SOIL SCIENCE SOCIETY OF AMERICA
JOURNAL
Vol. 40 MARCH—APRIL
DIVISION S-l—SOIL PHYSICS
Hydraulic Properties of a Porous Medium: Measurement and Empirical Representation1
R. W. GiLLHAM 2 , A. KLUTE, AND D. F. HEERMANN 3
ABSTRACT
The hysteretic water content-pressure head relationship and the
hydraulic conductivity-water content relationship for a porous mate-
rial are needed in the solution of the water flow equation to predict be-
havior of a given flow system. These hydraulic properties were mea-
sured in an unsteady-state manner using gamma ray attenuation for
the water content and strain gauge pressure transducer tensiometery
for the pressure head. Envelope curves and four to six primary wetting
and drying scanning curves of the water content- pressure relationship
were determined. A convenient method of representation of the scan-
ning curves by an empirical function was developed for use in com-
puter solutions of the water flow equation.
Additional Index Words: hysteresis, water retention.
NE-DIMENSIONAL vertical flow of the solution phase in
O a porous medium is often treated by combining the
Darcy equation and the continuity equation:
'f* = A d
dt dZ \ dZ
[1]
in which Z and t are position and time, respectively. The
hydraulic functions, viz., the water capacity, C, and the
hydraulic conductivity, K, are considered functions of ei-
ther the water content, 6, or the soil water pressure, head, h.
If the medium is nonuniform with respect to the hydraulic
properties, then K and C must also be considered as func-
tions of position. Klute (1973) has listed the assumptions in-
volved in the development and use of Eq. [1].
Soil water flow in naturally occurring situations usually
takes place in nonuniform media and is subject to time-
dependent boundary conditions. Periods of infiltration are
followed by drainage, evaporation, and redistribution. The
phenomenon of hysteresis is then involved in the flow be-
havior. The nonlinearity of Eq. [1], in combination with the
position dependence and hysteretic behavior of the hydrau-
lic properties and the time dependence of the boundary con-
ditions precludes the use of analytical methods of solution.
203
1976 No. 2
Numerical techniques have been developed (e.g., Hanks et
al., 1969; Ibrahim and Brutsaert, 1968; Staple, 1969;
Rubin, 1967) in which hysteresis of the water content-pres-
sure head relation has been incorporated into the computa-
tional scheme. Usually the hydraulic conductivity-water
content relation has been considered nonhysteretic (Nielsen
and Biggar, 1961; Rogers and Klute, 1971; Topp and Mill-
er, 1966).
Two problems immediately arise when one attempts to
extend the numerical solution procedure to treat hysteretic
flow and nonuniform media. The first is the determination
of the hydraulic functions in sufficient detail to describe
their hysteretic behavior and to represent the nonuniformity
of the medium. The second problem is that of representation
of the hydraulic functions in a convenient, efficient manner
for use in the numerical solution scheme.
In numerical solutions of hysteretic flow problems in uni-
form media, Staple (1969) and Whisler and Klute (1965)
used tabulated data to represent the hydraulic functions in
the computer. Rubin (1967), in a numerical analysis of in-
filtration into a dry soil followed by redistribution, used em-
pirical equations to represent the main drainage, and main
wetting curves and the family of primary drying curves.
(See Fig. 1 for explanation and terminology with respect to
the hysteretic 0 (h) relation.) The family of primary wetting
scanning curves was not required since the infiltration wet-
ted the medium along the main wetting curve. The flow sys-
tem was considered uniform with respect to the hydraulic
properties. Ibrahim and Brutsaert (1968) used the indepen-
dent domain concept (Poulovassillis, 1962) in a numerical
'Joint contribution from Colo. State Univ., and USDA, Agricultural
Research Service. Ft. Collins, CO 80523. Supported in part by U.S. Dept.
of Interior, OWRR, Project No. A-014-Colo., Colo. State Univ., Expt.
Sta. Scientific Journal Series 2050. Received 7 July 1975. Approved 20
Nov. 1975.
2
Research Assistant Professor, Dept. of Earth Sciences, Univ. of Wa-
terloo,
3
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
Soil Scientist, USDA, Agricultural Research Service and Professor of
Soils, Colo. State Univ., and Agricultural Engineer, USDA, Agricultural
Research Service, Ft. Collins, Colo., respectively.
204 SOIL sei. soc. AM. j., VOL. 40, 1976
I DC
-NEGATIVE
PRESSURE HEAD
Fig. 1—Diagram of typical hysteresis curves, where IDC is the initial
drainage curve; MWC and MDC are the main wetting and main
drying curves, respectively; and PWSC and PDSC are primary
wetting and drying scanning curves.
study of intermittent infiltration into -a uniform medium.
The validity of the independent domain concept has been
questioned (Topp and Miller, 1966). Extensions and modi-
fications of the independent domain concept have been
made (Topp, 1971), but the complexity and requirements of
additional measurements to describe the hysteresis seem to
present considerable difficulties in the use of this approach
in numerical solutions, especially in nonuniform media.
Infiltration into layered soils has been treated by a nu-
merical solution scheme by Hanks and Bowers (1962) and
Whisler and Klute (1966). Due to the small number of
layers involved (two or three) no difficulties were encoun-
tered in computer storage and use of the hydraulic proper-
ties. Watson and Whisler (1972) analyzed drainage of a
nonuniform medium. Nonuniformity was introduced by in-
corporating position dependent parameters into the empiri-
cal representation of the hydraulic functions.
The objectives of the work described in this paper were to
measure the hydraulic properties of a nonuniform column of
porous medium and to develop an efficient empirical
scheme to represent the data for subsequent use in a numeri-
cal solution procedure for the flow equation. In a second
paper the predictions of the numerical scheme will be com-
pared with experimental results.
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
The pressure head-water content and the hydraulic conduc-
tivity-water content relationships were measured on a column of
dune sand collected near Wray, Colorado. The flow column (Fig.
2) was 60 cm long, with a rectangular cross section 12.8 by 5.65
cm. Air vents were provided at 5-cm intervals along the column,
which were opened whenever the water pressure in the sand
became less than atmospheric. Water content and pressure head as
functions of time were measured at 29 sampling positions, 2 cm
apart, along the column. Gamma attenuation was used for water
content measurements, and strain gauge pressure transducer ten-
siometry was used for the pressure head measurements. The
gamma system consisted of a 175 miC 137Cs source, a Nal thallium
activated scintillation detector and conventional amplifier, pulse
height analyzer, and sealer equipment. The source in its shield and
the detector were mounted on a lift platform so that the gamma
beam could be positioned in front of any one of the tensiometers.
The output of the gamma system was recorded on punched paper
tape. Tensiometers, constructed from porous PVC plastic ce-
mented to an acrylic plastic strip with an effective area 12 cm by
0.3 cm, were mounted in the column wall. The long axis of the
tensiometers was perpendicular to the axis of flow in the column.
The sites for water content measurement in the column by gamma
attenuation were directly in front of each tensiometer. The ten-
siometers were connected through a hydraulic selector switch4 to a
pressure transducer. The output of the transducer was read with a
digital voltmeter and recorded on a paper tape printer. A porous
PVC barrier through which water could be added to or removed
from the column was attached to the bottom of the column. A sys-
tem to control hydraulic head and measure flow rate was connected
to the column through the porous barrier.
The column was packed with air-dry sand, flushed with CO2,
and wetted with a degassed 0. IN CaSO4 solution containing 0.1%
phenol. Approximately 6 liters of solution were passed through the
column to attain saturation.
The hysteretic water content-pressure head relation at each of
the 29 measurement locations was mapped by alternately wetting
and drying the column through the bottom barrier. Rates of drain-
age and wetting were kept low enough to allow the collection of
water content and pressure head data as a function of time at all the
measurement locations selected for observation. A counting time
of 15 sec was used for the water content measurements and the ten-
siometer pressure transducer output was recorded at 15-sec inter-
vals. At high water contents the tensiometer system response time
was about 2 sec, but at lower water contents response times were
as great as 2 min. In such cases the tensiometers were not hydrauli-
cally switched until they appeared to have attained equilibrium
with the column. The uncertainty in the volumetric water content
due to the statistics of counting was about ± 0.003.
The sequence of drainages and wettings was arranged to allow
the collection of h(t) and 0(t) data at each of the 29 measurement
positions for each of the following (See Fig. 1 for terminology and
notation):
a) The initial drainage from complete saturation,
b) Rewetting to zero pressure head and water content 60 from
the residual water content along the main wetting curve,
c) Drainage from 60 along the main drying curve,
d) Wetting to 00 along 3 to 5 primary wetting scanning curves
which departed from the main drying curve at approximately
equally spaced intervals of water content between the resid-
ual water content and 00, and
e) Drainage to the residual water content along 3 to 5 primary
drying scanning curves which departed from the main wet-
ting curve at approximately equal intervals of water content
between 00 and the residual water content.
The pressure head-time and water content-time data were used
to construct the hysteretic water content-pressure head rela-
tionship, 0(h), at each of the measurement positions.
The hydraulic conductivity-water content relationship was ob-
tained by an instantaneous profile method (Watson, 1966). The
water flux at position z was calculated from
= Q(o) [2]
where Q(o) is the flux at z = o, the top of the column. The water
content versus time data at each position was differentiated to ob-
tain dOldt and these data were then integrated to obtain the last
term of the right hand side of Eq. [2]. The pressure head-time data
were used to calculate the hydraulic head-time relationship at each
position. From these data, the hydraulic gradient corresponding to
a given position and time was obtained. The hydraulic conduc-
tivity at a given position and time, and corresponding to the water
4
Scanco No. W1/1P-12T, Scanivalve, Inc., P. O. Box 20005, San
Diego, CA 92120. Trade names are included for the convenience of the
reader and do not imply endorsement by the U.S. Department of Agricul-
ture over products not mentioned. No leakage was detected in this valve in
the range of pressure heads encountered in these experiments.
 GILLHAM ET A L . l HYDRAULIC PROPERTIES OF A POROUS MEDIUM 205

TENSIOMETERS
Cs137 SOURCE
OVERFLOW

POSITION OF -LUCITE CONTAINER

GAMMA BEAM
AIR VENT
•POROUS PLASTIC -SOIL
A ssN*s •-—— GAMMA
TO ___
HYDRAULIC
SWITCH
ill BEAM
AMPLIFIER,
PULSE HEIGHT
ANALYZER,

I1!
^g LEAD
SCALER, TIMER,
S3 SHIELD
TO INFLOW- H.V. SUPPLY
OUTFLOW SYSTEM
-— DETECTOR

TELETYPE ,
PUNCHED PAPER
TAPE OUTPUT
HYDRAULIC
SWITCH TO
I POLE- 12 THROW READOUT
SYSTEM

SIDE VIEW TOP VIEW

Fig. 2—Diagram of flow cell, tensiometer system and gamma system. Top view shows cross section at plane A-A shown in the side view.

content and pressure head at the same position and time, was * = Sh 6r + h
calculated from the ratio of flux to hydraulic gradient. The initial [4]
drainage, the main rewet and main drainage data were used to h0 = I
calculate K(9). For these flow situations, Q(o) was equal to zero.
Taking e = o, and using Eq. [4], the empirical function
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION (Eq. [3]) becomes:
Typical water content-pressure head data for wetting i \(C 0 -i-/ ) /j /)

scanning curves at one position in the column are shown in

Fig. 3. The points represent the experimental observations _ „
0 = 0,
( ___rl____ \ fl r

______S p 6 r + Ip/___________^Q
B (7O — (7r

+ Or
[5]
00-0r'
for four wetting scanning curves. cosh
King (1965) has shown that a wide range of water con- Sp6r
tent-pressure head data can be fitted by an equation of the
form: Equation [5] has six parameters. Two of these, 00 and 0r
were determined by inspecting the data, and the other four,
viz., SB, IB, Sp, andIp, were determined by fitting Eq. [5] to
cosh (h/h0)b - ° r
cosh e all the wetting scanning curve data for a given position
[3] using an optimization procedure. Assuming a linear relation
cos cosh e 0.3

where 60, h0, 6r, b and e are curve-fitting parameters. The

parameter b is negative. The water content 6 is equal to 60
when h = o. The above function was fitted to the data for a
given wetting scanning curve in the following manner: (i) a 0.2.
value of 00 at h = o was selected, and (ii) the values of the
other four parameters (h0, 0r, b and e) were determined by z
o
an optimization procedure. We found that the empirical
function could be very closely fitted to the data for any of
the wetting scanning curves. By inspecting the parameter O.I <

values obtained by the above procedure, we concluded that

(i) the parameter e could be taken as zero without serious
increase in the sum of the squares of the deviations between
the calculated and measured values of B, and (ii) 6r for a
given wetting scanning curve was very nearly the water -60 -50 -40 -30 -20 -10
content at which the wetting scanning curve departed from PRESSURE HEAD,h cm H,O
the main drainage curve. We also observed that the parame- Fig. 3—Water content-pressure head data for wetting scanning
ters b and h0 were approximately linear functions of 0r, i.e.: curves as determined at position 15 in the column.
 206 SOIL SCI. SOC. AM. J., VOL. 40, 1976

Table 1—Parameters for the scanning curves shown in Fig. 3 and 4. -0.3
Wetting scanning curves, Drying scanning curves,
0 0 -0.301 8r - 0.094
Curve
no. Or ho b 90 ha b
cm cm
I F-ALLf 0.244 -17.3 -2.662 0.301 -39.0 -3.063
F-MWCt 0.244 -18.1 -2.718 0.2 -
h"
•z.
II F-ALL 0.199 -19.7 -2.400 0.278 -39.0 -2.125 Ul
F-MWC 0.199 -20.2 -2.456 I-

III F-ALL
F-MWC
0.170
0.170
-21.4
-21.7
-2.227
-2.282
0.214 -42.4 -2.500 I
IV F-ALL 0.0996 -25.3 -1.811 0.177 -43.5 -2.875 O.I
F-MWC 0.0996 -25.1 -1.867

t "Family fit" using all scanning curve data.

| "Family fit" using only the main wetting curv

between b and 6r, and ha, and 6T, Eq. [5] represents the infi-
nite family of the wetting curves at a given location. The
solid lines in Fig. 3 show typical results of this curve-fitting
process. The parameters 60, 6r, h0, and b of the curves
shown in Fig. 3 are listed in Table 1 with the designation F-
ALL. By visual inspection the representation of the wetting
scanning curves by Eq. [5] was judged to be adequate. The
empirical 0(h) function shown in Eq. [5] has the advantage
that any member of the infinite family of wetting scanning
curves is determined by Or. If 0r is taken to be the water
content at which the scanning curve leaves the main drain-
age curve, a convenient representation of the wetting scan-
ning curves is obtained for computational purposes in a
numerical solution of the water flow equation.
The parameters SB, IB, Sp and Ip can be obtained by fit-
ting Eq. [5] to the data for one wetting curve, e.g., the main
wetting curve. Other wetting curves can then be generated
by substituting appropriate values of 6r into Eq. [5]. The
results of applying the curve-fitting process in this manner
to the main wetting curve data yielded the parameters B0, 6r,
h0, and b, listed in Table 1 and identified as F-MWC. When
the empirical function determined by the F-MWC parame-
ters was plotted on the same graph with the function as de-
termined by the F-ALL parameters the deviations between
the two were usually insignificant. This result suggests that
at least for wetting scanning curves, measurement of one
wetting scanning curve will allow a reasonable approxi-
mation of the family of wetting scanning curves, with a very
great saving in experimental effort. Since only one material
was used in this investigation the result may have been for-
tuitous, but further study of this method seems to be war-
ranted.
Typical water content-pressure head data for the drying
scanning curves are shown in Fig. 4. When the empirical
function (Eq. [3]) was fitted to the data for a given drying
scanning curve, the results indicated that e could be taken as
zero, and that d r was the water content to which all
members of a family of drying curves appeared to converge
as h —* — co. The parameter 00 was selected by inspection as
Table 2—Parameters for the 9(h) curves shown in Fig. 5.
MDCf
Oo er ho b h0
-10
-60 -50 -40 -30 -20
PRESSURE HEAD h cm H.O
Fig. 4—Water content-pressure head data for drying scanning curves
as determined at position 15 in the column.
the water content at which the drying scanning curve de-
parted from the main wetting curve. The remaining two pa-
rameters, b and h0, were evaluated by optimization. The
results of this curve-fitting process are shown as the solid
lines in Fig. 4. In most cases the data were fitted quite well.
However, curves with 80 values between 0.2 and 0.3 were
difficult to fit. In this region the empirical curves departed
from the main wetting curve with a smaller slope than the
experimental data. Allowing e to take on nonzero values did
not improve the agreement between the empirical curves
and the data. Selecting 0r and &0 by optimization resulted in
poor agreement between the empirical curves and the data
in the high water content range. After considerable trial and
error it was concluded that selection of 60 and 6r by inspec-
tion followed by optimization to select b and h0 gave the
best overall agreement between the data and the empirical
curves.
Inspection of the parameters obtained by fitting Eq. [3] to
each drying scanning curve did not reveal any simple rela-
tion (e.g., linear) between b, h, and d0. Thus, the represent-
0.3
MWCt
b

Pos. 37 0.305 0.083 -38.4cm -2.311 -21.5 cm -1.740 -60 -50 -40 -30 -20 -10
Pos. 55 0.286' 0.094 -32.0 -2.300 -22.6 -2.187 PRESSURE HEAD ,h cm H.O
t Main drying curve. Fig. 5—Water content-pressure head relations, main drying and
I Main wetting curve. main wetting curves for two positions.
 GILLHAM ET AL.: HYDRAULIC PROPERTIES OF A POROUS MEDIUM 207

Table 3—The range of curve-fitting parameters for 9(h). cision of the data there was no clear indication of hysteresis
_________________________________ in the K(6) relation. A K(B) function of the form:
MDC MWC____
______60 _6r_____*„____b_____HO b K = a 6n [6]
Highest 0.308 0.100 -32.0cm -1.979 -21.4cm -1.489
Lowest 0.286 o.oes -42.6 -4.695 -26.9 -2.187 was fitted to the data at each position. Considering all posi-
Average0.301 0.090 -38.7 -2.85 -24.1 -1.756 . .£ , . _ , °, .,
*_____________________________ tions, the exponent n ranged from about 4.7 to 6.25 with an
arithmetic mean of 5.509. The parameter a ranged from
°-400 ,———i———i——,——i——i——,—,—^ about 135 to 553 with a mean of 292.6 cm/min. The hy-
°-300' a^' draulic conductivity at 0 = 0.3 calculated from Eq. [6],
0200- • INITIAL DRAINAGE /\ • using the parameter values for the respective positions,
.s ° JJ*j|J RE*'£TGE °/ ranged from about 0.20 to 0.46 cm/min with a mean of
| / A 0.374 cm/min.
o o.ioo; f <£ - The hydraulic conductivity-water content relation as rep-
:
* ' */ A - resented by Eq. [6] and the hysteretic water content-pres-
t '06° '. / * ! sure head relationship as represented by Eq. [5] for the wet-
P 0.040 • j • ting curves and by Eq. [3] for drying scanning curves, were
a
g • / - used in a numerical solution of the water flow equation
§ o o°/ which will be described in a subsequent paper.
*j /
j /
< 0.010 • ,/ ;
o 0.008 : / '•
x 0.006 i / K =303 S5'8* cm/min ;

0.004 - /

a
0.002 '————'————'————'———'———'——'——'——I—
0.14 0.16 0.18 0.20 0.22 0.24 0.26 0.28 0.30
WATER CONTENT , B
Fig. 6—Hydraulic conductivity-water content relationship at position
15.
ation of the family of drying scanning curves by a scheme
similar to that used for the wetting scanning curves did not
seem possible. In subsequent use of the drying scanning
curve data in the solution of the water flow equation, the pa-
rameter values for an unmeasured drying scanning curve
were determined by interpolation between the measured
curves bracketing the required curve.
To show some aspects of the extent of variation in the
6(h) relationship at various positions, the main drying and
main wetting curves for two positions are shown in Fig. 5.
These positions were selected because they represented the
"narrowest" and the "widest" hysteresis loops. Table 2
gives the parameter values for these two sets of curves.
Considering all positions in the column, the ranges of the
values of the four parameters and their average values are
shown in Table 3. In subsequent use of the hysteretic 0(h)
information in the numerical solution of the flow equation,
the column was considered nonuniform with the parameter
values treated as functions of position.
The results of the calculation of hydraulic conductivity by
the instantaneous profile method from data obtained during
the initial drainage, the main rewet, and the main drainage
are shown for one position in Fig. 6. The scatter in the data
shown is typical of that for most locations. Within the pre-