Estimation of Shape Factor of Soil Hydraulic Conductivity Function of van Genuchten – Mualem Model Using Easily-Available Soil Properties

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 PhD Candidate of Irrigation and Drainage., Dept. of Water Eng., Faculty of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

2 Professor, Dept. of Water Eng., Faculty of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

3 Professor, Dept. of Soil Sciences., Faculty of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

Abstract

Proper soil hydraulic functions that accurately predict soil water characteristic curve and hydraulic conductivity are essential for studies of unsaturated flow in soils. In this study, 8 soils from different texture classes of UNSODA soil bank were selected and the optimal validity of shape factor (n) of the RETC software (using retention curve function of van Genuchten-Mualem (VGM) model) was investigated for predicting the value of unsaturated hydraulic conductivity at different moisture contents. Since the predicted results of this model were poor, we attempted to investigate a separate shape factor such as  for the hydraulic conductivity-moisture (K-θ) function of VGM Model. To this end, 24 soil samples from different texture classes of UNSODA were selected and their measured parameters were analyzed by regression analysis to find a suitable pedotransfer function for estimating . The developed function confirmed the relationship of  with both saturated moisture (θs) and organic matter contents with a correlation coefficient of r = 0.745 at significant level of P = 0.0005. Also, to validate the developed pedotransfer function, the hydraulic conductivity values ​​corresponding to the measured moistures for the 8 selected soils in the validation section were calculated based on the two shape factors obtained from the pedotransfer function ( ) and the RETC (n) and the results were compared with the measured values. The statistical indices of root mean square error of model (RMSEM) and Nash-Sutcliff model efficiency coefficient  (NSE) showed that the shape factor of the developed pedotransfer function compared to the RETC, had a better performance in predicting unsaturated hydraulic conductivity values.
 

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

  1. حق وردی، امیر.، قهرمان، بیژن.، جلینی، محمد.، خشنود یزدی، علی‌اصغر.، عربی، زهرا. 1389. مد‌ل‌سازی منحنی مشخصه رطوبتی برخی خاک‌های ایران با استفاده از توابع انتقالی شبه پارامتریک شبکه عصبی. فصلنامه علمی پژوهشی مهندسی آبیاری و آب. شماره 1. صفحات 82-69.
  2. Baker, L., and Ellison, D. 2008. Optimization of pedotransfer functions using an artificial neural network ensemble method. Geoderma. 144: 212-224.
  3. Bouma, J. (1989). Using soil survey data for quantitative land evaluation. In B. A. Stewart (Ed.), Advances in soil science (Vol. 9, pp. 177–213).
  4. Brooks R.H., and Corey A.T. 1964. Hydraulic properties of porous media. Hydrological Paper no. 3. Colorado State University, Fort Collins.
  5. Carney, J. G. and Cuningham, P. 1999. The NeuralBAG algorithm: Optimizing generalization performance in bagged neural networks. 7th European Symposium on Artificial Neural Network. Bruges (Belgium).
  6. Castellini, M., and Iovino, M. 2019. Pedotransfer functions for estimating soil water retention curve of Sicilian soils. Archives of Agronomy and Soil Science. V.65:1401-1416.
  7. Cosby, B.J., Hornberger, G.M., Clapp, R.B., and Ginn, T.R. 1984. A statistical exploration of the relationships of soil moisture characteristics to the physical properties of soils. Water Resour. Res. 20:682–690.
  8. Dettmann U., Bechtold M., Frahm E., and Tiemeyer B., 2014. On the applicability of unimodal and bimodal van Genuchten-Mualem based models to peat and other organic soils under evaporation conditions. J. Hydrol., 515: 103-115.
  9. Durbin, J. and Watson, G. S. 1951. Testing for Serial Correlation in Least Squares Regression, II. Biometrika. 38 (1–2): 159–179.
  10. Haghverdi, A.; Cornelis, W. M., Ghahraman, B. A pseudo-continuous neural network approach for developing water retention pedotransfer functions with limited data. J. Hydrol. 442–443, 46–54.
  11. Hill, R.L. 1990. Long-term conventional and no-tillage effects on selected soil physical properties. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J, 54: 161-166.
  12. Jana R. B., Mohanty, B. P. 2011. Enhancing PTFs with remotely sensed data for multi-scale soil water retention estimation. J Hydrol. 399: 201–211.
  13. Kong, J., Shen, C., Luo, Z., Hua, G., & Zhao, H. (2016). Improvement of the hillslope-storage Boussinesq model by considering lateral flow in the unsaturated zone. Water Res. 52(4): 2965-2984.
  14. Kosugi, K. 1996. Lognormal distribution model for unsaturated soil hydraulic properties. Water Resour. Res. 32(121): 2697-2703.
  15. Luo, Z., Kong, J., Shen, C., Lu, C., Hua, G., Zhao, Z., Zhao, H., Li, L. (2019). Evaluation and application of the modified van Genuchten function for unsaturated porous media, . J. Hydrol. 571 (2): 279–287.
  16. McCuen, R.H., Rawls, W. J., and Brakensiek, D. L. 1981. Statistical analysis of the Brooks-Corey and the Green-Ampt parameters across soil textures. Water Resour. Res. 17:1005-1013.
  17. Minasny, B., McBratney, A.B., and Bristow, K.L. 1999. Comparison of different approaches to the development of pedotransfer functions for water retention curves. Geoderma. 93: 225-253.
  18. Motovilov, Y.G., Gottschalk, L., Engeland, K. dan Rodhe, A. 1999. Validation of a Distributed Hydrological Model Against Spatial Observations. Elsevier Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. 98: 257-277.
  19. Mualem, Y. 1976. New model for predicting hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated porous media. Water Resour. Res. 12:513–522.
  20. Nemes, A., Rawls, W. J., Pachepsky, Y. A. 2006. Use of the Nonparametric Nearest Neighbor Approach to Estimate Soil Hydraulic Properties. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 70:327–336.
  21. Patil, N. G., Rajput, G. S., Nema, R. K., Singh, R. B. 2010. Predicting hydraulic properties of seasonally impounded soils. J Agr Sci Cambridge. 148: 159–170.
  22. Patil, N. G., Chaturvedi, A. 2012. Pedotransfer functions based on nearest neighbor and neural networks approach to estimate available water capacity of shrink-swell soils. Indian J AgrSci. 82: 35–38.
  23. Pucket, W. E., Dane, J.H. and Hajek, B. F. 1985. Physical and mineralogical data to determine soil hydraulic properties. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 49:831–836.
  24. Richards, L. A., 1931. Capillary conduction of liquids through porous media, Physics, I, 318-333.
  25. Ritter, A. and Muñoz-Carpena, R. 2013. Performance evaluation of hydrological models: statistical significance for reducing subjectivity in goodness of fit assessments. J. Hydrol. 480 (1): 33–45.
  26. Schaap, M. G., Leij, F. J. 2000. Improved Prediction of Unsaturated Hydraulic Conductivity with the Mualem-van Genuchten Model. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 64:843–851.
  27. Schaap, M. G., Leij, F. J., and van Genuchten, M.Th. 2001. Rosetta: A Computer Program for Estimating Soil Hydraulic Parameters with Hierarchical Pedotransfer Functions. J. Hydrol. 251(3-4): 163-176.
  28. Schaap, M. G., Leij, F. J., and van Genuchten, M.Th. 1998. Neural network analysis for hierarchical prediction of soil hydraulic properties. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 62:847–855.
  29. Schaap, M.G., Leij, F.J., and Van genuchten, M.Th. 1999. A bootstrap neural network approach to predict soil hydraulic parameters, P 1237-1250.
  30. Schaap, M.G., Van Genuchten, M.T. 2005. A modified mualem-van genuchten formulation for improved description of the hydraulic conductivity near saturation. Vadose Zone Journal. Vol 5:27-34
  31. Simunek, J., Van Genuchten, M. Th., and Sejna, M. 2006. The Hydrus Software Package for Simulating the Two- and Three-Dimensional Movement of Water, Heat, and Multiple Solutes in Variably – Saturated Media. Technical Manual.
  32. Singh, A., Haghverdi, A., Öztürk, H. S., Durner,W. 2020. Developing Pseudo Continuous Pedotransfer Functions for International Soils Measured with the Evaporation Method and the HYPROP System: I. The Soil Water Retention Curve. Water Journal. 12:1-17.
  33. Tamari, S., Bruckler, L., Halbertsma, J., and Chadoeuf, J. 1993. A simple method for determining soil hydraulic properties in the laboratory. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 57: 642-651.
  34. Tuller, M. and Dani, Or. 2003. Hydraulic functions for swelling soils: pore scale considerations. J Hydrol. 272: 50–71.
  35. Twarakavi, N. K. C., Saito, H., Simunek, J., van Genuchten M.Th. 2008. A New Approach to Estimate Soil Hydraulic Parameters Using Only Soil Water Retention Data. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 72: 471–479.
  36. Van Genuchten M.Th. 1980. A closed-form equation for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 44:892-898.
  37. Van Genuchten, M. Th., Lesch, S. M. and Yates, S. R. 1991. The RETC code for quantifying the hydraulic functions of unsaturated soils. Version 1.0. U.S. Salinity Lab., Riverside, CA.
  38. Vereecken, H., Maes, J., Feyen, J., Darius, P. 1989. Estimating the soil moisture retention characteristic from texture, bulk density and carbon content. Soil Sci. 148: 389–403.
  39. Vrugt, J.A., Weerts, A.H. and Bouten, W. 2001. Information content of data for identifying soil hydraulic parameters from outflow experiments. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 65: 19-27.
  40. Wösten, J.H.M., and van Genuchten, M. Th. 1988. Using texture and other soil properties to predict the unsaturated soil hydraulic functions. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 52:1762–1770.
  41. Wösten, J.H.M., Lilly, A., Nemes, A. and Le Bas, C. 1999. Development and use of a database of hydraulic properties of European soils. Geoderma 90:169–185.
  42. Wösten, J.H.M., Pachepsky Y. A. and Rawls W. J. 2001. Pedotransfer functions: Bridging the gap between available basic soil data and missing soil hydraulic characteristics. J Hydrol. 251: 123–150.
  43. Yates, S.R., van Genuchten, M. , Warrick, A.W. and Leij, F.J. 1992. Analysis of measured, predicted, and estimated hydraulic conductivity using the RETC computer program. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 56:347–354.
  44. Zhang, Z., Wang, W., Yeh, T. J., Chen, L., Wang, Z., Duan, L., A. K., Gong, C., 2016. Finite analytic method based on mixed-form Richards’ equation for simulating water flow in vadose zone. J Hydrol. 537: 146 – 156.
Iranian Journal of Soil Research
Volume 35, Issue 4
February 2022
Pages 381-396

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics