Analyses the effect of soil texture on van Genuchten parameters

Year, pages: 2018, 193 - 202

Water retention curve is an important hydrophysical characteristic of soils. It represents a dependence between the moisture potential of the soil and its humidity. In mathematical models it is an important and indispensable input parameter characterizing the given soil. Determining its course is a time-consuming and costly process. For this reason, it is the object of research to find procedures for determining retention curve parameters based on easily measurable soil characteristics. The paper examines the hypothesis on the possibility of determining the parameters of the analytical expression of the retention curve according to van Genuchten. The influence of the texture was demonstrated for the parameter "n" and for the retention characteristics of Theta R and Theta S. For the alpha parameter, the statistically significant effect of the texture on its value was not identified. The results of the analysis showed that the retention characteristics of water retention curve, Theta R and Theta S are most affected by the content of the clay fraction. Parameter "n" is mainly affected by silt and sand fraction. We have demonstrated the possibility of expert estimation of three van Genuchten parameters based on the texture of the soil.

Pavelková, D., Kandra, B., Gomboš, M., Pařílková, J. 2018. Analyses the effect of soil texture on van Genuchten parameters. In Acta Hydrologica Slovaca, vol. 19, no.2, pp. 193-202. 2644-4690.

Pavelková, D., Kandra, B., Gomboš, M., Pařílková, J. (2018). Analyses the effect of soil texture on van Genuchten parameters. Acta Hydrologica Slovaca, 19(2), 193-202. 2644-4690.