Skip to Main Content
Skip Nav Destination
GEOREF RECORD

Soil water retention curve description using a flexible smooth function

Lyle Prunty and F. X. M. Casey
Soil water retention curve description using a flexible smooth function
Vadose Zone Journal (August 2002) 1 (1): 179-185

Abstract

Water retention curves (WRC) play an essential role in characterizing soil hydraulic behavior. Numerous mathematical functions have been explicitly developed for modeling the WRC, a very recent example being a cubic spline approach using virtual data points. This study presents use of WRC functions that transition smoothly between straight-line asymptotes. We call them flexible functions. Flexible functions successfully represented a variety of WRCs, including some of rather high complexity. A reduction of root-mean-square error was often found in comparing flexible functions to other commonly used WRC functions. Integrations of the Mualem procedure for calculating relative hydraulic conductivity result in analytical expressions when using flexible functions as the WRC model. Conductivity calculated with these expressions agrees well with the RETC solution. Flexible functions are capable of representing dry regime behavior as well.


ISSN: 1539-1663
Serial Title: Vadose Zone Journal
Serial Volume: 1
Serial Issue: 1
Title: Soil water retention curve description using a flexible smooth function
Affiliation: North Dakota State University, Department of Soil Science, Fargo, ND, United States
Pages: 179-185
Published: 200208
Text Language: English
Publisher: Soil Science Society of America, Madison, WI, United States
References: 15
Accession Number: 2006-007775
Categories: HydrogeologySoils
Document Type: Serial
Bibliographic Level: Analytic
Annotation: Accessed on December 19, 2005
Illustration Description: illus.
Source Medium: WWW
Country of Publication: United States
Secondary Affiliation: GeoRef, Copyright 2018, American Geosciences Institute.
Update Code: 200603
Close Modal

or Create an Account

Close Modal
Close Modal