Accurate characterization and modeling of subsurface flow in multi-fluid soil systems require development of a rapid, reproducible experimental method that yields the information necessary to determine the parameters of the capillary pressure–saturation and permeability functions. Previous work has demonstrated that parameter optimization using inverse modeling is a powerful approach to indirec...

To understand the hydraulic properties of soils, accurate prediction of unsaturated hydraulic conductivity is needed which is commonly derived from the soil water release characteristic. In fine-textured soils the modified Mualem-van Genuchten (MMVG) function has been used extensively to predict the change in relative conductivity with changes in matric potential, but this assumes that the soil...

According to the Mualem capillary model, hydraulic conductivity (HC) is integrated theoretically from the function related to soil water retention curves (SWRC). On the other hand, based on the smooth type of SWRC, the predicted HC function decreases abruptly near saturation, which often challenges the stability of numerical solutions. To improve the Mualem HC, van Genuchten’s function for SWRC...

[1] Commonly, a soil’s relative permeability curve is predicted from its measured water retention curve by fitting equations that share parameters between the two curves (e.g., Brooks/Corey-Mualem and van Genuchten-Mualem). We present a new approach to predict relative permeability by direct application of measured soil water retention data without any fitting procedures. The new relative perme...

to examine hydraulics of lnapls in soil, the retention curves of diesel fuel and water were both determined by hanging column method. the soil retention parameters were obtained based on van genuchten, brooks-corey and campbell’s models. in addition, the soil hydraulic conductivity for both fluids were predicted based on mualem- brooks-corey, burdine- brooks-corey, mualem-van genuchten and camp...

variables as input (e.g., Rawls and Brakensiek, 1985; Ahuja et al., 1989; Vereecken et al., 1989; Schaap et In many vadose zone hydrological studies, it is imperative that the al., 1998). Far fewer alternatives exist for unsaturated soil’s unsaturated hydraulic conductivity is known. Frequently, the Mualem–van Genuchten model (MVG) is used for this purpose behydraulic conductivity. Although som...

Describing convective nonwetting phase flow in unsaturated porous media requires knowledge of the nonwetting phase relative permeability. This study was conducted to formulate and derive a generalized expression for the nonwetting phase relative permeability via combining with the Kosugi water retention function. This generalized formulation is then used to flexibly investigate the Burdine, Mua...