CHAPTER – 4

Soil Water Relationship

Dr. M. R. Kabir
Professor and Head, Department of Civil Engineering
University of Asia Pacific (UAP), Dhaka
LECTURE 10
 Introduction

Root zone (depth of soil penetrated by roots) soil provides the

storage reservoir which needs to be periodically recharged.

Fig: Schematic diagram of the sub-processes linked to field irrigation system

Lecture 10
 Classes and availability of soil water

• Gravitational water: Water moves freely in response to gravity.

• Capillary water: Water held by surface tension in the pore spaces.
• Hygroscopic water: Water held tightly to the surface of the grains by
adsorption.

Lecture 10
Field Capacity (FC):
The water content of the soil when gravitational water has been
removed
 It represents the upper limit of available soil water range
 It is determined two days after an irrigation or thorough wetting.
Limitations are: restricting layers, high water table, surface
evaporation, consumptive use by crops
 Water content corresponding to a soil-moisture of 1/10 atm for
sandy soil to 1/3 atm for silty or clay soil
Permanent Wilting Point (PWP):
The moisture content at which plants permanently wilt
 Wilting depends on the rate of water use, depth of root zone and water
holding capacity of soil
 It is the lower end of available moisture range
 Water content corresponding to soil-moisture tension of 15 atm
 As an approximation, PWP can be estimated from:
FC
PWP =
2 to 2.4 Lecture 10
Available Water (AW):
The difference of water content of the soil between field
capacity and permanent wilting point
AW = FC – PWP
 It represents the moisture which can be stored in the soil for
subsequent use by plants
 The moisture near the wilting point is not readily available to the
plant. The portion of the available moisture which is most easily
extracted by plants is termed as readily available moisture.
 Irrigation water should be supplied as soon as the moisture falls upto
optimum level. The optimum level represents the maximum deficiency
upto which the soil moisture may be allowed without any fall in crop
yields.
 The amount of irrigation should be just enough to bring the moisture
content upto its field capacity making allowance for application losses

Lecture 10
 Soil moisture content

Mass of water Mw
(a) Moisture content by mass: m= =
Mass of dry soil Ms

Volume of water Vw
(a) Moisture content by volume: v = =
Bulk volum e of soil Vb

v is more useful, since it represents the equivalent depth of

water per unit depth of soil
dw
v= D dw = v × Ds ------------------------- (i)
s
Mw
Vw
Again, v= = Mw = m × b
= m × As ------------ (ii)
Vb s w

From equation (i)

dw = m × As × Ds
Lecture 10
 Soil moisture tension

 In saturated soils, water is held in the soil matrix under negative

pressure due to attraction of the soil matrix for water

 Instead of referring to this negative pressure the water is said to

be subjected to a tension exerted by the soil matrix

 The tension with which the water is held in unsaturated soil is

termed as soil-moisture tension, soil-moisture suction. It is usually
expressed in atmospheres, the average air pressure at sea level.
Other pressure units like cm of water or cm or mm of mercury are
also often used.

(1 atmosphere = 1023 cm of water = 76 cm Hg)

Lecture 10
Fig: Typical curves of soil moisture variation with tension

Lecture 10
 Soil moisture characteristics

Moisture extraction curves, also called moisture characteristics

curves, which are plots of moisture content versus moisture tension,
show the amount of moisture a given soil holds at various tensions.

A knowledge of the amount of water held by the soil at various tensions is

required in order to understand the amount of water that is available to plants, the
water that can be taken up by the soil Lecture 10
 Soil moisture stress

 In many irrigation soils, the soil solution contains an

appreciable amount salts. The osmotic pressure developed
by the soil solution retards the uptake of water by plants.
 Plant growth is a function of the soil moisture stress which
is the sum of the soil moisture tension and osmotic
pressure of soil solution.
 For successful crop production in soils having appreciable
salts, the osmotic pressure of the soil solution must be
maintained as low as possible by controlled leaching and
the soil moisture tension is the root zone is maintained in a
range that will provide adequate moisture to the crop.

Lecture 10
 Measurement of soil moisture

Objective or importance:
 To determine the time and amount of irrigation
 To estimate evapotranspiration/use rate
Methods:
(a) Appearance and feel method
(b) Gravimetric Method
(c) Electro-resistance blocks
(d) Tensiometer
(e) Neutron method

Lecture 10
 Appearance and feel method

 Using the soil auger, soil samples throughout the root zone are
collected.
 By looking and feeling the sample, soil moisture deficiency is
determined using guideline
 Not precise and it requires experience and judgment
 Simple, quick and it requires no equipment except soil auger
 In many applications, greater accuracy is not needed, nor is it
justified economically.

Lecture 10
 Gravimetric Method

 This method is used for primary measurement

 It involves weighting a sample of moist soil, drying to a constant
weight at a temperature of 105o 110oC, and re-weighting.
Usually 24 hours are required for drying.
 Most accurate and direct method
 Destructive, labor intensive and time consuming; several
samples are required to obtain a satisfactory representative
indication of moisture content.

Lecture 10
 Electro-resistance blocks

 The porous blocks (gypsum) are calibrated against a range of

moisture. The blocks containing desired electrical elements are
placed in the field of at required depth.
 As the moisture content of the blocks changes, the electrical
resistance also changes
 The gypsum blocks are soluble and deteriorate in one to three
seasons of use.
 Normally there is considerable variation between blocks and
considerable changes occur in the calibration during the season

Lecture 10
 Tensiometer

 A porous ceramic cup filled with water is attached to a vacuum

gauge or mercury manometer.
 A hole is bored or dug to a desired depth; a handful of loose soil is
placed into the hole, and the cup pushed firmly into the soil. The
water inside the cup comes into hydraulic contact through the pores
in the cup. When initially placed in the soil, water contained in the
tensiometer is generally at atmospheric pressure. Soil water, being
generally at sub-atmospheric pressure, exercises a suction which
draws out a certain amount of water within the tensiometer, thus
causing a drop in its hydrostatic pressure. This pressure is indicated
by the manometer or vacuum gauge.
 Tensiometer is effective upto a tension of 0.8 bar. At this pressure
air enters the closed system through the pores of the cup and makes
the unit inoperative.
Lecture 10
Tensiometer….. …continue

Fig: The essential parts of a tensiometer

Lecture 10
Tensiometer….. …continue

Tensiometer readings are useful in deciding when to irrigate, but they do

not indicate how much water should be applied. A special moisture-
characteristic curve for the particular soil is needed to convert moisture
tension measurements into available moisture percentage.
 Tensiometers are less well suited to use in fine-textured soils in which
only a small part of the available moisture is held at a tension of less than
1 atmosphere.
 Since the unit operates satisfactorily only up to tensions of 0.8 atm,
they are most useful in sandy soil, where this represents a major portion of
the available water.
 Because of its narrow range of application the tensiometer is used for
moist and resistance blocks for dryer soil conditions. Sometimes a
combination of tensiometer and resistance blocks is used.

Lecture 10
LECTURE 11
 Neutron Method

 A hole is dug with an auger, and a metal tube is driven into the
hole to retain the soil. The neutron source and counting device are
lowered to the desired depth.
 Fast neutrons emitted from the source and slowed down by
water in the surrounding soil. The resulting slow neutrons which
reach the counting tube are recorded. Fast neutrons are not
registered by the counter.
 The greater the water content of the soil, the greater is the
number of slow neutrons reaching the counting tube.

Lecture 11
Neutron method….. …continue

There exists a good correlation between moisture content and the

number of slowed down neutron reaching the counter.
Rs
v = (a + b) R st

Where, a and b are calibration coefficient

Rs = Count rate in the soil
Rst = Standard count rate
It measures v directly
It is expensive, can not be used to measure near the surface because
of boundary effect and possible radiation hazard, and needs
calibration

Lecture 11
 Flow of water through soil

Energy in fluid is in two forms:

 Kinetic Energy
 Potential Energy consisting of
 Energy resulting from pressure difference
 Energy resulting from elevation difference
Widely used Bernoulli’s Energy Equation, showing energy per unit
mass of fluid:
H = z + P/ + V2/2g
Since the velocity through soil is very small, the term V2/2g can be
ignored. Thus,
H = z + P/ is called the piezometric head or hydraulic head
Flow of water in soil occurs in the direction of decreasing piezometric
head.

Pressure head is due to adsorptive and capillary forces in

unsaturated soil; elevation head due to gravitational potential.
Lecture 11
Darcy’s law relates velocity to head loss:
V = k (hL/L)

Where,
V = Flow velocity
k = Co-efficient of permeability or hydraulic conductivity
hL/L = Hydraulic gradient or slope of H.G.L

The hydraulic head h can be measured by piezometer in saturated

soil and by tensiometer in unsaturated soil.

The quantity of flow,

Q = AV
= A k (hL/L)

Where, A = Gross area at right angles to flow direction

Lecture 11
Flow of unconfined ground water:

Lecture 11
Flow of confined ground water:
hL ha hd 16 7 14 3
= =
L L 16 2
= 6/14 = 0.43

For unsaturated soil, the hydraulic

conductivity decreases many folds
as the moisture content
decreases. Moreover, it is difficult
to measure h because
tensiometer becomes inoperative
when the tension exceeds 0.8
atm. Furthermore, flow occurs in
both liquid and vapor phases.

Lecture 11
 Infiltration/intake characteristics of soil

Infiltration is the time rate of entry of water into soil.

Whenever the soil surface configuration influences the rate of entry,
the term intake is used.
It has great practical importance: design and operation of
water application system, intake rate of fine-textured soil is very
low.

Factors influencing infiltration are:

 Initial moisture content
 Condition of soil surface
 Hydraulic conductivity of soil profile
 Depth of water on the surface
 Viscosity/temperature of water
 Soil texture

Lecture 11
 Infiltration/intake characteristics of soil
The intake rate plotted against time on a logarithmic scale gives a
straight line.
I = a Tn
Where,
I = Intake rate
a = Constant (ordinate at T = 1)
n = slope of the line
When the observation of intake extends over long periods, a better
representation of the data can be obtained by:
I = b + aTn
Since, n is negative, I decreases with an increase in T. I approaches a
constant value b as time increases. This value is called final intake rate.
h
I=k
s
Initially I is high because of large difference in tension in addition to
gravity, after several hours difference in tension becomes zero and
hydraulic gradient equals to unity and I approaches to Ks. Lecture 11
 Measuring Intake Rate

 25 cm diameter cylinder is driven upto 15 cm below soil surface

 Water is applied at surface. The radial flow at bottom of cylinder
causes great change in intake rate.
 Two concentric cylinders having same water level are used to
create buffer ponds
 Depth of water for inner cylinder is recorded with time
Cylinder No. 3
Time (hr) Intake (mm)
Watch Difference Cumulative Depth Difference Cumulative
4:15 260
1 11
4:16 1 249 11
2 7
4:18 3 242 18
4 8
4:22 7 234 26
Refill 271
8 11
4:30 15 260 37
18 14
4:48 33 248 61
Refill 270
14 8
5:02 47 252 59
27 14
5:29 74 248 73
31 10
6:00 105 238 83
Refill 280
29 11
6:29 134 269 94
28 9
5:57 162 260 103
26 7
7:23 188 253 110
20 5
7:43 208 248 115
Lecture 11
Intake rate, I = aTn

Accumulated intake,
D = (I×dT)
a
= ×Tn+1
n 1

= C×TN

Average Infiltration rate,

D
Iavg = = CTN–1
T
Instantaneous Infiltration rate,
dD
Iinst = = CNTN–1
dT

Lecture 11
Fig: Typical Intake curves
Lecture 11
The slope of the line on log-log plot,
N = 0.44
Hence, D = 11 T0.44
Iavg = CT
= (11 60) T(0.44–1)
= 660 T–0.56

Iinst = CN TN–1
= (11 60) 0.44 T(0.44–1)
= 290 T–0.56

Lecture 11
At T = 1 min, D = 11 mm,
so , D = CTN
11 = C×(1)N
C = 11

Lecture 11
End of Chapter – 4