REPORT TITLE:

Hydrology Infiltration

2019-2020

Department: Civil engineering

Student Name: Ali Muhammed karimName
Stage: Third
Study: Hydrology
College of Engineering
Class: C
Mustansiriyah University
Course Name: Second course
Email: waleednagah26@gmail.com
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Introduction:-
Infiltra(on is the process by which water on the ground
surface enters the soil. It is commonly used in both hydrology
and soil sciences. The infiltraIon capacity is defined as the
maximum rate of infiltraIon. It is most oKen measured in
meters per day but can also be measured in other units of
distance over Ime if necessary.[1] The infiltraIon capacity
decreases as the soil moisture content of soils surface layers
increases. If the precipitaIon rate exceeds the infiltraIon rate,
runoff will usually occur unless there is some physical barrier.
Infiltrometers, permeameters and rainfall
simulators are all devices that can be used
to measure infiltraIon rates.

Cross-section of a hillslope
depicting the vadose zone,
Single ring infiltrometers capillary fringe, water table, and
phreatic or saturated zone.

Double ring infiltrometers Page of 14

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infIltraIon is caused by mulIple factors including; gravity,

capillary forces, adsorpIon and osmosis. Many soil
characterisIcs can also play a role in determining the rate at
which infiltraIon occurs.

Factors that effect Infiltration:-

✤PrecipitaIon can impact infiltraIon in many ways. The
amount, type and duraIon of precipitaIon all have an impact.
Rainfall leads to faster infiltraIon rates than any other
precipitaIon events, such as snow or sleet. In terms of
amount, the more precipitaIon that occurs, the more
infiltraIon will occur unIl the ground reaches saturaIon, at
which point the infiltraIon capacity is reached. DuraIon of
rainfall impacts the infiltraIon capacity as well. IniIally when
the precipitaIon event first starts the infiltraIon is occurring
rapidly as the soil is unsaturated, but as Ime conInues the
infiltraIon rate slows as the soil becomes more saturated.
This relaIonship between rainfall and infiltraIon capacity also
determines how much runoff will occur. If rainfall occurs at a
rate faster than the infiltraIon capacity runoff will occur.

✤Soil characteristics The porosity of soils is criIcal in

determine the infiltraIon capacity. Soils that have smaller
pore sizes, such as clay, have lower infiltraIon capacity and
slower infiltraIon rates than soils that have large pore size,
such as sands. One excepIon to this rule is when clay is
present in dry condiIons. In this case, the soil can develop
large cracks which leads to higher infiltraIon capacity.Soil
compacIon is also impacts infiltraIon capacity. CompacIon
of soils results in decreased porosity within the soils, which
decreases infiltraIon capacity.
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Hydrophobic soils can develop aKer wildfires have happened,

which can greatly diminish or completely prevent infiltraIon
from occurring.

✤Soil moisture content Soil that is already saturated has

no more capacity to hold more water, therefore infiltraIon
capacity has been reached and the rate cannot increase past
this point. This leads to much more surface runoff. When soil
is parIally saturated then infiltraIon can occur at a moderate
rate and fully unsaturated soils have the highest infiltraIon
capacity.

✤Organic materials in soil Organic materials in the soil

(including plants and animals) all increase the infiltraIon
capacity. VegetaIon contains roots that extent into the soil
which create cracks and fissures in the soil, allowing for more
rapid infiltraIon and increased capacity. VegetaIon can also
reduce surface compacIon of the soil which again allows for
increased infiltraIon. When no vegetaIon is present
infiltraIon rates can be very low, which can lead to excessive
runoff and increased erosion levels.[3] Similarly to vegetaIon,
animals that burrow in the soil also create cracks in the soil
structure.

✤Land cover If land is covered by impermeable surfaces,

such as pavement, infiltraIon cannot occur as the water
cannot infiltrate through an impermeable surface This
relaIonship also leads to increased runoff. Areas that are
impermeable oKen have storm drains which drain directly
into water bodies, which means no infiltraIon occurs.

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VegetaIve cover of the land also impacts the infiltraIon

capacity. VegetaIve cover can lead to more intercepIon of
precipitaIon, which can decrease intensity leading to less
runoff, and more intercepIon. Increased abundance of
vegetaIon also leads to higher levels of evapotranspiraIon
which can decrease the amount of infiltraIon rate.[5] Debris
from vegetaIon such as leaf cover can also increase infiltraIon
rate by protecIng the soils from intense precipitaIon events.

✤Slope When the slope of land is higher runoff occurs more

readily which leads to lower infiltraIon rates.

Process:-
The process of infiltraIon can conInue only if there is room
available for addiIonal water at the soil surface. The available
volume for addiIonal water in the soil depends on the porosity
of the soil[6] and the rate at which previously infiltrated water
can move away from the
surface through the soil.
The maximum rate that
water can enter a soil in
a given condiIon is the
infiltraIon capacity. If
the arrival of the water
at the soil surface is less
than the infiltraIon capacity, it is someImes analyzed using
hydrology transport models, mathemaIcal models that
consider infiltraIon, runoff and channel flow to predict river
flow rates and stream water quality.

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Research findings:-
Robert E. Horton[7] suggested that infiltraIon capacity rapidly
declines during the early part of a storm and then tends
towards an approximately constant value aKer a couple of
hours for the remainder of the event. Previously infiltrated
water fills the available storage spaces and reduces the capillary
forces drawing water into the pores. Clay parIcles in the soil
may swell as they become wet and thereby reduce the size of
the pores. In areas where the ground is not protected by a layer
of forest li`er, raindrops can detach soil parIcles from the
surface and wash fine parIcles into surface pores where they
can impede the infiltraIon process.

Infiltration in waste water collection:-

Wastewater collecIon systems consist of a set of lines, juncIons
and liK staIons to convey sewage to a wastewater treatment
plant. When these lines are compromised by rupture, cracking
or tree root invasion, infiltraIon/inflow of stormwater oKen
occurs. This circumstance can lead to a sanitary sewer overflow,
or discharge of untreated sewage to the environment.

Infiltration calculation method:-

InfiltraIon is a component of the general mass balance
hydrologic budget. There are several ways to esImate the
volume and/or the rate of infiltraIon of water into a soil. The
rigorous standard that fully couples groundwater to surface
water through a non-homogeneous soil is the numerical
soluIon of Richards' equaIon.

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A newer method that allows 1-D groundwater and surface

water coupling in homogeneous soil layers, and that is related
to the Richards equaIon is the Finite water-content vadose
zone flow method soluIon of the Soil Moisture Velocity
EquaIon. In the case of uniform iniIal soil water content and a
deep well-drained soil, there are some excellent approximate
methods to solve for the infiltraIon flux for a single rainfall
event. Among these are the Green and Ampt (1911)[8] method,
Parlange et al. (1982).[9] Beyond these methods there are a
host of empirical methods such as, SCS method, Horton's
method, etc., that are li`le more than curve fijng exercises.

General Hydrologic Budget:-

The general hydrologic budget, with all the components, with
respect to infiltraIon F. Given all the other variables and
infiltraIon is the only unknown, simple algebra solves the
infiltraIon quesIon.

where
F is infiltraIon, which can be measured as a volume or length ;
BI is the boundary input, which is essenIally the output
watershed from adjacent, directly connected impervious areas;

B0
is the boundary output, which is also related to surface runoff,
R, depending on where one chooses to define the exit point or
points for the boundary output;
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P is precipitation;
E is evaporation;
T is transpiration;
ET is evapotranspiration;
S is the storage through either retention or detention
areas;
IA
is the iniIal abstracIon, which is the short term surface storage
such as puddles or even possibly detenIon ponds depending on
size;R is surface runoff.
The only note on this method is one must be wise about which
variables to use and which to omit, for doubles can easily be
encountered. An easy example of double counIng variables is
when the evaporaIon, E, and the transpiraIon, T, are placed in
the equaIon as well as the evapotranspiraIon, ET. ET has
included in it T as well as a porIon of E. IntercepIon also needs
to be accounted for, not just raw precipitaIon.

Richards' equation (1931):-

The standard rigorous approach for calculaIng infiltraIon into
soils is Richards' equaIon, which is a parIal differenIal
equaIon with very nonlinear coefficients. The Richards
equaIon is computaIonally expensive, not guaranteed to
converge, and someImes has difficulty with mass conservaIon.

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Finite water-content vadose Zone flow method:-

This method is an approximaIon of the Richards' (1931) parIal
differenIal equaIon that de-emphasizes soil water diffusion.
This was established by comparing the soluIon of the
advecIon-like term of the Soil Moisture Velocity EquaIon [11]
and comparing against exact analyIcal soluIons of infiltraIon
using special forms of the soil consItuIve relaIons. Results
showed that this approximaIon does not affect the calculated
infiltraIon flux because the diffusive flux is small and that the
finite water-content vadose zone flow method is a valid soluIon
of the equaIon [12] is a set of three ordinary differenIal
equaIons, is guaranteed to converge and to conserve mass. It
requires the assumpIons that the flow occurs in the verIcal
direcIon only (1-dimensional), and that that soil is uniform
within layers.

Green and Ampt:-

Named for two men; Green and Ampt. The Green-Ampt[13]
method of infiltraIon esImaIon accounts for many variables
that other methods, such as Darcy's law, do not. It is a funcIon
of the soil sucIon head, porosity, hydraulic conducIvity and
Ime.

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Once integrated, one can easily choose to solve for either

volume of infiltraIon or instantaneous infiltraIon rate:

Using this model one can find the volume easily by solving for

F(t)
However the variable being solved for is in the equaIon itself so
when solving for this one must set the variable in quesIon to
converge on zero, or another appropriate constant. A good first
guess for F
is the larger value of either

Kt. Or

These values can be obtained by solving the model with log

replaced with its Taylor-Expansion around one, of the zeroth
and second order respecIvely. The only note on using this
formula is that one must assume that h0

, the water head or the depth of ponded water above the

surface, is negligible. Using the infiltraIon volume from this
equaIon one may then subsItute. F
into the corresponding infiltraIon rate equaIon below to find
the instantaneous infiltraIon rate at the Ime, t

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Was measured

Horton’s equation:-
Named aKer the same Robert E. Horton menIoned above,
Horton's equaIon[13] is another viable opIon when measuring
ground infiltraIon rates or volumes. It is an empirical formula
that says that infiltraIon starts at a constant rate,

f0
and is decreasing exponenIally with Ime, t
AKer some Ime when the soil saturaIon level reaches a certain
value, the rate of infiltraIon will level off to the rate

fc

The other method of using Horton's equaIon is as below. It can

be used to find the total volume of infiltraIon, F, aKer Ime t.

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Kostiakov equation:-
Named aKer its founder KosIakov[14] is an empirical equaIon
which assumes that the intake rate declines over Ime according
to a power funcIon.

Where a and k are empirical parameters.

The major limitaIon of this expression is its reliance on the zero

final intake rate. In most cases the infiltraIon rate instead
approaches a finite steady value, which in some cases may
occur aKer short periods of Ime. The KosIakov-Lewis variant,
also known as the "Modified KosIakov" equaIon corrects for
this by adding a steady intake term to the original equaIon.[15]

in integrated form the cumulaIve volume is expressed as:

F0 approximates, but does not necessarily equate to the final

infiltraIon rate of the soil.

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Darcy's law:-
This method used for infiltraIon is using a simplified version of
Darcy's law.[13] Many would argue that this method is too
simple and should not be used. Compare it with the Green and
Ampt (1911) soluIon menIoned previously. This method is
similar to Green and Ampt, but missing the cumulaIve
infiltraIon depth and is therefore incomplete because it
assumes that the infiltraIon gradient occurs over some
arbitrary length L

In this model the ponded water is assumed to be equal to h0

and the head of dry soil that exists below the depth of the
wejng front soil sucIon head is assumed to be equal to

Where
is wejng front soil sucIon head
is the depth of ponded is water above the ground surface;

K is the hydraulic conducIvity

L is the vague total depth of subsurface ground in quesIon.
This vague definiIon explains why this method should be
avoided.

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f InfiltraIon rate f (mm hour−1))

K is the hydraulic conducIvity (mm hour−1))

L is the vague total depth of subsurface ground in quesIon

(mm). This vague definiIon explains why this method should be
avoided.

Sf is wejng front soil sucIon head

h0 is the depth of ponded water above the ground surface

(mm).

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Reverences:-

1. m.b, Kirkham (2014). "Preface to the Second EdiIon".

Principles of Soil and Plant Water RelaIons. pp. xvii–xviii.
doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-420022-7.05002-3.
ISBN 9780124200227.
2. "Instruments used to measure soil infiltraIon curves".
2019-03-20.
3. ^ a b "Soil InfiltraIon" (PDF). United States Department of
Agriculture. Retrieved 2019-03-20.
4. Dadkhah, Manouchehr; Gifford, Gerald F. (1980). "Influence
of VegetaIon, Rock Cover, and Trampling on InfiltraIon
Rates and Sediment ProducIon1". JAWRA Journal of the
American Water Resources AssociaIon. 16 (6): 979–986.
Bibcode:1980JAWRA..16..979D. doi:10.1111/
j.1752-1688.1980.tb02537.x. ISSN 1752-1688.

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