Title: Investigation of infiltration rates under different experimental conditions

Authors: Mariam S. Maani; Serter Atabay; Geoffrey T. Parker; Aqeel Ahmed

Addresses: Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, American University of Sharjah, UAE ' Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, American University of Sharjah, UAE ' Engineering Department, Cambridge University, Cambridge, CB2 1PZ, UK ' Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, American University of Sharjah, UAE

Abstract: This paper presents the results of laboratory experimental studies on soil infiltration rates (IR) using constant-head (CH) and falling-head (FH) methodologies. The study also determined the initial moisture content of the soil and classified the soil in accordance with American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). Infiltration characteristics were measured for two different scenarios: Before Irrigation (BI) and After Irrigation (AI). The infiltration results of FH and CH showed that the initial moisture content highly affects the magnitude of the final IR as the infiltration capacity of the tested soils decreases for AI cases. CH final IRs observed were much higher than their FH analogues. This is consistent with other literature though the discrepancy here is larger than reported elsewhere. FH methodology is recommended for application to near surface processes, such as sprinkler irrigation where the measured value of IR is most representative of the actual soil IR.

Keywords: constant head; falling head; soil infiltration rates; moisture content; sprinkler irrigation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSSOC.2016.077517

International Journal of Sustainable Society, 2016 Vol.8 No.2, pp.153 - 168

Received: 11 Dec 2014
Accepted: 02 Oct 2015

Published online: 04 Jul 2016 *

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