Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Constraints on parameters in three soil-water capillary retention equations

  • Published:
Transport in Porous Media Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The constraints on the different fitting parameters used in the water-retention equations of Brooks and Corey, Brutsaert, and Van Genuchten are analyzed. It is shown that in the dry part of the h(θ) curve all three equations might break down for clay soils when the fitting parameters are calculated by a best fit over observed field data. In that case, application of the h(θ) equations for water transfer dealing with the very dry parts of the water retention curve can lead to erroneous results and must be limited to the range of water contents of the original data set.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Brooks, R. H. and Corey, A. T., 1964, Hydraulic properties of porous media, Hydrology paper 3, Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brutsaert, W., 1966, Probability laws of pore-size distributions, Soil Sci. 101, 85–92.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brutsaert, W., 1974, More on an approximate solution for nonlinear diffusion, Water Resour. Res. 10, 1251–1252.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brutsaert, W., 1976, The concise formulation of diffusive sorption of water in a dry soil, Water Resour. Res. 12, 1118–1124.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore, E. R., 1939, Water conduction from shallow water tables, Hilgardia 12 (6), 383–426.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mualem, Y., 1976, A new model for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated porous media, Water Resour. Res. 12 (3), 513–522.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rajkai, K., A method for calculating the capillary conductivity of the soil on the bases of the water retention curve, Hungarian J. Soil Sci. Agrochem. 33, 50–60.

  • Van Genuchten, M. Th., 1980, A closed-form equation for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils, Soil Sci. Soc. Amer. J. 44, 892–898.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Hidrociencias, Colegio de Postgraduados, 56230, Chapingo, Mexico

    C. Fuentes

  2. Institut de Mecanique, Universite Joseph Fourier, B.P. 53,38041, Grenoble Cedex, France

    R. Haverkamp, K. Zayani & G. Vachaud

  3. Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Cornell University, 14853, Ithaca, NY, USA

    J. Y. Parlange

  4. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, 14853, Ithaca, NY, USA

    W. Brutsaert

Authors
  1. C. Fuentes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. R. Haverkamp
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. J. Y. Parlange
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. W. Brutsaert
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. K. Zayani
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. G. Vachaud
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Fuentes, C., Haverkamp, R., Parlange, J.Y. et al. Constraints on parameters in three soil-water capillary retention equations. Transp Porous Med 6, 445–449 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00136351

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00136351

Key words

Search

Navigation