Published Online: Apr 07, 2015
Page range: 110 - 116
Received: Dec 05, 2014
Accepted: Feb 18, 2015
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/johh-2015-0023
Keywords
© 2015
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.
Soil hydraulic conductivity is a key parameter to predict water flow through the soil profile. We have developed an automatic minidisk infiltrometer (AMI) to enable easy measurement of unsaturated hydraulic conductivity using the tension infiltrometer method in the field. AMI senses the cumulative infiltration by recording change in buoyancy force acting on a vertical solid bar fixed in the reservoir tube of the infiltrometer. Performance of the instrument was tested in the laboratory and in two contrasting catchments at three sites with different land use. Hydraulic conductivities determined using AMI were compared with earlier manually taken readings. The results of laboratory testing demonstrated high accuracy and robustness of the AMI measurement. Field testing of AMI proved the suitability of the instrument for use in the determination of sorptivity and near saturated hydraulic conductivity