Measuring saturated hydraulic conductivity using a generalized solution for single-ring infiltrometers

Saturated hydraulic conductivity is a measure of the ability of a soil to t ransmit water and is one of the most important soil parameters. New single- ring infiltrometer methods that use a generalized solution to measure the f ield saturated hydraulic conductivity (K-s) were developed and tested in th is study. The K-s values can be calculated either from the whole cumulative infiltration curve (Method 1) or from the steady-state part of the cumulat ive infiltration curve by using a correction factor (Method 2), Numerical e valuation showed that the K-s values calculated from the simulated infiltra tion curves of representative soil textural types were in the range of 87 t o 130% of the real K-s values, Field infiltration tests were conducted on a n Arlington fine sandy Loam (coarse-loamy, mixed, thermic, Haplic Durixeral fs), The geometric means of the K-s values calculated from the field-measur ed infiltration curves by Method 1 and Method 2 were not significantly diff erent, The geometric mean of the Ei,calculated from the detached core sampl es, however, was about twice that of the li,calculated from the infiltratio n curves, which was consistent with earlier findings. Unlike the earlier ap proaches, Method 1 calculates K-s values from the whole infiltration curve without assuming a filed relationship (alpha = K-s/phi(m)) between saturate d hydraulic conductivity and matric flux potential phi(m).