11/04/2018

CE 425: HYDROLOGY
INFILTRATION

INFILTRATION

•Movement of water into the soil under gravity and capillary

forces.
•The rate of infiltration depends on rainfall intensity, soil type,
surface condition, and vegetal cover.
•For excess rate of rainfall, the actual infiltration rate will follow a
limiting curve called infiltration capacity curve of the soil.

Infiltration Rate Measurement

1. Horton Equation.
• The hydrologic concept of infiltration capacity is empirically
based on observations at the ground surface.
• When the rainfall rate i exceeds the infiltration rate f, water
infiltrates the surface soils at a rate that generally decreases
with time.
• Infiltration capacity decreases with time and ultimately reaches
a constant rate.

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= + −
where,
f = infiltration rate
fo = initial infiltration capacity
fc = final infiltration capacity
k = empirical constant

• Horton’s equation suffers from the fact that infiltration capacity

decreases as a function of time regardless of the actual amount
of water available for infiltration
• It assumes ponding on the surface and a reduction of infiltration
capacity regardless of whether or not the rainfall intensity
exceeds the computed value of infiltration capacity. When the
rainfall rate i exceeds the infiltration rate f, water infiltrates the
surface soils at a rate that generally decreases with time.

• the area under the curve for any time interval represents the
depth of water infiltrated during that interval

Infiltration Concept of Horton’s Equation

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Example 1:
The initial infiltration capacity fo of a given watershed is estimated
as 3.8 mm/hr. The time constant k is taken to be 0.35 hr-1 and the
equilibrium capacity fc is 0.5 mm/hr. Find the infiltration rate in the
watershed over a 6-hr period.

2.  - Index Method.
• The simplest method of estimating infiltration rate and is
calculated by finding the loss difference between gross
precipitation and observed surface runoff measured as
hydrograph.
• Assumes that the loss is uniformly distributed across the rainfall
pattern.

Example 2:
Given the rainfall data below, compute the infiltration rate using 
index method, if the area of the watershed is 36.5 km2 and the
total runoff volume for the period is 452,600 m3.

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Time Rainfall
(hr) (mm/hr)
0-2 1.2
2-4 2.6
4-6 5.8
6-8 3.2
8-10 1.8
10-12 0.8
Infiltration Concept of  – Index Example 2 Table:
Method Rainfall data

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Rainfal Intensity (mm/hr)

0
2 4 6 8 10 12
Time (hr)

Graph of Infiltration Capacity Using  – Index

Method for Example 2

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3. Green-Ampt Equation.
• Theoretically based, which includes the solution of the
continuity and Darcy’s equations in an unsaturated media.
• The governing equation takes the form,

      K  
   K   
t z  z  z
where,
 = volumetric moisture content
z = distance below the surface (cm)
j() = capillary suction (cm of water)
K() = unsaturated hydraulic conductivity (cm/s)

• Hydraulic conductivity relates velocity and hydraulic gradient

in Darcy’s law.

• Moisture content is defined as the ratio of the volume of water

to the total volume of a unit porous media. For saturated
groundwater flow,  equals the porosity of the sample n,
defined as the ratio of voids to the total volume of sample, for
unsaturated flow above a water table,  < n.
• The value of j is greater than 0 in the saturated zone below the
water table, equals 0 at the water table and less than 0 in the
unsaturated zone, due to the fact that water is held in soil pores
under surface-tension forces.
• Capillary suction head can be measured by an instrument
called tensiometer.
• One of the most interesting and useful approaches to solving
the governing partial differential equation was advanced by
Green and Ampt.

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•Green-Ampt infiltration prediction:

a) If i  Ks, f i
b) If i  K s , F  it s  Fs until
where,

      M dj f
Fs   s i j f 
1  i K s  1  i K s 
where,
Ks = saturated hydraulic conductivity
F = amount/volume of infiltration at time, t
Fs = volume of infiltration at time of surface saturation, ts
s = saturated moisture content
i = initial moisture content
Md = initial moisture deficit (s - i)
jf = capillary suction head
 f
tp K
i (i  K )

after surface saturation, ( for i  K s and f  i for i  K s )

  s   i  j f   M dj f 
f  K s 1    K s 1  
 F   F 
Infiltration rate, f

Potential
Infiltration

i Rainfall

Actual Infiltration

Time

Infiltration Behavior Under Rainfall Green-Ampt Equation

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Example 3: Given the following soil properties: Ks = 50 mm/hr, s

= 0.518, i = 0.318, jf = -238 mm and i = 200 mm/hr, determine the
depth of water that will infiltrate just before surface saturation is
reached. What is the time of surface saturation and the rate of
infiltration when the volume of infiltration reached 30mm?
>
0.518 − 0.318 0.518 − 0.218 − 238
= −238 = 50 1−
200 30
1 −
50
= 129.33
= 15.87

15.87 = 200

= 0.0793 hr