HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Snyder, V. A. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Snyder, V. A. Agricola Articles by Snyder, V. A.

Statistical Hydraulic Conductivity Models and Scaling of Capillary Phenomena in Porous Media

Contribution from the Dep. of Agronomy and Soils, Univ. of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, PR 00928

*Corresponding author.

ABSTRACT

The 1956 Miller and Miller scaling theory predicts that the capillary pressure h() and conductivity K() at liquid content in a given member of a family of similar media are related to the corresponding functions h_o() and K_o() in a "reference" member by h() = (1/)h_o() and K() = ²K_o(), where is a scale factor related to pore size. However, in field soils, hydraulic properties are better characterized by the set of scaling relations h(S) = (1/_h) h_o(S) and K(S) = (_K)² K_o(S), where S is the liquid-filled fraction of the effective porosity, and _h and _k are scale factors that are generally different from each other. Both results are shown to be theoretically possible through dimensional inspection of statistical hydraulic conductivity models. The models predict the scale factor relation _K = (_h)(_P)ⁿ, where _P is the effective porosity ratio P/P_o and n is a model-dependent constant. According to this result, _h = _K if _P = 1 as in Miller and Miller theory, but _{h K} whenever _P 1.

Received for publication October 3, 1994.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				A. Nemes, W. J. Rawls, and Y. A. Pachepsky Use of the Nonparametric Nearest Neighbor Approach to Estimate Soil Hydraulic Properties Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., February 2, 2006; 70(2): 327 - 336. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				Z. F. Zhang, Z. F. Zhang, A. L. Ward, and G. W. Gee A Tensorial Connectivity-Tortuosity Concept to Describe the Unsaturated Hydraulic Properties of Anisotropic Soils Vadose Zone J., August 1, 2003; 2(3): 313 - 321. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. Nemes, M. G. Schaap, and J. H. M. Wosten Functional Evaluation of Pedotransfer Functions Derived from Different Scales of Data Collection Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., July 1, 2003; 67(4): 1093 - 1102. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]