Calculating parameters for infiltration equations from soil hydraulic functions

Simple equations for predicting infiltration of water into soil are valuable both for hydrological application and for investigating soil hydraulic properties. Their value is greatly enhanced if they involve parameters that can be related to more basic soil hydraulic properties. In this paper we extend infiltration equations developed previously for positive surface heads to negative heads. The equations are then used to calculate infiltration into a sand and a clay for a range of initial and surface conditions. Results show errors of less than three percent compared with accurate numerical solutions. Analytical approximations to parameters in the equations are developed for a Brooks and Corey power law hydraulic conductivity-water content relation combined with either a Brooks and Corey or a van Genuchten water retention function. These are compared with accurate numerical values for a range of hydraulic parameters encompassing the majority of soil types and a range of initial and boundary conditions. The approximations are excellent for a wide range of soil parameters.An important attribute of the infiltration equations is their use of dimensionless parameters that can be calculated from normalised water retention and hydraulic conductivity functions. These normalised functions involve only parameters that it may be possible to estimate from surrogate data such as soil particle size distribution. Application of the equations for predicting infiltration, or their use in inferring hydraulic properties, then involves only simple scaling parameters.