DETERMINATION OF SPATIO-TEMPORAL VARIATION OF THE WATER CONTENT AT A VERTICAL INFILTRATION USING THE TDR METHOD

Abstract

This work presents a vertical infiltration test in Florensac silt column, carried out by TDR method (Time Domain Reflecto-metry). This method consists in measuring an EM wave tra-velling time in a material, which largely depends on the water content, and allows determining the dielectric constant ε. The volumetric water content is calculated using the general empi-rical law θ = f (ε) established by Topp et al. (1980). From this infiltration test, we assess the rate and infiltration rate, estimate soil permeability, sorptivity and diffusivity using the Philip mo-del (1969). The determination of the retention curve by the filter papers method and the saline solutions method allowed dedu-cing, at each time, the suction profiles from the hydric profiles. Van Genuchten-Mualem model (1980, 1976) was used to model the retention curve and the hydraulic conductivity curve.