events.
In semi-arid savannas and grasslands, the infiltration rate of a particular
soil depends on the percentage of the ground covered by litter, and the
basal cover of perennial grass tufts. On sandy loam soils the infiltration
rate under a litter cover can be nine times higher than on bare surfaces.
The low rate of infiltration on bare areas is due mostly to the presence of
a soil crust or surface seal. Infiltration through the base of a tuft is rapid
and the tufts funnel water towards their own roots.

-Slope
When the slope of land is higher runoff occurs more readily which leads
to lower infiltration rates.
HORTON MODEL AND
PHILIP’S EQUATION
HORTON’S MODEL
Named after Robert E. Horton,
Horton's equation is a viable
option when measuring ground
infiltration rates or volumes. It is
an empirical formula that says that
infiltration starts at a constant rate,
and is decreasing exponentially
with time. After some time when
the soil saturation level reaches a
certain value, the rate of
infiltration will level off to the
rate.
HORTON MODEL AND
PHILIP’S EQUATION
HORTON’S MODEL
Named after Robert E. Horton,
Horton's equation is a viable
option when measuring ground
infiltration rates or volumes. It is
an empirical formula that says that
infiltration starts at a constant rate,
and is decreasing exponentially
with time. After some time when
the soil saturation level reaches a
certain value, the rate of
infiltration will level off to the
rate.
HORTON MODEL AND PHILIP'S EQUATION

-HORTON'S MODEL
Named after Robert E. Horton, Horton's equation is a viable option
when measuring ground infiltration rates or volumes. It is an empirical
formula that says that infiltration starts at a constant rate, and is
decreasing exponentially with time. After some time when the soil
saturation level reaches a certain value, the rate of infiltration will level
off to the rate.

-Philip two term model

John Robert Philip

 Australian Civil Engineer

 "The Theory of Infiltration" -pioneered analytical solutions for
infiltration.
 Presented the first analytical solution to Richard's Equation for
vertical and horizontal infiltration

Philip's two term model is used for uniform soil with

 uniform soil-moisture content
 excess water-supply rate

How did Philip come up with ptt?

 He found a solution to the flow equation in a form of an infinite
series.
 Because of rapid convergence, the first two terms of the series are
considered sufficient.
 Philip two-term (PTT) model is established.

Horizontal infiltration
 Cumulative (l) and instantaneous rate (i) are given by:

 S = sorptivity or a function of initial and boundary water contents,

S=S(0₁.0,)
 t-time elapsed since water application
 When a sharp wetting front exists, the sorptivity may be
approximated by:
  L distance from the boundary to the wetting front.

Vertical infiltration

 solution for vertical infiltration which describes the time of

dependence of cumulative infiltration as an infinite series in power
of ¹/².

 A₁ A₂ parameters dependent upon soil properties and on initial

and boundary water contents
 for practical purposes, the series in the previous equations are cut
short, and olmy the first two terms remained:
For cumulative:
I=St ¹`²+A₁t
For infiltration rate:

I=St ¹`² +A₁

 For long infiltration times when water is ponded on the soil surface,
the final infiltration rate approaches K(5)=Ks
A₁ Ks/2
 For flux-limited infiltration rate such as low intensity rainflow P, we
may approximate the equivalent time to ponding te from the time at
which i-P.
S2
t e= 2
4(P− A)1

( fo−fc)
F t=F e t + 1−e−kt
k

Green-Ampt Infiltration Model

In the early 1900s, Heber Green and G.A. Ampt were studying drainage
and soil water flow in Australia. They built their efforts on the early soil
physics literature, including the seminal contribution of Edgar
Buckingham on flow in unsaturated soil, as described in section 4.7. In
1911, they published physically-based equations describing downward
infiltration, upward infiltration (as from a water table), and horizontal
infiltration (as from a channel or ditch) [5]. For the case of downward
infiltration, the flow situation envisioned by Green and Ampt is
represented in Fig. 6-2. Their approach resulted in a simplistic but
elegant approximation for infiltration when water is ponded on the soil
surface.
The Green-Ampt model for downward infiltration can be written as:
( Lf + Ho−Hf )
   I=K Lf

(Eq. 6.2)
where i is the infiltration rate, K is the hydraulic conductivity of the
soil, Lf is the distance (or length) from the soil surface to the wetting
front, H0 is the pressure head at the soil surface, and Hf is the pressure
head at the wetting front. This model is based on the following
assumptions:
  homogeneous soil with a uniform initial water content, θi
 the pressure head at the wetting front, Hf, is constant
 the water content and hydraulic conductivity, K, are uniform and
constant in the wetted region
 the ponding depth, H0, is constant

This model works best when a relatively sharp or distinct wetting front
exists throughout the infiltration process. Such a distinct wetting front is
more likely to occur in coarse-textured soils than in fine-textured soils
and in initially dry soil than in initially wet soil. The model also works
best when the soil texture is homogeneous throughout the wetted region
and when air-entrapment, surface crusting, and soil swelling do not
substantially influence the infiltration process.
The Green-Ampt model also provides a way to estimate cumulative
infiltration during an infiltration event. The relevant equation is
I =Lf ∆θ

(Eq. 6-3)
where I is the cumulative infiltration and Δθ is the difference between
the final water content, θf, and the initial water content, θi. One difficulty
in applying this equation is that there is not a direct (i.e. explicit) way to
calculate how the position of the wetting front, Lf, changes over time, t.
For that purpose, we have to solve the following equation for Lf by trial-
and-error (i.e. implicitly):
K.t Lf
=Lf −( Ho−Hf ) 1 n(1+ )
∆θ Ho−Hf

 (Eq. 6-4)
Despite its assumptions and caveats, the Green-Ampt model has proven
to be extremely useful for helping us understand and predict infiltration.
The power of this model lies in the fact that it succinctly describes the
most fundamental reason why infiltration rates tend to decrease over
time—the hydraulic gradient driving infiltration tends to decrease over
time. The Green-Ampt model can be viewed as a specialized application
of the Buckingham-Darcy law (Eq. 4-5) as explained in this video (link).
The ratio on the right hand side of the Green-Ampt equation represents
the hydraulic gradient. Since the ponding depth, H0, and the pressure
potential at the wetting front, Hf, are treated as constants, the hydraulic
gradient gets smaller as Lf gets larger, i.e. as the wetting front moves
farther away from the soil surface.
 
Fig. 6-3. Water content profiles during ponded infiltration (H0 =
1.5 cm) into a fine sand. Adapted from Vachaud et al. (1974).

The main features of the infiltration process as

represented by the Green-Ampt model are evident in
experimental results, such as those shown in Fig.
6-3. These data from a laboratory experiment using a
soil column filled with fine sand clearly show how
the rate of advance of the wetting front, and thus the
infiltration rate, decreases over time [6]. The wetting
front reached the 10 cm depth in only about 0.05 h
(3 minutes), but it took about four times as long (0.2
h or 12 minutes) to reach the 20 cm depth. Thus,
these data also emphasize a fundamental tendency of
infiltration—during the early part of an infiltration
event, the wetting front position is approximately
proportional to the square root of the event duration.
Cumulative infiltration follows this same
proportionality, and the Green-Ampt model captures
this behavior.

-'Ponding time' is the period from the beginning of rainfall until the
occurrence of ponding. This model also can compute the variation in the
infiltration capacity for constant or variable rainfall rates. A simple
conceptual model is valuable for carrying out the stormwater runoff
analysis. Ponding is the (typically) unwanted pooling of water, typically
on a flat roof or roadway. Ponding water accelerates the deterioration of
many materials, including seam adhesives in single-ply roof systems,
steel equipment supports, and particularly roofing asphalt. On low-slope
asphalt roofs, ponding water allows the oil solvent components of the
asphalt to leach out and evaporate, leaving the roof membrane brittle and
susceptible to cracking and leaking in the ponding location. The time
taken for water to saturate a zone, usually from rainfall, causing a pond
to form, is referred to as the "ponding time" or "time of ponding"

HORTON MODEL AND

PHILIP’S EQUATION
HORTON’S MODEL
Named after Robert E. Horton,
Horton's equation is a viable
option when measuring ground
infiltration rates or volumes. It is
an empirical formula that says that
infiltration starts at a constant rate,
and is decreasing exponentially
with time. After some time when
the soil saturation level reaches a
certain value, the rate of
infiltration will level off to the
rate.
HORTON MODEL AND
PHILIP’S EQUATION
HORTON’S MODEL
Named after Robert E. Horton,
Horton's equation is a viable
option when measuring ground
infiltration rates or volumes. It is
an empirical formula that says that
infiltration starts at a constant rate,
and is decreasing exponentially
with time. After some time when
the soil saturation level reaches a
certain value, the rate of
infiltration will level off to the
rate.
HORTON MODEL AND
PHILIP’S EQUATION
HORTON’S MODEL
Named after Robert E. Horton,
Horton's equation is a viable
option when measuring ground
infiltration rates or volumes. It is
an empirical formula that says that
infiltration starts at a constant rate,
and is decreasing exponentially
with time. After some time when
the soil saturation level reaches a
certain value, the rate of
infiltration will level off to the
rate.
HORTON MODEL AND
PHILIP’S EQUATION
HORTON’S MODEL
Named after Robert E. Horton,
Horton's equation is a viable
option when measuring ground
infiltration rates or volumes. It is
an empirical formula that says that
infiltration starts at a constant rate,
and is decreasing exponentially
with time. After some time when
the soil saturation level reaches a
certain value, the rate of
infiltration will level off to the
rate.
HORTON MODEL AND PHILIP'S EQUATION

HORTON'S MODE