INFILTRATION

 Infiltration is the flow of water into the ground through the soil surface.
 It is commonly used in both hydrology and soil sciences.

FACTORS THAT AFFECT INFILTRATION

 Precipitation  Soil Saturation

 Base Flow  Land Cover
 Soil Characteristics  Slope of the Land

PROCESS OF INFILTRATION
 The process of infiltration can be easily understood through a simple analogy
 Consider a small container covered with wire mesh as shown in the Figure. If water is
poured over the mesh, a part of it will go into the container and a part overflows.

This analogy, though a highly simplified one, underscores two important aspect;

1. The maximum rate at which the ground can absorb water, the infiltration capacity
2. The volume of water that it can hold, the field capacity

Since the infiltrated water may contribute to groundwater discharge in addition to

increasing the soil moisture, the process can be schematically modeled as in the Figure.

The figure considers two situation

a) Low-intensity rainfall
b) High-intensity rainfall and is self-explanatory

INFILTRATION CAPACITY

 The maximum rate at which a given soil at a given time can absorb water.
 It is designated as fp and is expressed in cm/h.
 The actual rate of infiltration f can be expressed as:

The infiltration capacity of an area depends on these factors:

 Condition of the soil surface

 Vegetative cover
 Current moist content
 Soil temperature

CHARACTERISTICS OF SOIL

The types of soil: Sand, Silt or Clay, its texture, permeability and underdrainage are the
important characteristics under this category.
  Loosed soil will have large infiltration capacity than tight soil.
 A soil with higher under drainage, will have a higher infiltration capacity.
 Wet soil have lower infiltration capacity than dry soils.

Variation Of Infiltration Capacity

Typical Variation of Infiltration

 Forest soil will have a much higher infiltration capacity than urban area because of
its soil compaction.

SURFACE OF ENTRY

This is an important factor affecting the infiltration capacity. Thus a surface

covered with grass and other vegetation which can reduce this process has a pronounced
influence on the value of Infiltration Capacity.

FLUID CHARACTERISTICS

Important factors included are:

 The turbidity of water, especially the clay and colloid content

 The temperature of the water
 The contamination of the water

MEASUREMENT OF INFILTRATION

1. Field Measurement Method

a) Single Tube Infiltrometer
b) Double Tube Infiltrometer
 2. Rainfall Simulator
3. Rainfall Run-off Analysis

How do we measure infiltration?

Infiltrometer is a device used to measure the rate of water infiltration into soil or other
porous media. Commonly used infiltrometers are single ring or double ring infiltrometer.

INFILTRATION MEASUREMENT

Information about the infiltration characteristics of the soil at a given

location can be obtained by conducting controlled experiments on
small areas.

The experimental set-up is called infiltrometer test and is shown in

the figure

 The infiltrometer consists of two concentric rings

 This two rings are inserted (about 10 cm) into the ground and
water is maintained in both the rings to a common fixed level

 The outer ring provides a water jacket to the infiltrating water

of the inner ring and hence prevents the spreading out of the
infiltrating water of the inner ring
 Water is poured into the rings (both) to a depth of 5 cm and a
pointer is set to mark the water level.

 As infiltration proceeds, the volume is made up by adding

water from a burette to keep the water level at the tip of
the pointer
 Knowing the volume of water added at different time
intervals, the plot of infiltration capacity versus time is
obtained.
 A graph of cumulative infiltration rate versus time, prepared from known volume of
water added at different time intervals, during an infiltration experiment is shown in the
figure.

MODELING INFILTRATION CAPACITY

HORTON’S INFILTRATION CONCEPT

The curve is called the Horton infiltration capacity curve. The capacity decreases with
time and ultimately reaches a constant rate, caused by filling of soil pores with water,
which reduces capillary suction.

Horton’s Infiltration Equation

−kt
f =f c + ( f 0−f c ) e

where
f = infiltration capacity (in/hr)
f 0 = initial infiltration capacity (in/hr)
f c = final capacity (in/hr)
K = empirical constant (hr-1)
Sample problem

To get the total volume of infiltration F: