INFILTRATION

The Soil Layers

Plough layer

Deep plough layer

INFILTRATION

PERCOLATION

- is the process by which

water on the ground
surface enters or seeps
into the soil

- is the movement of
water through the
soil by gravity and
capillary forces

-measured in inches per

hour or millimeters per
hour

FACTORS AFFECTING INFILTRATION

1. PRECIPITATION
2. SOIL TEXTURE
a.
b.
c.

Coarse textured - sandy soils

Medium textured - silt (loamy soils)
Fine textured - clayey soils

3. SOIL STRUCTURE
- refers to the grouping of soil particles into a

porous compounds

GRANULAR

PRISMATIC

BLOCKY

MASSIVE

FACTORS AFFECTING INFILTRATION

4.THE SOIL COVERAGE

5.THE TOPOGRAPHY AND MORPHOLOGY

OF SLOPES
6. SATURATION

SOIL MOISTURE CONTENT

- amount of water
present into soil
- water infiltrates faster
(higher infiltration rate)when
the soil is dry, than when
it is wet

TERMS
Infiltration Capacity (fp) -the maximum
rate at which the soil in any given condition
is capable of absorbing water
Infiltration(f ) often begins at a high rate (20
to 25 cm/hr) and decreases to a fairly steady
state rate (fc) as the rain continues, called
the ultimate fp (= 1.25 to 2.0 cm/hr)

HORTONS EQUATION (Robert E. Horton)

= + 0

Where:
- infiltration rate
0 - initial infiltration capacity
- final capacity
- empirical constant ( decay constant)

INFILTRATION CURVE (Horton)

Methods of Determining Infiltration

Infiltrometers
Observation in pits and ponds
Placing a catch basin below a laboratory sample
Artificial rain simulators
Hydrograph analysis

INFILTROMETER

- is a device used to measure infiltration

TYPES OF INFILTROMETER
Tension infiltrometer
Single-ring infiltrometer
Ponded infiltrometer
Double-ring infiltrometer

INFILTROMETERS
Double -ring infiltrometer

Tube infiltrometer

For a given basin, the following are the infiltration capacity rates at
various time intervals after the beginning of the storm. Make a plot of
the f-curve and establish an equation of the form developed by
Horton. Also determine the total rain and the excess rain (runoff).
Time (min) Precipitation Rate ( cm/hr) Infiltration Rate ( cm/hr)
1
5.00
3.90
2
5.00
3.40
3
5.00
3.10
4
5.00
2.70
5
5.00
2.50
6
7.50
2.30
8
7.50
2.00
10
7.50
1.80
12
7.50
1.54
14
7.50
1.43
15
7.50
1.40
16
2.50
1.36
18
2.50
1.31
20
2.50
1.28
22
2.50
1.25
24
2.50
1.23
26
2.50
1.22
28
2.50
1.20
30
2.50
1.20

Infiltration Loss and Net rain

sample 01.
The initial infiltration capacity of a watershed
0 is estimated as 1.5 in/hr, and the time constant
is taken to be 0.35 hr-1. The equilibrium capacity
, is 0.2 in/hr. Use Hortons equation to find
(a.) the values of at = 10 min, 30 min, 1 hr, 2
hr, and 6 hr, (b.) the total volume of infiltration
over the 6-hr period.

Solution

= + 0
= 0.2 + 1.5 0.2 0.35
TABULIZED ANSWER
For :

( total infiltration loss)

= +

=
= 0.2 + 1.3 0.35
1.3
= 0.2 +
0.35
0.35
= 4.46

GREEN AMPT METHOD(Green and Ampt)

dF =
+

Where : - wetting front soil suction head

- water content
- hydraulic conductivity
F - total volume already infiltrated

Volume of Infiltration

()
() = + 1 +

Instantaneous Infiltration
Rate

() =
+1

PHILIPS EQUATION
= 0.5

1
2

= +
Where:

- infiltration capacity (in./hr)

cumulative infiltration volume (in.)
sorptivity, a constant related to soil
sunction potential ( in./ hr )
- soil hydraulic conductivity (in./hr)

 index
- the simplest infiltration method

- is calculated by finding the loss

difference between gross precipitation
and observed runoff measured as a
hydrograph
- assumed uniformly distributed loss
across rainfall pattern

Ponding Time
- Elapsed time between the time rainfall begins and the
time water begins to pond on the soil surface (tp)
-Up to the time of ponding, all rainfall has infiltrated
( = )

sample
Silty-Loam soil, 45% effective saturation, rainfall 4 cm/hr
intensity
Given: = 0.5
= 17 cm
= 0.65 cm/hr
= 0.45

SOLUTION

= 1 = (1 0.45)(0.5) = 0.275
= (17 0.275) = 4.675

()

= 0.65

4.675
4(40.65)

= 0.23

THE END!!!