ESTIMATION OF UNSATURATED SOIL PROPERTIES

Abstract

Moisture movement in the unsaturated zone is important in agricultural engineering, soil science, ground water recharge assessment and environmental engineering. Knowledge of unsaturated soil parameters is essential for the analysis of moisture flow in the unsaturated zone. The present study deals with the estimation of unsaturated soil parameters by both laboratory and field experiments as well as by inverse procedure. the laboratory and field tests include , particle size distribution analysis, permeability test, etc. Guleph parameter is used for measuring the saturated hydraulic conductivity in the field and time domain reflectometer (TDR ) used for measuring moisture contents . An internal drainage test is conducted for the purpose of inverse problems. The main advantage and limitations of both the procedures are outlined.