INFILTRATION UNDER PONDED CONDITIONS

Abstract

Under ponded infiltration the cumulative infiltration is a function of soil properties, initial conditions, and water layer thickness above the soil surface. For arbitrary soil properties and arbitrary dependence of water layer thickness on time but uniform initial water content, an optimization technique predicts the cumulative infiltration from the integration of an ordinary differential equation. If the thickness of the water layer is constant with time, a fully analytical result is obtained. Careful experimental observations carried out in the laboratory illustrate the validity and accuracy of the result.