Refresher Course on Hydrology and Hydraulics

for Drainage Services Department

Fundamental Principles of Hydrology

and Applications
Lecture 2 (April 7, 2016)
Lecturer: Ji Chen
Department of Civil Engineering
The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong

1.
2.
3.
4.

General Introduction to Hydrology

Precipitation
Evaporation and Transpiration
Infiltration

1. General Introduction to Hydrology

Hydrology Cycle

Definition of Hydrology
Hydrology is a subject of great importance for people and
their environment and treats all phases of the earths water
hydrology is the study of water in all its forms and from all its
origins to all its destinations on the earth, which describes and
predicts:
the spatial and temporal variations of water substance in
the terrestrial, oceanic, and atmospheric compartments of
the global water system
the movement of water on and under the earths land
surface, the physical and chemical processes
accompanying that movement, and the biological
processes that conduct or affect that movement
5

Structure of the Atmosphere

Earths Circumfluence

Global hydrologic fluxes (1000 km3/year) and storages (1000 km3) with natural and
anthropogenic cycles

WaterConsumed3.81103 km3/year
Irrigation2.66/3.81=70%
Populationin2005:6.51billion
AnnualWaterConsumptionperpersonin
2005:585m3/year/capita

Source: Oki and Kanae, Global

hydrological cycles and world water
resources, Science, 2006.

Global Water Crisis

Water crisis, which is both a natural and a human-made phenomenon, is among

the main problems to be faced by many societies and the world in the 21st century
(United Nations Development Programme, 2006; UN-Water and FAO, 2007).
An area is experiencing water stress/scarcity when annual water supplies drop:
below 1,700 m3 per person ---- Water stress
below 1,000 m3 per person ---- Water scarcity
below 500 m3 per person ---- Absolute scarcity (World Water Assessment
Programme, 2012)
Water use has been growing at more than twice the rate of population increase in
the last century.
Overuse of surface water and an increasing reliance on nonrenewable
groundwater resources have been reported over various regions of the world,
casting significant doubt on the sustainable water supply
Climate change will bring greater variation in more frequent weather extremes,
and an increasing number of areas will face growing water scarcity by 2050,
especially in lower income countries (World Water Council, 2015)

Future Water Crisis

With the existing climate change scenario, World Water Assessment

Programme (2012) has reported that 1.8 billion people would be living in
regions with absolute scarcity by 2025, and almost half the world's
population would be living in regions with high water stress by 2030.

Source: World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP). (2012). World Water

Development Report 4.

Application of Hydrology
Practical applications of hydrology are found in such
tasks as

the design and operation of hydraulic structures

water supply
wastewater treatment and disposal
irrigation
drainage
hydropower generation
flood control
navigation
....

Applied Hydrology in Hong Kong

Drainage Services Department (DSD)

Applied Hydrology

Geotechnical Engineering Office (GEO) of

Civil Engineering and Development
Department (CEDD)

Water Supplies Department (WSD)

Environmental Protection Department (EPD)

Hong Kong Observatory (HKO)

Natural Hazards Relevant to Hydrology

Engineering of Applying Hydrology

Hydrology Cycle
To assess the total water storage on the
Earth reliably is a complicated problem
because water is so very dynamic
Water is in permanent motion, constantly
changing from
liquid to solid or gaseous phase, and back
again

History of the Hydrology

The science of hydrology began with the
concept of the hydrologic cycle
The concept of the hydrological cycle has been understood in
crude form as early as 3000 BC
Egyptians learned to harness the waters of the NILE, measure
the rise and fall of the river circa 3000 BC
The concept of the hydrological cycle in its present form is only
after Leonardo da Vinci (1452 - 1519)
Perrault in 1674, and Mariotte in 1686 independently carried out
experiments on runoff and concluded that the rainfall is
sufficient to produce streamflow

Table: the approximate distribution of earth's water resources

Item

Area

Volume

(103 km2)

(103 km3)

Atmospheric vapour
510 000
13
World ocean
362 033 1 350 400
Water in land areas:
148 067
Freshwater lakes
825
125
Saline lakes; inland seas
700
105
Soil moisture; vadose water 131 000
150
Groundwater
131 000
7 000
Ice-caps and glaciers
17 000
26000
Total in land areas (rounded)
33 900
Total water, all realms (rounded)
1 384 000

% of total
water

0.0001
97.6
0.0094
0.0076
0.0108
0.5060
0.9250
2.4590
100.0000

Table: Cyclic Water (Water Fluxes)

Item

Volume
(103 km3)

% of total
water

Annual evaporation
From world ocean
From land areas
Total

445
71
516

0.0320
0.0050
0.0370

412
104
516

0.0291
0.0075
0.0370

Annual precipitation
On world ocean
On land areas
Total

Annual outflow from land to sea

River outflow
Calving, melting, and
deflation from ice-caps
Groundwater outflow
Total

29.5

0.0021

2.5
1.5
33.5

0.0002
0.0001
0.0024

Residence Time
Residence Time: the average duration for a water molecule to pass
through a subsystem of the hydrological cycle

S volume of water in ocean storage

Tr ( ocean )
Q flow rate of ocean

1,350,400 10 3 km 3

3000 years
3
3
445 10 km /year

the residence times

ice caps and glaciers:

~ 10,000 years

groundwater:

~ 4700 years

rivers lakes and inland seas:

2.34 years

Terrestrial Cyclic Water

the most dynamic part of the hydrological cycle
involves surface water on the continents which has a
residence time of some 2.34 years
the total water in the land areas works out to 2.459% of
the earth's entire water resources
the extractable percentage of this is of the order of about
0.5% (from lakes, rivers and groundwater)
the largest volume of fresh water is found in the ice
caps and glaciers (26,000103 km3, or, 1.925%), which
is sufficient to keep the world's rivers flowing for nearly
1000 years (annual surface runoff from rivers is about
29.5103 km3)

System Concept in Hydrology (1)

Several basic hydrologic concepts are
related to the simple model of a system
a system is any conceptually defined region
of space capable of receiving a sequence of
inputs of a conservative quantity, storing
some amount of that quantity, and
discharging outputs of that quantity
a system is sometimes called a control
volume

System Concept in Hydrology (2)

Conservation Equations (1)

The basic conservation equation can be stated as
follows:
The amount of a conservative quantity entering a control
volume during a defined time period, minus the amount of
the quantity leaving the volume during the time period,
equals the change in the amount of the quantity stored in
the volume during the time period

Thus, the basic conservation equation is a

generalization of the conservation of
mass
momentum (Newtons first law of motion)
energy (the first law of thermodynamics)

Conservation Equations (2)

in condensed form, we can state the conservation
equation as
Amount in Amount out = Change in storage
but we must remember that the equation is true only
for conservative substances
for a defined control volume
for a defined time period

Conservation Equations (3)

The amount conservative quantity entering a region
in time period t by I, the amount leaving during
that period by Q, and the change in storage over that
period by S, we can write equation below
I Q = S
Q S
I

t t t

I
i
t
I
i lim
t 0 t

Q
q
t

S
i q
t

Q
q lim
t 0 t

dS
iq
dt

Watershed (1)
also called Drainage Basin, River Basin, Catchment

hydrologists commonly apply the conservation

equation in the form of a water-balance equation
to a geographic region in order to establish the
basic hydrologic characteristics of the region
the region is usually a watershed
watershed is defined as the area that
topographically appears to contribute all the
water that passes through a given cross section
of a stream

Watershed (2)
the surface trace of the boundary that delimits a
watershed is called a divide
the horizontal projection of the area of a watershed is
called the drainage area of the stream at (or above) the
cross section
delineation of watersheds is of fundamental importance
because the characteristics of the drainage basin control
the paths and rates of movement of water to the outlet
and the magnitude and timing of outputs via all modes:
Streamflow
groundwater outflow
evapotranspiration

Watershed (3)
as indicated in the figure below, upstream watersheds
are nested within, and are part of, downstream
watersheds.

Delineation of Watershed (1)

the conventional
manual method of
watershed
delineation
requires a
topographic map
to trace the divide,
start at the location
of the chosen
stream cross
section

Delineation of Watershed (2)

then draw the line
away from the left or
right bank,
maintaining it always
at right angles to the
contour lines
continue the line until
its trend is generally
opposite to the
direction in which it
began and is generally
above the headwaters
of the stream network

Delineation of Watershed (3)

then return to the
starting point and
trace the divide
from the other
bank
eventually
connecting with
the first line

Delineation of Watershed (4)

topographic information is becoming available in
the form of digital elevation models (DEMs)
these are computer data files that give land-surface
elevations at grid points
some computer programs (e.g., Geographic
Information System (GIS)) have successfully
developed, which can trace out stream networks and
drainage divides by analyzing DEMs
this automated approach to watershed delineation
allows the concomitant rapid extraction of much
hydrologically useful information on watershed
characteristics

Hong Kong DEM Data

Some Hong Kong Basins

Regional Water Balance (1)

the regional water balance is the
application of the water-balance
equation to a watershed (or to any land
area, such as a state or continent)
the watershed area delimited by the
divide (or other surface area) is the
upper surface of the control volume

Regional Water Balance (2)

in virtually all regional hydrologic analyses it
is reasonable to assume a constant density of
water and to treat volume [L3] as a
conservative quantity
for many such analyses it is convenient to
divide the volumes of water by the surface
area of the region so that the quantities have
the dimension [L]
it is convenient to further divide the volumes
by the duration of the measurement period,
yielding [L T-1]

Regional Water Balance (3)

Example:
Estimate the Hong Kong population with the
condition of collecting fresh water only from the
Hong Kong land surface. If the average annual
rainfall over Hong Kong is 2250 mm and that
only 50% of it is exploitable. Assume that the
total water consumption in Hong Kong on a per
capita basis is approximately 400 liters per day.

Conceptual Water Balance (1)

The Water-Balance Equation
Consider the watershed over a reasonably long time
period in which there are no significant climatic trends
or geologic changes and no anthropogenic inputs,
outputs, or storage modifications
For such an idealized period we can assume that net
changes in storage will be effectively zero and write
the water balance as

P Gin Q ET Gout 0

Conceptual Water Balance (2)

P is precipitation (liquid and solid), Gin is ground-water inflow
(liquid), Q is stream outflow (liquid), ET is evapotranspiration
(vapor), Gout is ground water outflow, and all values are the
true totals or long-term averages.

Conceptual Water Balance (3)

The total amount of liquid water leaving the region
can be called the runoff, RO, for the region.
therefore

RO Q Gout

RO P Gin ET

RO Q G out P ET

Conceptual Water Balance (4)

from the human viewpoint, the long-term
average runoff rate RO, is highly
significant
it represents the maximum rate at which
water is potentially available for human use
and management
it is the best measure of the ultimate water
resources of a region

2. Precipitation

Precipitation types
Rain that evaporates before reaching the surface is termed
virga
Common in Colorados dry climate
Precipitation reaching the surface can take on different forms
depending on the vertical temperature profile

Global total = 2.6 mm/d

(Ocean [2.8 mm/d] Land [2.1 mm/d])

The mainstream of rainfall estimation algorithms:

Rainfall estimates from Multi-sources of data

NOAA

GOES

MODIS IR+VIS
ASTER
CERES

Radar

IR
VIS
SOUNDING

Precipitable Water

Gauge

NASA
TRMM
Aqua

Physical modeling:
Surface Temperature
Soil Moisture
Vegetation

Rainfall Hyetograph
10 mm

The graph of
rainfall versus
time at a point is
called the rainfall
hyetograph

Nonrecording Rain Gage

(manual measurement)

Tipping-bucket Rain Gage

(automatic rain gage)

Hong Kong Observatory

Ordinary rain-gauge and measuring cylinder

in Hong Kong

Hong Kong Observatory

Automatic rain-gauge in Hong Kong

2 buckets rest on a pivot
when 1 bucket has received
a certain amount of rain it
tips by gravity, empties the
rainwater and allows the
other bucket to start
collection.
tipping => close electrical
switch and triggers a signal.
Light rainfall
Moderate rainfall
Heavy rainfall

0.1 mm
0.2 mm
0.5 mm

Hong Kong Observatory

23 ordinary rain-gauges for

measuring daily or monthly rainfall

read manually using a measuring cylinder;

HKO operates this network with the help of well-trained voluntary observer;
useful and accurate for measuring daily and monthly rainfall.

Hong Kong Observatory

>100 automatic rain-gauges

for real time monitoring

tipping-buckets type

real time data at 5-minute interval transmitted through telemetry network

greatly facilitates the operation of the rainstorm and flood warnings

Mean Rainfall over an Area

Arithmetic Mean
for uniform distribution of gauges
Mean rainfall over an area can be
estimated by taking the arithmetic
mean of a number of gauges

Mean Rainfall over an Area

Thiessen polygon Method
for non-uniform distribution
This method is considered superior to the arithmetic mean
method. The method consists of dividing the region into sub
areas by drawing the perpendicular bisectors of the lines joining
the gauging stations. The mean rainfall is given by

AP Ai Pi
For a complex network, such sub division may not be unique.
The method also gives no allowance for orographic influences.
It simply assumes linear variation of precipitation between
stations.

Mean Rainfall over an Area

- Construction of a Thiessen Polygon

Example: Mean Rainfall over an Area (1)

(10mm)

(10mm)

Example: Mean Rainfall over an Area (2)

(10mm)

(10mm)
(10mm) (sq km)

(10mm)

Rainstorm Warnings in Hong Kong

Rainfall intensity

30 mm/hr (Amber RW)

30 mm/hr

50 mm/hr (Red RW)

50 mm/hr

70 mm/hr (Black RW)

70 mm/hr

Return Period and Recurrence Interval

in the area of engineering, the concept of the
return period of events is very important
the return period (recurrence interval) is
defined as the average elapsed time between
occurrences of an event with a certain
magnitude or greater
an exceedance is an event with a magnitude
equal to or greater than a certain value

Return Period and Probability

if an exceedance occurs on the average once every 25
years, then the probability or chance that the event
occurs in any given year is 1/25 = 0.04
probability, P, and return period, T, are thus related by

1
T
P
this is a fundamental definition in statistical hydrology

Intensity-Duration-Frequency Curves (1)

Intensity-duration-frequency curves
give the variation of the intensity of
rainfall as a function of two
independent parameters
the duration of rainfall and the
frequency (or the return period) of
rainfall

Rainfall Intensity mm/min

Intensity-Duration-Frequency Curves (2)

Intensity Duration Frequency Curves

(for durations not exceeding 4 hours) in Hong Kong

Statistical Moments
mean
variance

MEAN

x ( )

x f ( x)dx

xi f ( xi )
i 1

An indicator of
the closeness of
the value of a
sample or
population to
the mean

skewness
A measure of
symmetry

if f ( xi )

1
,
n

x ( )

VARIANCE

S
2

f ( x )dx

1 n
xi
n i 1
( x if is unknown)

xi f ( xi )
2

i 1

S2

1 n
xi 2 asn 2 .....unbiased estimate of 2

n 1 i 1

SKEW

f ( x ) dx

xi f ( xi )
3

i 1

n ( x x )3

n 1n 2S 3

Normal distribution (Gaussian distribution) (1)

f ( x)

1
e
2

( x )2
2 2

Properties of the Normal distribution

E(X) =
Var(X) = 2
Skewness coefficient = 0

Annual Rainfall in Hong Kong (1960-2009)

Year

Rainfall
(mm)

Year

Rainfall
(mm)

Year

Rainfall
(mm)

Year

Rainfall
(mm)

Year

Rainfall
(mm)

1960

2,237

1970

2,316

1980

1,711

1990

2,047

2000

2,752

1961

2,232

1971

1,904

1981

1,660

1991

1,639

2001

3,092

1962

1,741

1972

2,807

1982

3,248

1992

2,679

2002

2,490

1963

901

1973

3,100

1983

2,894

1993

2,344

2003

1,942

1964

2,432

1974

2,323

1984

2,017

1994

2,726

2004

1,739

1965

2,353

1975

3,029

1985

2,191

1995

2,754

2005

3,215

1966

2,398

1976

2,197

1986

2,338

1996

2,249

2006

2,628

1967

1,571

1977

1,680

1987

2,319

1997

3,343

2007

1,707

1968

2,288

1978

2,593

1988

1,685

1998

2,565

2008

3,066

1969

1,896

1979

2,615

1989

1,945

1999

2,129

2009

2,182

Mean = 2318.2 mm S = 518.8 mm

Plotting Position: Definition

plotting position refers to the probability value
assigned to each piece of data to be plotted
the probability of an event being exceeded in
any year can be estimated by using the plotting
position, which is defined by a number of
formulae as given below:
n : the number of samples
m : the rank of the sample when arranged in
descending order
Pm:exceedence probability for an event with rank m

Empirical Equations for Computing Pm

California
Pm = m/n
Weibull
Pm = m/(n+1)
Hazen
Pm = (2m-1)/(2n)
Tukey
Pm = (3m-1)/(3n+1)
The inverse of Pm gives the return period T

Normal distribution : Example

Pm (X xm )= m/n
(1)
Pm (X xm )= m/(n+1) (2)
Year
1997
1982
2005
1973
2001
2008
1975
1983
1972
1995
2000
1994
1992
2006
1979
:

Rainfall
(mm)
3343
3248
3215
3100
3092
3066
3029
2894
2807
2754
2752
2726
2679
2628
2615
:

No.

P (1)

P (2)

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
:

0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.1
0.12
0.14
0.16
0.18
0.2
0.22
0.24
0.26
0.28
0.3
:

0.020
0.039
0.059
0.078
0.098
0.118
0.137
0.157
0.176
0.196
0.216
0.235
0.255
0.275
0.294

Normal distribution : Example P(1)

(1799.4,0.1587)

(2867,0.8413)

Normal distribution : Example P(2)

(1799.4,0.1587)

(2867,0.8413)

Normal distribution : Example

0.25

Frequency (%)

0.20

0.15

0.10

0.05

0.00
500

1000

1500

2000

2500

Rainfall (mm)

3000

3500

4000

Typical Return Periods Used in Design

Bridges
Culverts on important roads
Culverts on secondary roads
Storm water culverts

50-100 years
25
years
5-10 years
1-2 years

Design Storm (1)

some design problems require only the total volume
of rainfall for a given duration and frequency
it is often necessary to give the time distribution of
the rainfall volumes as well
i.e. a hyetograph
typical characteristics are the peak value, the time to
peak and the distribution
the development of the design storm is based on the
empirical analysis of a large number of storms
the rainfall depths have been rearranged to give a
reasonably symmetrical distribution

Design Storm (2)

Duration

Intensity

Depth

Incremental
Depth

Design
Storm

Cumulative
Design storm

hr

mm/hr

mm

mm

mm

mm

30.0

30.0

30.0

2.5

2.5

17.5

35.0

5.0

4.0

6.5

13.0

39.0

4.0

30.0

36.5

10.5

42.0

3.0

5.0

41.5

8.9

44.5

2.5

3.0

44.5

7.7

46.2

1.7

1.7

46.2

Design Storm (3)

Duration

Intensity

Depth

Incremental
Depth (hourly)

Design
Storm

Cumulative
Design storm

hr

mm/hr

mm

mm

mm/hr

mm

30.0

30.0

30.0

2.5

2.5

17.5

35.0

5.0

4.0

6.5

13.0

39.0

4.0

30.0

36.5

10.5

42.0

3.0

5.0

41.5

8.9

44.5

2.5

3.0

44.5

7.7

46.2

1.7

1.7

46.2

3. Evaporation and Transpiration

Evaporation
evaporation is a process that allows
water to change from its liquid phase to
a vapor
evaporation from the free water surface
of open water or subsurface water
exposed
precipitation that is intercepted by the
vegetative canopy may also be
evaporated

Evaporation Pan

Transpiration
water passes to the atmosphere by
being "taken up" by plants and
passed on through the plant
surfaces
transpiration varies greatly between
plants or crops, climates, and
seasons

TRANSPIRATION
Transpiration of water from plants
is mostly from the stomata
~99% of water entering a
plant is lost in
Transpiration
only ~1% is used in
photosynthesis

Transpiration

1) water uptake from

soil by roots

2) moving upward

3) transpiration into air

Lysimeter (Measuring PET)

A lysimeter is an artificially enclosed volume of soil for which the

inflows and outflows of liquid water can be measured

Evapotranspiration
both evaporation and transpiration result in the same thing
water in the atmosphere
because they result in the same thing, we coined them into
one word:
evapotranspiration (ET)
in many areas of the global land surface and during certain
seasons evapotranspiration is a major component of the
hydrologic budget and a major concern in water supply and
yield estimates

Potential Evapotranspiration (PET)

PET is the upper limit of the total losses due to evaporation and
transpiration for a region
occurring only when the supply of water is unlimited

a) Water Budget Method

this method is used for estimating the evaporation over a
long period of time, for example, annual evaporation
it is based upon the water balance in a water body
(control volume) in which
E = P + I - O S
P
E
E: the evaporation
P: the precipitation

I: the inflow
I
O: the outflow
S
S: the change in
O
storage.

b) Mass Transfer (Aerodynamic) Method

in the mass transfer or aerodynamic approach,
evaporation is considered as dependent on wind speed
and vapor pressure deficit in the following form:
E = f(u) (eS -ed)
E
f(u)
u
eS

:
:
:
:

ed

evaporation
an empirical function
wind speed
saturation vapor pressure (SVP)
corresponding to the temperature at
the water surface
vapor pressure of the air which is equal to
the SVP at the corresponding dew point
temperature

c) Energy Budget Method

RN
H

He

Hv

Hs

RN = He + H

RN = RS (1- ) - RB
RS - the incoming shortwave radiation
RB - the net outgoing longwave radiation

d) Penman Equation for Computing Evapotranspiration

Penman combined the theoretical

concepts of the energy budget method
with the empirical structure of the mass
transfer method
the sensible heat transferred to the
atmosphere depends upon the
temperature difference between the air
and the evaporating surface
the energy used up for evaporation
depends upon the vapor pressure deficit

Modeling
Conceptual models
the uncertain transferability of regression
equations and the need for simulating
interception loss in predictive models
considerable effort has been expended to
develop conceptual models of the process

For Hong Kong Region

60
55
SWAT

50

VIC

ET /P (% )

45

Pow er (VIC)
y = 160.72x -0.9595
R2 = 0.9648

40

Pow er (SWAT)

35
30
y = 141.71x -0.9453
R2 = 0.9375

25
20
15
10
3

3.5

4.5

5.5

6.5

7.5

8.5

Annual Precipitation (mm/d)

1955-2000 annual mean precipitation: 6.16 mm/day

9.5

4. Infiltration

Infiltration and Infiltration Rate

Infiltration
infiltration can be defined as the process of the passage
of water into the soil through the soil surface
it is generally considered as being different from
percolation which is the process of water movement
within the soil
the forces which cause infiltration are due to gravity,
pressure, and viscosity

Infiltration rate
infiltration rate can be defined as the volume flux of
water flowing into the soil per unit area
it has the unit of velocity [L/T]

Soil Water System (1)

The water in the soil can be represented by 3
zones:
at the bottom is the saturated zone in which
all the voids in the soil are filled with water
the intermediate capillary water zone is
also saturated because of capillary action
which pulls water from the water table
upwards
the soil voids are filled with air and water

Soil Water System (2)

The state of a soil water system is measured by
two parameters,
volumetric soil moisture content,
the soil suction,, which is a negative pressure

Soil water status as a function of pressure (tension).

Natural soils do not have tension exceeding about
-31,000 cm; in this range water is absorbed
from the air

Soil Suction (1)

soil moisture content characteristic is
sometimes referred to as the retention curve
it gives the variation of the soil suction as a
function of the moisture content
at the saturated end the moisture content has
its maximum value and the suction has its
minimum value which is zero

Soil Suction (2)

at the other extreme is the dry end which is not
achievable in the field and can only be attained
in the laboratory after oven drying the soil for at
least 24 hours
the soil suction at the field dry end depends on
the type of soil
the range of suctions corresponding to the range
of applicable moisture contents can vary over
several orders of magnitude

Infiltration Process

By Estimation: index method

the index is an estimate of the
average value of infiltration over the
period of rainfall which when added to
the surface runoff makes the sum
equal to the volume of precipitation
it includes any depression storage and
surface retention

Horton Equation (1940)

This is the most favored empirical equation
used by engineers

kt
i ic i0 ic e
ic :
io :
k:

the final infiltration capacity

the initial infiltration capacity
the time constant

The limiting values are

at t=0, i =i0
as t , i=ic

By Measurement
Infiltration rates can be measured by
infiltrometers which can be of the flooding type
or the sprinkler type
Flooding type infiltrometers
the flooding type infiltrometer consists of two
concentric cylinders of approximately 300-400 mm in
diameter driven into the ground to a depth of about 600
mm

Sprinkler type infiltrometers

rainfall is simulated by sprinklers over test area
the surface runoff resulting from the simulated rainfall
is measured and the difference between the applied
rainfall and the surface runoff gives the infiltration

Double Ring Infiltrometer

Measure rate of fall in inner ring

Infiltration

Saturated hydraulic conductivity

Saturated hydraulic conductivity rates shown are in relation to texture
and are only a general guide
SOIL TEXTURAL CLASSES & RELATED SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY CLASSES
Texture

Textural Class

General

Coarse sand
Sands
Loamy sands

HYDROTREND
VALUES

Ksat Rate
(m/sec)

Ksat Rate
(mm/day)

Rapid

> 141.14
42.34-141.14

> 1219.45
364.95-1219.45

Mod. Rapid

14.11-42.34

121.91-364.95

4.23-14.11
1.41-4.23

36.55-121.91
12.18-36.55

0.42-1.41

3.63-12.18

Ksat Class
V. rapid

Coarse

Sandy loam
Fi.san.loam

Mod. coarse

v. fi. sa. loam

loam
silt loam
silt

Medium

clay loam
sa. cl. loam
si. cl. loam

Mod. fine

sandy clay
silty clay
clay

Fine and
very fine

Sandy

Loamy

Moderate

Mod. slow

Clayey

Slow