An investigational approach for the modelling of infiltration process in a clay soil

Prediction of soil infiltration rate is of prime importance in irrigation and drainage studies. Infiltration seems to be very simple, but field determination of soil infiltration is very tedious and time consuming task. This investigation was employed to predict the soil infiltration rate and estimate the soil infiltration model parameters. Two infiltration models namely, Kostiakov and Modified Kostiakov were studied to assess the predictability of water infiltration into a clay soil in Kopargaon of Maharashtra region. The double ring Infiltrometer was used to measure soil infiltration rate in the field. The soil infiltration measurements were made at 10 points over the study area. The infiltration model parameters were determined graphically and analytically using Davis method. Results of the investigation shows that the cumulative infiltrations predicted by Kostiakov and Modified Kostiakov models were very close to the field measured cumulative infiltration. The soil physical properties like moisture content, textural analysis and electrical conductivity exhibit the effect on soil infiltration rate and the amounts of infiltration model parameters for both the models. The statistical parameters, coefficient of determination (R2) reported very high values for both the models, while values of Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) were low, which reflected accuracy in estimation of infiltration. Absolute Mean Difference (AMD) between field measured and predicted by models were also very low.