Soil Hydraulic Properties
Soil Hydraulic Properties - Related Videos
03:10
Soil Core Sample Collection for Water Retention Property Analysis
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2026
Source:Alessia J. Marchesan1, Guillermo Hernandez Ramirez11Renewable Resources, University of Alberta. This video demonstrates the technique for collecting a soil sample for hydraulic property analysis. The sampling area is cleared, and the top crust is evacuated. The sampling ring is then placed into the soil to collect the sample. The ring with the sample is then cleaned, labeled, packed, and transferred undisturbed for analysis.
09:15
Hydraulic Jumps
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2023
Source: Alexander S Rattner and Mahdi Nabil; Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA When liquid flows along an open channel at high velocity, the flow can become unstable, and slight disturbances can cause the liquid upper surface to transition abruptly to a higher level (Fig. 1a). This sharp increase in the liquid level is called a hydraulic jump. The increase in the liquid level causes a reduction in the average flow velocity.
07:21
Measurements of Soil Water Potential and Conductivity based on a Simple Evaporation Experiment using a Hydraulic Property Analyzer
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2024
This article features a simple evaporation experiment using a hydraulic property instrument for a soil sample. Through efficient means, measurements can be taken over a series of days to generate high-quality data.
10:30
Soil Lysimeter Excavation for Coupled Hydrological, Geochemical, and Microbiological Investigations
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Cited by 5 •
2016
This study presents an excavation method for investigating subsurface hydrological, geochemical, and microbiological heterogeneity of a soil lysimeter. The lysimeter simulates an artificial hillslope which was initially under homogeneous condition and had been subjected to approximately 5,000 mm of water over eight cycles of irrigation in an 18-month period.
08:09
Wastewater Irrigation Impacts on Soil Hydraulic Conductivity: Coupled Field Sampling and Laboratory Determination of Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity
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2018
Here we present a methodology which matches a soil sample size and a hydraulic conductivity measurement device to prevent the so-called wall flow along the inside of the soil container from being erroneously included in water flow measurements. Its use is demonstrated with samples collected from a wastewater irrigation site.
FAQs
Soil texture, structure, and porosity determine how much space is available for water and how easily that water can move through the profile. Their interaction influences storage, transmission, and release, while current water content changes the soil’s hydraulic response. Consequently, two soils exposed to the same rainfall or irrigation can show different infiltration and drainage behavior.
A water retention curve links soil water content with the soil’s tendency to hold or release water. Scientists use this relationship to examine how available water changes as conditions shift, rather than relying on a single moisture value. The resulting information helps evaluate plant-growth conditions and supports predictions of water release through the soil profile.
Hydraulic conductivity addresses transmission through soil, whereas infiltration and drainage describe movement into and away from the soil profile. Water content, texture, structure, and porosity influence these behaviors. Considering them separately helps models distinguish rainfall entry, internal transport, and water leaving the profile under different conditions.
Scientists commonly combine water retention curves, infiltration tests, and related modeling approaches. Retention measurements describe storage and release relationships, infiltration tests examine how rainfall or irrigation moves into soil, and models extend these observations to predict movement through different soils and profiles. Together, they provide complementary evidence rather than a single measurement.
In watershed management, these measurements help explain how rainfall moves through soil and contributes to drainage, groundwater recharge, or erosion. In agriculture, the same information supports water-efficiency decisions by showing how soils respond to irrigation. Because soil behavior affects ecosystem function, these data also connect field-scale water movement with broader environmental assessment.
They reveal how changing soil moisture affects water storage and movement during drought and flooding. Environmental researchers can use that understanding in climate-change studies and when assessing groundwater recharge, erosion, ecosystem function, or contaminant transport. The same framework also helps interpret how rainfall and irrigation may redistribute water under changing conditions.