Modeling of Hysteretic Behavior of Soil–Water Retention Curves Using an Original Pore Network Model

Harifidy Ranaivomanana, Geetanjali Das, Andry Razakamanantsoa

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Soil–water retention curve (SRWC), also called soil moisture characteristic, is used for simulation models of soil water storage or soil aggregate stability. The present study addresses the modeling of SRWC with particular attention paid to hysteresis effects of water filling and draining the pores attributed to ink-bottle effects. For that purpose, an idealized pore size distribution previously developed for predicting water sorption isotherms on cementitious materials, and which can consider the double porosity structure of soils, is used. The input data of the model are assessed only from mercury intrusion porosimetry tests (MIP) and from grain size distribution (GSD). The hysteretic behavior of SRWC is reproduced in a satisfactory way. The model can also predict the specific surface area.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)559-584
Number of pages26
JournalTransport in Porous Media
Volume142
Issue number3
Early online date11 Mar 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Apr 2022
Externally publishedYes

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