Validation of a spatial–temporal soil water movement and plant water uptake model
Type
ArticleKAUST Grant Number
KUK-C1-013-04Date
2014-06Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/600158
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© 2014, (publisher). All rights reserved. Management and irrigation of plants increasingly relies on accurate mathematical models for the movement of water within unsaturated soils. Current models often use values for water content and soil parameters that are averaged over the soil profile. However, many applications require models to more accurately represent the soil–plant–atmosphere continuum, in particular, water movement and saturation within specific parts of the soil profile. In this paper a mathematical model for water uptake by a plant root system from unsaturated soil is presented. The model provides an estimate of the water content level within the soil at different depths, and the uptake of water by the root system. The model was validated using field data, which include hourly water content values at five different soil depths under a grass/herb cover over 1 year, to obtain a fully calibrated system for plant water uptake with respect to climate conditions. When compared quantitatively to a simple water balance model, the proposed model achieves a better fit to the experimental data due to its ability to vary water content with depth. To accurately model the water content in the soil profile, the soil water retention curve and saturated hydraulic conductivity needed to vary with depth.Citation
HEPPELL J, PAYVANDI S, ZYGALAKIS KC, SMETHURST J, FLIEGE J, et al. (2014) Validation of a spatial–temporal soil water movement and plant water uptake model. Géotechnique 64: 526–539. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/geot.13.P.142.Sponsors
The authors would like to thank the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) for funding J. Smethurst (grant numbers GR/R72341/01 and EP/F063482/01), the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) for funding S. Payvandi, The Royal Society University Research Fellowship for funding T. Roose, award no. KUK-C1-013-04 of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) for funding K. Zygalakis, EPSRC and the Centre for Operational Research, Management Science and Information Systems (CORMSIS) for funding J. Fliege, and EPSRC Complexity DTC for funding J. Heppell (EP/G03690X/1). The authors acknowledge the use of the IRIDIS high-performance computing facility, and associated support services at the University of Southampton, in the completion of this work.Publisher
Thomas Telford Ltd.Journal
Géotechniqueae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1680/geot.13.P.142