Chapter 2

Literature Review
2.1 Introduction
Estimation of soil hydraulic parameters using parameter optimization technique requires two
models .One is direct numerical model which simulates the water flow through unsaturated
porous media and the other one is optimization model. A comprehensive literature survey was
conducted to know about the research work done so far in the field of unsaturated porous media
and estimation of soil hydraulic parameters. For the ease of presentation, the entire literature
survey has been classified into following three categories.
Analytical models
Numerical models
Estimation of soil hydraulic parameters.
The governing differential equation for transient unsaturated flow through porous media is the
Richards equation (Richard, 1931) .This equation may be written in many forms with either
the pressure head h[L] or moisture content [L
3
/L
3
] as the dependent variable [Celia
et.al,1990]. The constitutive relationships can be used to convert from one form of the equation
to another. For one-dimensional flow three standard forms are
h-based
()

= 0 (. )

-based:

(().

= 0 (. )
Mixed- based:

(.

= 0 = (. )
Where, () = /, the specific moisture capacity function[L
-1
].
() is the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity function[L/T].
() = ()/(), the unsaturated diffusivity [L
2
/T]
z denote the vertical direction, assumed positive upward.
2.2 Analytical models
Since Richards equation is a non-linear partial differential equation, analytical solutions are
very difficult to obtain and are possible only for very limited number of problems with simple
geometry and boundary conditions. Nevertheless, owing to their mathematical simplicity,
analytical models are always desirable. Also, they avoid several of the problems faced by
numerical solutions e.g. mass balance errors, poor convergence, computational burden etc.
Several researchers have proposed analytical solutions for various flow conditions, which are
as follows.
A majority of analytical solutions available in literature are based on following assumptions.
The soil strata is homogeneous
The flow is steady
The flow is one-dimensional vertical flow

Wooding (1968) studied steady state infiltration from a shallow circular pond by transforming
steady state Richards equation into a linear steady diffusion equation using the method of
linearization proposed by J.R.Philip.[Philip,1966;1968a,b]

Warrick (1973), Braester (1973) and Broadbridge and White (1988) developed analytical
solutions based on transient flow but the soil conditions were restricted to homogeneous or
continuous heterogeneous [Srivastava and Yeh, 1991]

Aghjani and Soroush (2011) linearized the Richards equation for one-dimensional
homogeneous media by applying the exponential form of hydraulic conductivity and
performing the Kirchhoff transforms. A closed form solution was then derived using Green
function approach. Their study highlighted the use of arbitrary initial and boundary conditions,
thus providing the solutions even for complex boundary conditions.

Srivastava and Yeh (1991) developed analytical solution for transient vertical infiltration in
layered soil. The Richards equation was linearized using exponential models of hydraulic
conductivity and moisture content. The solution provided a reliable means to compare the
accuracy of various numerical solutions.
Literature survey for analytical models revealed that very few or no models have been
proposed for multi-dimensional flow.
2.2 Numerical models
With the advent of digital computers, it has now become possible to obtain numerical solutions
even for layered soil strata and complex initial and boundary conditions can well be applied.
Over the decades, numerical simulation of unsaturated flow has been the subject of interest for
many researchers. Thorough reviews of the literature may be found in the works of Nielsen et
al. (1986) and Milly (1988). Much of the earlier works focussed on the h-based form or -
based form. The two very widely used approximations for the numerical solution of Richards
equation are finite difference and finite element approximations, a variety of numerical
solutions have been developed using these two approximations (Freeze, 1971; Neumann
1973; Narasimhan et al. 1976; Haverkamp et al., 1977; Van-Genuchten, 1980).

N.Romano et al. (1996) developed Crank-Nicolson-type, finite difference model for layered
soil profiles using pressure-based form .the validity of the model was established by comparing
numerical results with the analytical solutions obtained by Srivastava and Yeh (1991).The
study emphasised on the evaluation of the internodal conductivity when neighbouring nodes
lie in layers with different hydraulic properties.

K S Hari Prasad et al. (2001) solved pressure (h) - based form using Galerkin finite element
method and backward finite difference discretisation of time derivative term. Iterative scheme
of Picard was used. The study also focussed on the effect of unsaturated soil parameters on
water movement during different processes such as gravity drainage and infiltration.
Solutions using h-based formulation usually results in large mass balance errors. (Celia et al.
1990). On comparing (2.1) and (2.3), C (h) h/ =/.Thus C (h) = /. This equation
holds well in the continuous form of partial differential equation, but not in discretised form.
The mass continuity equation for flow through unsaturated porous media is given by

= 0 (3.1)
Where q is the Darcys flux given by ,
=

On rearranging (3.1), we get

= 1 (3.2)
Left hand side of (3.2) represents a very important quantity, known as mass balance ratio, which
is used to judge the accuracy of numerical simulations in porous media flow. The above
equation represents mass balance ratio in continuous form. On finite difference discretisation
of the partial differential equation i.e. Richards equation, mass balance ratio is given by
MB(t) =

1
(

+1

0
)

=1
+1
{

1
2

+1][

1

+1]
}

Where n denotes the time step and N the no. of nodes. For analytical solutions the value of the
mass balance ratio is always equal to one. Numerical solutions are considered accurate if their
mass balance ratio approaches one. In h-based form, change in mass is calculated using discrete
values of /, while the finite difference formulation uses C (h) h/, since the discretised
forms of the two quantities are not equal due to highly non-linear nature of C (h), unacceptably
large mass balance error results.
Moisture content or -based formulations are found to be perfectly mass- conservative, but it
can be used only in unsaturated media as the equation degenerates in saturated media and also
it is difficult to simulate flow in layered soil using -based form[K.Huang et al. 1996]. A
detailed review on advantages and disadvantages on the above two forms of the Richards
equation can be found in the works of Hills et al. (1989).
Celia et al. (1990) developed a perfectly mass conservative scheme using mixed based form
of the governing equation. Their formulation used backward Euler approximations in time
coupled with simple Picard iteration scheme. The dependency of the formulation on highly
non-linear C (h) was successfully removed by making use of Taylor series expansion of the
moisture content. The resulting formulation was referred to as modified Picard
approximation. While keeping the computational effort same as in the case of h-based
formulation, the scheme led to significant accuracy of numerical solutions with smooth
infiltration profiles.

Another important issue addressed by Celia et al. was that of problem of mass lumping in case
of finite element solutions. For accurate numerical solutions mass balance is the necessary but
not sufficient condition to be fulfilled. Many finite element solutions resulted in oscillating
infiltration profiles even if mass is conserved. Celia et al. necessitated the use of diagonal time
matrix in numerical solutions in order to obtain smooth infiltration profiles.

K.Huang et al. (1995) derived a new convergence criterion using Taylor series expansion of
moisture content and implemented it in Celias mixed form algorithm. The CPU times were
compared with two widely used convergence criteria for different type of soils and varying
boundary conditions. It was found that the CPU times were significantly reduced in case of
new convergence criterion, while keeping the accuracy of the solutions as the same.

2.3 Estimation of soil hydraulic parameters
For accurate simulation of unsaturated flow, one needs to have a suitable constitutive
relationship to describe the relationship between k, h and .In the present study Van-
Genuchten- Maulem (VGM) relationships have been used, these relationships are given by
(1.1)-(1.4).These relationships are said to be fully described when their parameters , , ,
Ksat, are known within some acceptable confidence interval. The problem lies in
obtaining the reliable estimates of these parameters. Estimation of parameters using some
laboratory or field data of some flow quantity e.g. pressure head, cumulative infiltration,
infiltration rate etc. can be said to be an Inverse Problem. Various experimental and computer
based methods have been proposed to solve the inverse problem. Broadly, these methods can
be classified as
1. Direct methods
2. Parameter optimization methods based on laboratory data
3. Parameter optimization methods based on in-situ field data
A brief review of these methods is presented here.
Direct methods usually involve the inversion of Darcys law to match the steady state
assumption of analytical solutions. Attainment of steady state in laboratory is difficult as well
as time consuming. A more flexible approach is to use direct transient methods which invert
Richards equation after introducing some simplification and linearization in the equation.
Whisler and Watson (1968) were amongst the first to apply inverse modelling to estimate the
soil hydraulic parameters. They used drainage volume and soil water retention curve to obtain
the unsaturated conductivity curve of a draining soil by matching observed and simulated
drainage flows.
Zachmann et al. (1981, 1982) considered hypothetical gravity drainage experiments involving
initially saturated column of sand. Two unknown coefficients of a four parameter model were
estimated using cumulative drainage outflow data. The forward problem was solved using
finite difference method while an objective function involving measured and observed
cumulative outflow data, was minimized to solve the inverse problem. The study showed the
importance of choosing correct constitutive relationship for the soil under study.
Even the use of correct constitutive relationship may not always yield the accurate unsaturated
flow parameters. It may be possible that the different set of parameters converge to the same
value of the minimum objective function. This type of uniqueness problem was investigated
by Hornung(1983) and Kool et al.(1985).In both the studies one step outflow experiments
were used to estimate Van-Genuchtens and n. The method did not yield unique solution.
To resolve the non-uniqueness, the additional information was included. Hornung included the
final steady pressure head at some fixed position inside the column.
To eliminate the problem of non-uniqueness, Kool et al. (1985) suggested the use of
unrealistically long soil columns in gravity drainage experiments so as to get a wide range of
moisture content along the depth of the soil column.
Parker et al. (1985) used the one step outflow experiments to determine the unsaturated
hydraulic parameters of undisturbed soil cores taken from four different field soils ranging
from sandy loam to clay. , n and r were estimated, while and Ks were independently
measured. Predicted (h) and K (h) were then matched with independently determined
hydraulic properties for the same soil cores. The results were found to be good for -10<h<0m,
but when extrapolated to lower pressure heads outside the measurement ranges, results proved
to be less reliable. This problem was solved by providing additional information in the
objective function which, in that case was the measured value of at h=-150m .
Bachu (2005) conducted multistep outflow experiments to determine, n and r. and Ks
were determined experimentally Three types of soils viz. Ganga sand, Yamuna sand and clay
were considered. The forward problem was solved using finite difference method. The
objective function consisting of measured and simulated outflow was minimized using
Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm. Except clay, the parameters estimates for the remaining two
soils were found to be in acceptable confidence intervals.
Richie et al. (1987) measured pressure heads along unsaturated horizontal soil column after
the attainment of steady state. For steady state horizontal flow, it is easy to get analytical or
semi-analytical solution of the Richards equation and inverse problem also can be solved with
much more ease. The results were very good on two hypothetical soils, while the procedure
was not tested on real soils. The disadvantage of this method was that it involved experimental
complexity, as the transient experiments are much simpler to design; Richies procedure
required a considerable number of tensiometers to be installed in the column. Thus the
experimental burden was increased while reducing the computational work and simulation time
to a greater extent.
According to Kool et al. (1985), whereas laboratory outflow experiments are easy to conduct,
involve both speed and accuracy and are much under the control of the experimenter, they lead
to soil parameters that are often non-representative of field conditions. The reasons for this are
the typically small size of the laboratory samples, when field soil core samples are collected,
some disturbance is always introduced that may affect unsaturated flow parameters. Ultimately,
the aim of inverse problem is to get unsaturated field parameters, instead of conducting
laboratory scale experiments, the in- situ field experiments seem to be more logical.
Drane and Hruska (1983) were the first to solve the inverse problem using the data from
transient field experiments. In this study, gravity drainage from a clay loam soil was studied.
Initial water content profiles and profiles after 7 and 25 days of drainage were measured with
a neutron probe. The soil surface was covered to provide a zero-flux upper boundary condition,
while a first-type lower boundary condition was determined from tensiometer readings at a
depth of 0.9 m. and n were estimated, while other parameters were known beforehand.
and Ks were determined from the maximum water content and steady-state infiltration rate,
respectively. A guessed value was assigned to . The results obtained were found to be good
for clay loam soil, but it was found that the predicted K () function overestimated the
hydraulic conductivities by an order of magnitude. The results improved when Ks was assigned
a value which was ten times lower than the previous value. The choice of a lower value of Ks
than measured value was justified by arguing that ponded infiltration involves macro pore flow
which leads to a much smaller value of Ks.
Simunek and Van-Genuchten (1996) used Levenberg-Marquardt nonlinear parameter
optimization method to estimate unknown parameters in the Van-Genuchten model of
unsaturated soil hydraulic properties. Numerically generated tension disc infiltrometer data
was used to obtain transient field data of cumulative infiltration which was used in estimation
process. The results indicated that inclusion of measured infiltration rates or cumulative
infiltration only cannot provide unique estimates for the parameters. Additional information of
the pressure head measured in the profile significantly increased the uniqueness of the solution.
Inclusion of pressure head data along the profile was found to be sufficient for the convergence
towards actual parameters. The results suggested that it may be possible to obtain the estimate
for Ks using Gardner type hydraulic conductivity function and the shape parameter and n can
be estimated by Inverse solution of Richards equation, thus reducing the burden on parameter
optimization process. The study revealed that initial instantaneous infiltration rates are very
sensitive to the values of soil parameters, hence they were not considered as a recommended
variable to be used in optimization process.
K S Hari Prasad et al. (2010) solved inverse problem using transient infiltration and internal
drainage experiments. The forward problem was solved using Celias mass conservative finite
difference scheme and Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm was used for parameter optimization.
The parameter estimates obtained from infiltration and field drainage experiments were found
to be close to each other. Hence, it was concluded that infiltration experiment, being simpler
and less time consuming can be used as an alternative to field drainage experiments to estimate
the unsaturated flow parameters. The study also focussed on the bias induced by different
objective function in the presence of noise in the data. Three different objective functions were
considered, it was concluded that in presence of error free data, none of the three objective
functions induce bias in the parameter estimates. However, in case of noisy data, defining
objective function as the relative error between the measured and calculated values induces
bias in the parameter estimates.
2.4 Motivation
Literature survey reveals that various techniques have been proposed so far for the estimation
of unsaturated flow parameters. While most of them are based on laboratory outflow
experiments, very few studies have been reported so far which are based on in-situ transient
experiments. One of the advantages of in-situ experiments is that the soil remains in
undisturbed state. Thus the parameters so obtained can be said to represent actual field values
more closely as compared to those obtained from the outflow experiments. The present work
uses transient in-situ infiltration data to estimate the parameters , n, s, r and Ks.