Infiltration
Infiltration is the process by which precipitation (water) moves downward through the
surface of the earth & replenish soil moisture, recharge aquifer & ultimately support
stream flow during dry season.
Rainfall –Infiltration –Interception –Evaporation –Depression Storage = Runoff
During major storm, losses are negligible Hence we can say, Rainfall = Runoff
Infiltration is the physical process involving movement of water through the
boundary area where the atmosphere interfaces with the soil. (upper layer)
5) Percolation is the movement of water though the soil, and it's layers, by gravity
and capillary forces. (from one layer to other layer of soil)
Infiltration capacity
Measurement of Infiltration
There are two kinds of infiltrometers:
1- Double-ring infiltrometer. A double ring infiltrometer is shown in the figure below. The
two rings (22.5 to 90 cm diameter) are driven into the ground by a driving plate and
hammer, to penetrate into the soil uniformly without tilt or undue disturbance of the soil
surface to a depth of 15 cm. After driving is over, any disturbed soil adjacent to the sides
tamped with a metal tamper. Point gauges are fixed in the center of the rings and in the
annular space between the two rings. Water is poured into the rings to maintain the
desired depth (2.5 to 15 cm with a minimum of 5 mm) and the water added to maintain
the original constant depth at regular time intervals (after the commencement of the
experiment) of 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 60 min, etc. up to a period of at least 6 hours is noted
and the results are plotted as infiltration rate in cm/hr versus time in minutes as shown in
Fig. 3.8. The purpose of the outer tube is to eliminate to some extent the edge effect of
the surrounding drier soil and to prevent the water within the inner space from spreading
over a larger area after penetrating below the bottom of the ring.
Double ring infiltrometer
Typical infiltration curve
2- Tube infiltrometer. This consists of a single tube about 22.5 cm diameter and 45 to 60 cm
long which is driven into the ground at least to a depth up to which the water percolates
during the experiment and thus no lateral spreading of water can occur. The water added
into the tube at regular time intervals to maintain a constant depth is noted from which
the infiltration curve can be drawn.
Tube infiltrometer
.
Example: The initial infiltration capacity of a watershed is estimated as 1.5
in/hr, and the time constant taken to be 0.35 hr -1. The equilibrium capacity
is estimated as 0.2 in/hr.
(a) What are the values of f at t = 10 min, 30 min, 1 hr, 2 hr, and 6 hr, and
(b) What is the total volume of infiltration over the 6 hour time period?
Solution:
a- Substituting values of t yields:-
t f
1/6(10 min.) 1.43
½ hr 1.29
1 1.12
2 0.85
6 0.36
(b) The table above, when plotted, looks like the graph here.
W- Index
Example: The rates of rainfall for the successive 30 min period of a 3-hour storm are:
1.6, 3.6, 5.0, 2.8, 2.2, 1.0 cm/hr. The corresponding surface runoff is estimated to be 3.6 cm.
Establish the φ-index. Also determine the W-index.
Solution Construct the hyetograph as shown in Figure below
Suppose the same 3-hour storm had a different pattern as shown in Figure (b) producing
the same total rainfall of 8.1 cm. To obtain the same runoff of 3.6 cm (shaded area), the
φ-index can be worked out as 1.82 cm/hr. Hence, it may be seen that a single determination of
φ-index is of limited value and many such determinations have to be made and averaged,
before the index is used. The determination of φ-index for a catchment is a trial and error
procedure.
Example
Use the rainfall data listed to determine the φ index for a watershed
having a total runoff of 4.9 inches for this storm
The first step is to make a hyetograph from the data, as shown in the
graph.
All we need after that is to find the line level that allows the
“runoff” part of the hyetograph to be equal to exactly 4.9 inches.
You can either solve this equation directly, or go ahead and find φ by
trial and error. In this case, assuming φ = 1.5 in/hr yields 2.4 inches
of runoff, which is too low; assuming φ = 0.5 in/hr yields 9.0 inches of
runoff, which is too high. The answer for this is φ = 1.0 in/hr.
