Module 5

Flow of Water Into and Through Soils

 Energy in Flowing Water
Definition:
Energy – is defined as the capacity to do work
In fluids, energy may be in two forms
1. Kinetic energy
2. Potential energy
a. Energy resulting from pressure differences
b. Energy resulting from elevation differences
 A gram of water flowing at a velocity of v
centimeters per second has a kinetic energy of
V2/2g grams-centimeter per gram where g is the
acceleration of gravity.
A gram of water having potential energy has
the energy only because of the existence of a
difference of pressure or a difference of
elevation. The potential energy of a gram of
water resulting from a pressure difference can
be represented by the ratio p/w, where p is the
pressure per unit area and w is the weight per
unit volume.
 A gram of fluid having a potential energy due
to elevation can be represented by y
representing elevation above some datum.
Actually, a gram of water may have both
kinetic and potential energy, where the potential
energy is composed of both pressure and
elevation. The combined energy H can be
represented by the widely used Bernoulli
equation showing energy per unit mass.
H = v2 + p + y (5.1)
2g w
 When applying this equation to flow through soils,
a simplification can readily be made. Since the
velocity through soils is very small, the kinetic energy
(V2/2g) is even smaller and can usually be ignored.
Hence, Bernoulli’s equation applied to flow through
soils reduces to:
H = p/w + y (5.2)
Which will be used as the piezometric head.
Piezometric head is also frequently referred as
hydraulic head. This quantity is measured in saturated
soil by the simple piezometer and in unsaturated soil
by a tensiometer.
Piezometer – is an instrument for measuring the pressure of a liquid or gas, or
something related to pressure (such as the compressibility of liquid). A tensiometer measures soil moisture. It is an instrument
Piezometers are often placed in boreholes to monitor the pressure or depth designed to measure the tension or suction that plants'
of groundwater. roots must exert to extract water from the soil.
The Darcy equation relates velocity to head loss
as:
V = k hL/L (5.3)
Where: V – velocity of flow
k – soil permeability
hL/L – piezometric headline
The fluid properties can be made explicit using
the following equation:
V = ( w/µ k’) hL/L (5.4)
Where: w- specific weight
µ - viscosity
Using the value of V from equation 5.3, the
quantity of flow, Q = AV
Where: Q – the volume per unit time
A – is cross-sectional area
V – velocity perpendicular to A
It follows that
V = Ak hL/L
In which A is the gross area at right angles to the
flow direction. The pressure intensity at any
point is p=wh and the pressure head h=p/w

Let the hydraulic head at point 1 be h1 and at

point 2 h2
h1 = p1/w + y1
h2 = p2/w + y2
Assume that h1 is greater than h2 and that the
two points are a distance L apart. Then the
hydraulic slope becomes:
hL = h1 - h2 = {(p1/w + y1)} - {(p2/w + y2)} (5.6)
L L L
In equation 5.6, w is the specific weight of the
water and p1/w and p2/w are the pressure
heads; y1 and y2 are the elevation heads.
Applications of equation 5.3, 5.5,, and 5.6 for
ground-water flow in saturated soils.
 Piezometers to measure pressure heads in
saturated soils
A piezometer is either a device used to measure
liquid pressure in a system by measuring the
height to which a column of the liquid rises
against gravity, or a device which measures the
pressure (more precisely, the piezometric head)
of groundwater at a specific point.
A piezometer is designed to measure static
pressures, and thus differs from a pitot tube by
not being pointed into the fluid flow.
Piezometer
Piezometer Installation
 Soil Permeability Measurement
The permeability of saturated soils varies
greatly. Permeabilities are influenced by the size
and shape of pore spaces through which water
flows and by the specific weight and viscosity of
the soil water.
Equipment for measuring permeability are:
1. Constant-head permeameter
2. Variable-head permeameter
1. Constant-Head Permeameter

Darcy Flow Equation for Permeability

K = QL/AhL
For example, where a permeameter having an area of 1070 square
cm was used, the flow of water was 9.5 liters in 0.4 hour and the
loss in piezometric head flowing through 30 cm of soil was 73 cm;
therefore the permeability is
K = QL/AhL = 9.5 lit x 1000 cucm x 30 cm/ 0.4hr x
1070scm x 73 cm
= 9.12 cm/hr
= 800m/year
2. Variable-Head Permeameter

The variable-head permeameter is adapted

to the measurement of permeability of fine-
textured, compact soils of low permeability.
• It is used to measure permeability of a canal
bed or lining, but not the seepage rate from a
canal when in use.
 Water Flow in Unsaturated Soil
Darcy’s Law of velocity of flow in saturated
soils also applies in unsaturated soils. However,
as moisture content decreases, cross-sectional
area through which flow occurs also decreases
causing permeability to decrease.
• In soils, whether saturated or unsaturated,
water flow is caused by a difference in
potential
A unit volume or mass of water tends to move
from an area of higher potential energy to one
of lower potential energy.
What gives rise to differences in potential energy
of a unit of water in a soil?
• The force of gravity is one factor. Just as water at
a higher elevation on a street tends to run down
to a lower elevation due to gravity, so water in a
soil tends to move downward due gravity.
• A second factor is the attraction of the soil
surfaces for water. When water is added to the
bottom of a dry pot of soil, the water moves up
into the soil due to this attraction of the soil
surfaces for water.
Main sources of potential energy in soilwater.

• The energy level of the water in contact with the soil

particles is less than that of the pool of water in the
pan so it moves up into the soil.
• As the soil in the pot becomes wet, this attraction is
reduced so that by the time the pores are completely
filled, the soil no longer attracts additional water.
• If a soil is saturated, a third source of potential
energy can exist in the form of external pressure such
as that provided by a pump or a layer of water in a
flooded area.
Direction of Water Movement

• The total potential energy of water is the sum

of the potentials from all sources. Potential
energy per unit mass or per unit volume or
per unit weight is known as the potential of
the water.
• So water free to move will move from a region
where it has higher total potential to one of
lower total potential.
• The potential due to gravity is known as the
gravitational potential and that due to the soil
particles is the matric potential.
• Soils whose pores are not filled have matric
potentials less than zero.
• Saturated soils under the influence of external
hydrostatic pressures have matric potentials
which are greater than zero.
• The total potential at any point is just the sum
of the gravitational and matric (or pressure)
potentials at that point.
• The distribution of total potential within a soil
allows us to determine if water will move and
the direction of movement for any soil system.
• If the total potentials are equal, no movement
will occur.
Rate of Water Movement:

• In this section, we will examine factors that

determine the rate of movement. It is useful
to think of water movement as the product of
a driving force causing water to move and a
factor representing the ease with which water
moves in the soil.
• This was formalized by Henry Darcy in 1856 as

Where:
q = volume of water flowing through a unit
cross-sectional area of soil per unit time,
K = saturated hydraulic conductivity of the soil,
TH = total hydraulic head,
x = is the position coordinate in the direction of
flow.
This equation is known as Darcy's Law.
Hydraulic Conductivity
• Since some of the volume of a soil is occupied by
soil particles, water does not flow through a soil
as easily as it does through an open pipe.
• The ease of water movement is known as the
hydraulic conductivity of the soil.
• Soils with large pores such as sandy soils tend to
conduct water more easily than soils with smaller
pores such as clay soils.
• Thus sands have higher saturated conductivity
values than clays.
• As soils dry out, water in the largest pores is
lost first.
• Water movement must then occur through
smaller pores and in films near soil particles.
• These pores and films present more resistance
so the conductivity of a soil decreases as it
dries out.
• In nature the wetness of the soil often
changes with position in the soil. Thus, the
conductivity changes with position as well.
 Driving Force
• The rate of water movement in soils increases with
increasing driving force. In saturated soils the
driving force is a result in differences in elevation
and positive external pressures in the soil. In
unsaturated soils, the attraction of the soil surfaces
for water is often a major component to the driving
force. Driving forces are commonly much larger in
unsaturated soils than in saturated soils. The
driving force commonly changes in magnitude with
changing soil properties and wetness.
 Transient Water Movement
The following sections introduce dynamic flow
processes that occur in nature.
• Infiltration: The process of water entering the soil
surface is known as infiltration.
• Infiltration Rate: Infiltration is a very dynamic
process. Water applied to the surface of a relatively
dry soil infiltrates quickly due to the affinity of the
soil particles for water. As time passes and the soil
becomes wet, the force of gravity becomes the
dominant force causing water to move. The
infiltration rate gradually decreases with time and
approaches the value of the saturated conductivity
of the soil as below.
Infiltration Rate
Cumulative Infiltration
Cumulative Infiltration: the
total amount of water
entering a soil. The graph at
the right shows this
cumulative infiltration as a
function of time for the
Cobb soil. The cumulative
infiltration increases rapidly
at small times and then
approaches a linear
relationship as the
infiltration rate approaches
a constant value.
Water Content Distributions
• When water enters a relatively dry soil from a
flooded condition such as that used above, water
at the inlet quickly approaches the saturated
water content.
• The water content changes from its initial low
value to a value near saturation in a small
distance. As time passes this wetting front moves
downward through the soil as shown below.
• The rate at which the wet front advances
decreases with time and depth of wetting.
• In this example, the
wetting front advanced
about 25 cm in the first
4 hour period, 13 cm in
the second period, and
10 cm in the fourth
period.
If water is applied at a lower
rate so that ponding does not
occur, the infiltration rate,
cumulative infiltration and
water content distributions
change somewhat. For
example, if the application rate
is 0.5 cm/hr (which is less than
the saturated conductivity of
the soil), the infiltration rate is
constant at 0.5 cm/hr for all
times, the cumulative
infiltration is a straight line
through the origin with a slope
of 0.5 cm/hr, and the water
content distributions are shown
at the right.
Redistribution
• The section above deals only with the infiltration
process. What happens when water is no longer
applied at the surface? Will water movement
stop?
• Clearly the answer is no. Forces which were
present to cause water to move are still present.
Those forces will continue to move water. The
difference is that in order to wet the soil deeper in
the profile, water must now be removed from
upper wet regions
The figure at the right shows the
predicted distributions of water at
three times during redistribution
(no water enters or leaves the soil
surface during this time).
Infiltration stopped at 12 hours.
At 24, 36, and 48 hours, the water
contents near the surface
decrease and the wet front
advances down the profile. The
advance of the wet front is much
slower than while water was
being applied. The rate of
advance and the rate of drying of
the surface soil both decrease
with time. This redistribution will
continue, but at slower and
slower rates. Because the rates
decrease rapidly with time, soils
have the ability to store water for
Evaporation
• Water movement is not limited to downward
movement nor to movement in the liquid
phase. Evaporation from the soil surface can
be large as well. Evaporation of water requires
that water be present in the soil at the
evaporation site. It also requires a substantial
source of energy to convert liquid water to a
vapor. Without that energy, evaporation
cannot occur.
• Finally, sustained evaporation requires that the
water vapor above the evaporation site must be
moved away from that site. If that does not
occur, the air becomes saturated with water so
evaporation stops.
• Soon after infiltration, the soil surface is wet so
plenty of water is available at the surface. In this
early stage, the atmospheric demand or energy
available to convert water to vapor are most
likely to limit the evaporation rate. As the soil
dries out, the ability of the soil to move water
upward to the soil surface limits the
evaporation rate.
Plant Uptake
Water moves from soil to plant roots and on
through plants as a result of potential
differences. Water potentials in plants and the
conductivity of the plant parts change rapidly
and vary over large magnitudes depending upon
the atmospheric conditions and the physiology
of the plant. Plants are capable of removing
large quantities of water from soils through
evapotranspiration.
Evapotranspiration (ET) - the process of
transferring moisture from the earth to the
atmosphere by evaporation of water and
transpiration from plants. This is often called the
evapotranspiration rate or ET since it combines
direct evaporation from the soil surface and
evaporation of water taken up by plants and
transpired through the plant system.
• Potential evapotranspiration rates or PET values
are generally calculated for a reference crop
growing under well watered conditions. ET values
for a specific crop are obtained by multiplying
this PET value by a crop coefficient to account for
differences in plant species and stage of growth
and by a soil factor reflecting differences in soil
wetness and hence the soil potential and
conductivity in the vicinity of the roots.
Drainage:
• Water moving below the root zone of the
plant is available to move the chemical deeper
into the profile and to recharge the underlying
aquifer.
• This amount depends upon the soils ability to
store water, the evapotranspiration of the
area, and the amount of water infiltrating the
soil from rainfall or irrigation.
 -END-
Quiz