Date of Award

2011

Publisher

North Dakota State University

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Awarded

Master of Science (MS)

Program

Civil Engineering

Department

Civil and Environmental Engineering

College

Engineering

Faculty Advisor

Chu, Xuefeng

Description

Experimental studies on infiltration/soil-water movement processes are vital to better understanding movement of soil-water in the vadose zone. The objective of this experimental research was to investigate infiltration/soil-water movement processes utilizing laboratory experiments and computer modeling. Small scale laboratory soil box infiltration experiments were conducted and utilized for the improved parameterization of the Green-Ampt (GA) saturated moisture content parameter to produce an effective moisture content parameter (Be) for utilization in a modified GA model. By incorporating ⊖e values into GA modeling, modeling results showed greatly improved wetting front prediction across different soil conditions. A new soil packing method was proposed for replicating complex microtopographical surfaces with uniform bulk densities in laboratory soil box experiments which proved efficient and effective at accomplishing both objectives. A rainfall simulator and an instantaneous-profile laser scanner were used to simulate rainfall and quantify surface microtopography for experiments. The results clearly show the effect of microtopography on infiltration and soil-water movement characteristics. This offers valuable insight into infiltration/soil-water movement processes as affected by different soil and surface microtopographic conditions.

Rights

NDSU Policy 190.6.2

Handle Identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/10365/29329

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