25-Dec-20

Infiltration: is the process by which water enters the

soil from the ground surface.
Water entering the soil at the ground surface is called
infiltration. It replenishes the soil moisture deficiency
and the excess water moves downward by the force
of gravity called deep seepage or percolation and
builds up the ground water table.
Infiltrated water will:
- increases soil moisture (important to vegetation).
- percolates downward and becomes a part of
groundwater flow.
- flows laterally underground and comes out as
stream flow.

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 25-Dec-20

Infiltration Rate: is a measure of the rate at which soil

is able to absorb water. It is measured in inches per
hour or millimetres per hour (in/hr, mm/hr, or
cm/hr).
The rate decreases as the soil becomes saturated. If
the precipitation rate exceeds the infiltration
rate, runoff will usually occur unless there is some
physical barrier.
An infiltration rate of 15 mm/hour means that a water
layer of 15 mm on the surface of the soil, will take
one hour to infiltrate into the soil (Tidemann 1996).

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Relationship between Rainfall, Infiltration, and Runoff

(Rainfall Rate ≤ Infiltration Capacity

Rainfall rate = 10 mm/h

Rainfall rate = 20 mm/h

Infiltration rate =
10 mm/h
No surface runoff

Infiltration capacity =
15 mm/h
Surface runoff =
5 mm/h

Infiltration rate =
15 mm/h

Infiltration Capacity
Is the maximum rate at which the soil in any given
condition is capable of absorbing water is called its
infiltration capacity (fp ).
Infiltration (f ) often begins at a high rate fo (20 to 25
cm/hr) and decreases to a fairly steady state rate (fc )
as the rain continues, called the ultimate (fc = 1.25 to
2.0 cm/hr) (Fig. 1). The infiltration rate (f ) at any time
)t( is given by Horton’s equation.
f = fc + (fo – fc ) e-kt
k = (fo – fc )/Fc

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 25-Dec-20

Where
fo = initial rate of infiltration capacity
fc = final constant rate of infiltration at saturation
k = a constant depending primarily upon soil and
vegetation
e = base of the Napierian logarithm
Fc = shaded area in Fig. 1
t = time from beginning of the storm

Fig. 1: Infiltration Curve (Horton)

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 25-Dec-20

The infiltration takes place at capacity rates only

when the intensity of rainfall equals or exceeds fp;
i.e.,

 f = fp when i ≥ fp ; but when,

 i < fp , and f < fp the actual infiltration rates are
approximately equal to the rainfall rates.

The infiltration rate depends on different factors. Soil

texture is an important determining factor. (e.g. In a
sandy soil, the infiltration rate is higher than in a silty
soil). Further factors influencing the infiltration rate
are:
Soil moisture, type of soil medium, permeability,
vegetal cover, surface fines, compaction of soil,
available storage in soil stratum, depth of surface
detention, temperature of water and other factors.

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 25-Dec-20

Double-ring infiltrometer:
A double ring infiltrometer
is shown in Fig. 2. The two
rings (22.5 to 90 cm
diameter) are driven into
the ground by a driving
plate and hammer, to
penetrate into the soil
uniformly without tilt or
undue disturbance of the
soil surface to a depth of
15 cm.
Fig. 2: Double-ring infiltrometer

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 25-Dec-20

Point gauges are fixed in the centre of the rings and

in the annular space between the two rings.
Water is poured into the rings to maintain the desired
depth (2.5 to 15 cm with a minimum of 5 mm) and
the water added to maintain the original constant
depth at regular time intervals (after the start of the
experiment) of 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 60 min, etc. up
to a period of at least 6 hours is noted and the results
are plotted as infiltration rate in cm/hr versus time in
minutes as shown in Fig. 3.

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 25-Dec-20

Fig. 3. Typical Infiltration Curve

The purpose of the outer ring is to eliminate to some

extent the edge effect of the surrounding drier soil
and to prevent the water within the inner space from
spreading over a larger area after penetrating below
the bottom of the ring.

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 25-Dec-20

Tube infiltrometer.
This consists of a single tube
about 25 cm diameter and 45 to
60 cm long which is driven into
the ground at least to a depth
up to which the water percolates
during the experiment and thus
no lateral spreading of water
can occur (Fig. 4).
The water added into the tube at
regular time intervals to
maintain a constant depth is Fig. 4: Tube infiltrometer
noted from which the infiltration
curve can be drawn.

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 25-Dec-20

Example 1: For a small catchment, the infiltration rate

at the beginning of rain was observed to be 90
mm/hr and decreased exponentially to a constant
rate of 8 mm/hr after 2.5 hr. The total infiltration
during 2.5 hr was 50 mm. Develop the Horton’s
equation for the infiltration rate at any time t < 2.5
hr.
Solution:
f = fc + (fo – fc ) e-kt
k = (fo – fc )/Fc
fo = 90 mm/hr, fc = 8 mm/hr
Fc = 50 mm – 8 mm * 2.5 hr

Fig. 1: Infiltration Curve (Horton)

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 25-Dec-20

Solution

Horton’s eqn.

Example 2: The initial infiltration capacity of a

watershed is estimated as 1.5 in/hr, and the time
constant taken to be 0.35 hr-1. The
equilibrium/constant capacity is estimated as 0.2
in/hr.
(a) What are the values of f at t = 10 min, 30 min, 1
hr, 2 hr, and 6 hr, and
(b) What is the total volume of infiltration over the 6
hour time period?
Solution: we have,
fo = 1.5 in/hr , fc = 0.2 in/hr, and K = 0.35 hr-1

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 25-Dec-20

From the Horton equation, we have:

f = fc + (fo – fc ) e-kt

f = 0.2 + (1.5 – 0.2)e-0.35t

f = 0.2 + 1.3e-0.35t

(a) Substituting in values of t yields:

Infiltration rate (in/hr),

Time (hr)
-0.35t
f = 0.2 + 1.3e
0 1.5
0.166667 (10 min) 1.43
0.5 (30 min) 1.29
1 1.12
2 0.85
6 0.36

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(b) The table on the previous page, when plotted,

looks like the graph here.

The volume of infiltrated water (F) can be found by

taking the definite integral (use font Symbol ∫) under
the curve from 0 to 6 hours. Here the integration is
easy, and turns out like this:

Evaluating the right side for t = 6 and then subtracting

the values for t=0 yields an answer of 4.46 inches over
the watershed.
F=[0.2*6+(1.3/-0.35)e-0.35*6 ]-[0.2*0+(1.3/-0.35)e-0.35*0 ]
F= 0.745-(-3.714) = 4.459 in

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 25-Dec-20

Infiltration Infiltration
Time (hr)
rate (in/hr) volume (in)
0 1.50 3.2 0.62 0.128
0.2 1.41 0.291 3.4 0.60 0.122
0.4 1.33 0.274 3.6 0.57 0.116
0.6 1.25 0.258 3.8 0.54 0.111
0.8 1.18 0.244 4 0.52 0.106
1 1.12 0.230
4.2 0.50 0.102
1.2 1.05 0.217
4.4 0.48 0.098
1.4 1.00 0.205
4.6 0.46 0.094
1.6 0.94 0.194
4.8 0.44 0.090
1.8 0.89 0.183
5 0.43 0.087
2 0.85 0.174
2.2 0.80 0.165 5.2 0.41 0.084
2.4 0.76 0.156 5.4 0.40 0.081
2.6 0.72 0.148 5.6 0.38 0.078
2.8 0.69 0.141 5.8 0.37 0.075
3 0.65 0.134 6 0.36 0.073
Total 4.46 in

Example 3: A 5 hours storm produced 5 inches of

precipitation. The distribution of the rainfall is
provided in the following table.

Time (hr) 0--1 1--2 2--3 3--4 4--5

Rainfall intensity
1.2 2.1 0.9 0.4 0.4
(in/hr)

Determine the infiltration volume that would result

from the Horton model with k =1.1 hr-1, fc =0.2 in/hr
and fo =0.9 in/hr.

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Solution
From the Horton equation, we have:

f = fc + (fo – fc) e-kt

f =0.2 + (0.9 - 0.2)e-1.1t

f = 0.2 + 0.7 e-1.1t

Rainfall intensity Infiltration rate (in/hr)

Time (hr)
(in/hr) f = 0.2 + 0.7 e-1.1t

0 0 0.90
1 1.2 0.43
2 2.1 0.28
3 0.9 0.23
4 0.4 0.21
5 0.4 0.20

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 25-Dec-20

Representation of Rainfall and Infiltration Rates

From the graph, the rainfall intensity is greater than

the infiltration rate for all the time periods.
Therefore it is possible to perform the calculation
directly from Horton’s model.
Simply, the infiltration rate (f) for each time step is
calculated and the area for each increment is
calculated by averaging the infiltration rate for two
time steps and multiplying this by the incremental
time. Answers may vary depending on the size of
time step used (time steps of 0.2 hr).
The infiltration volume = 1.636 in

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 25-Dec-20

Infiltration Infiltration
Time (hr)
rate (in/hr) volume (in)
0 0.90 3 0.23 0.046
0.2 0.76 0.166
3.2 0.22 0.045
0.4 0.65 0.141
3.4 0.22 0.044
0.6 0.56 0.121
0.8 0.49 0.105 3.6 0.21 0.043
1 0.43 0.092 3.8 0.21 0.042
1.2 0.39 0.082
4 0.21 0.042
1.4 0.35 0.074
4.2 0.21 0.042
1.6 0.32 0.067
1.8 0.30 0.062 4.4 0.21 0.041
2 0.28 0.057 4.6 0.20 0.041
2.2 0.26 0.054 4.8 0.20 0.041
2.4 0.25 0.051
5 0.20 0.041
2.6 0.24 0.049
2.8 0.23 0.047 Total 1.636

Or, integrate f, for t=5 and t=0

Fvolume = 0∫5(0.2 + 0.7 e-1.1t )dt
Evaluating the right side for t=5 and then subtracting the
values for t=0 yields an answer of 1.634 inches over the
watershed.
Fvolume =[0.2*5+(0.7/-1.1)e-1.1*5]-[0.2*0+(0.7/-1.1)e-1.1*0 ]
= 0.997- (-0.636) = 1.634 in

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 25-Dec-20

Based on Example 3 data, determine the total runoff

volume in m3 produced from the 5 hours storm if the
total catchment area is (your Registration No.) m2 ?
Neglect any other type of losses.
*** To be submitted in the next lecture ***

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