Deduction of rainfall infiltration model based on water potential and its experimental verification

The existing infiltration models and numerical methods were examined in this paper.The results showed that the geological engineering seepage stability problem cannot be well-solved with these models and methods in previous studies.Furthermore,they do not agree well with the actual rainfall infiltration phase.In this study,new free and steady infiltration models based on water potential were obtained with the semi-analytical and semi-iterative methods.The corresponding numerical calculation methods were developed,in which the simultaneous solution of two infiltration phases was realized for the first time.The parameters of the surface soil water potential in free phase and the infiltrating rate in the steady phase were obtained by theoretical analyses.The indoor rainfall infiltration tests were used to measure the suction variations.The test data indicate the validity of our models.The results provide an important reference for the analysis of geography engineering seepage stability during rainfall infiltration.