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A Limiting Flux Condition in Infiltration into Heterogeneous Porous Media¹

ABSTRACT

Infiltration into a porous medium in which the hydraulic conductivity increases with depth is shown to approach at quite early times a limiting flux condition. This condition is defined by a pressure head profile in the saturated zone becoming tangential to the water entry value profile. Equations are presented enabling the values of the limiting flux (f_l) and the elevation of the point of contact (z_l) to be calculated in terms of the material properties and the boundary conditions. Below z_l an unsaturated zone exists and wetting up in this zone continues under the condition of limiting flux. A method is presented whereby the pressure and water content profiles for this zone can be determined.

¹ Contribution from the Univ. of New South Wales, Australia, and the Agr. Res. Ser., SWCRD, USDA.

² Associate Professor of Civil Engineering, and Research Fellow, Univ. of New South Wales, Kensington, N.S.W., Australia 2033; Soil Scientist-Physicist, US Water Conservation Laboratory, 4331 East Broadway, Phoenix, Ariz. 85040, USA, respectively.

Received for publication August 11, 1972. Accepted for publication November 7, 1972.