A generalized solution for solute flow in soils with mobile and immobile water

Abstract

An analytical solution is presented for the movement of a solute through a porous medium which is leached at a constant rate. The solution takes into account transfer into an immobile water fraction. The generalized solution is valid for both finite or semi‐infinite media and for concentration or flux type boundary conditions. The solution consists of a convolution integral of two functions. The first function is the derivative with respect to injected pore volume of the corresponding analytical solution of the solute transfer equation without transfer into immobile water. The second function is the J function, for which series approximations are presented. The influence of the boundary conditions on the solution is discussed.