Use of Scaling Techniques to Quantify Variability in Hydraulic Functions of Soils in the Netherlands

  • J. H. M. Wösten
Conference paper
Part of the Monte Verità book series (MV)

Abstract

Quantification of variability in hydraulic functions of different soils allowed calculation of the variability in output of models which use these functions as input. Variability of an output variable defines the uncertainty of a particular calculation and is therefore indispensable for applications which need a measure of accuracy. Meaningful description of variability requires a minimum number of measured hydraulic functions. Defined accuracies of calculated functional criteria which are practical aspects of soil behavior, were used as references to classify soils, for which insufficient hydraulic functions are known in larger soil groups. For the Netherlands this classification resulted in three large soil groups; coarse-textured, medium-textured and fine-textured, each comprising at least 30 measured functions. Scaling was successfully used to reduce the variation in measured hydraulic functions into a narrow band around the scaled mean hydraulic function for each soil group. Distribution functions of scale factors were used to transform the scaled mean hydraulic conductivity and moisture retention functions into 100 new hydraulic functions for each soil group. Variability in measured and in newly generated functions was compared on the basis of calculated functional criteria. Mean values of functional criteria are close for the measured and newly generated sets of functions. The percentage of variation in functional criteria explained by the newly generated hydraulic functions varied from 15% to 96%.

Keywords

Hydraulic Conductivity Prediction Interval Unsaturated Soil Soil Group Soil Water Retention 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© Birkhäuser Verlag Basel 1990

Authors and Affiliations

  • J. H. M. Wösten
    • 1
  1. 1.The Winand Staring Centre for Integrated LandSoil and Water ResearchWageningenThe Netherlands

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