Analysis of partial breakthrough data by a transfer-function method
M. A. Mojid A , D. A. Rose B D and G. C. L. Wyseure CA Department of Irrigation and Water Management, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh 2202, Bangladesh.
B School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK.
C Faculty of Agricultural and Applied Biological Sciences, K. U. Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 21, B 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
D Corresponding author. Email: jan.fife@ncl.ac.uk
Australian Journal of Soil Research 44(2) 175-182 https://doi.org/10.1071/SR04127
Submitted: 25 August 2004 Accepted: 14 December 2005 Published: 27 March 2006
Abstract
A transfer-function method has been applied to determine solute-transport parameters from earlier sections of complete breakthrough data. Time-domain reflectometry allows the measurement of breakthrough data in unsaturated soil. In fine-textured soils, the flow of water must be kept low to maintain unsaturated conditions, and so experiments for a complete breakthrough of solute may last a very long time. Substantial savings of time and computer memory might be achieved if data could be analysed from an earlier section of breakthrough data. Data at 2 vertical positions (input at upper and response at lower position) from a complete breakthrough of calcium chloride applied as a pulse input to 4 unsaturated soils (coarse sand, sandy loam, clay loam, clay) were divided into 4 sets of increasing duration. Transport parameters of calcium chloride were determined by a transfer function, which results in similar values of the parameters from the last 3 datasets in all 4 soils. In the clay soil, however, because of erroneous breakthrough data the fit between the measured and estimated breakthrough curves (BTCs) was poor, but the transport parameters were consistent among different segments of data. We show that it is possible to determine successfully solute-transport parameters from partial breakthrough data, which include the peak of the response BTC. This transfer-function method is thus a powerful tool to shorten breakthrough experiments.
Additional keywords: transfer function, partial breakthrough data, solute-transport parameters, TDR.
Agneessens JP,
Dreze P, Sine L
(1978) Modélisation de la migration d’éléments dans les sols. II. Détermination du coefficient de dispersion et de la porosité efficace. Pedologie 27, 373–388.
Becker MW, Charbeneau RJ
(2000) First-passage-time transfer functions for groundwater tracer tests conducted in radially convergent flow. Journal of Contaminant Hydrology 40, 299–310.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Eykholt GR, Li L
(2000) Fate and transport of species in a linear reaction network with different retardation coefficients. Journal of Contaminant Hydrology 46, 163–185.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
van Genuchten MT, Wierenga PJ
(1977) Mass transfer studies in sorbing porous media: II. Experimental evaluation with tritium (3H2O). Soil Science Society of America Journal 41, 272–278.
van Genuchten MT, Wierenga PJ
(1986) Solute dispersion coefficients and retardation factors. ‘Methods of soil analysis. Part I. Physical and mineralogical methods’. Agronomy Monograph No. 9. 2nd edn pp. 1025–1054. (American Society of Agronomy and Soil Science Society of America: Madison, WI)
Jury, WA ,
Gardner, WR ,
and
Gardner, WH (1991).
Jury, WA ,
and
Roth, K (1990).
Kachanoski RG,
Pringle E, Ward A
(1992) Field measurement of solute travel times using time-domain reflectometry. Soil Science Society of America Journal 56, 47–52.
Lapidus L, Amundson NR
(1952) Mathematics of adsorption in beds. VI. The effect of longitudinal diffusion in ion exchange and chromatographic columns. Journal of Physical Chemistry 56, 984–988.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Lindstrom FT,
Haque R,
Freed VH, Boersma L
(1967) Theory on the movement of solute herbicides in soils: linear diffusion and convection of chemicals in soils. Journal of Environmental Science and Technology 1, 561–565.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Mojid MA,
Rose DA, Wyseure GCL
(2004) A transfer-function method for analysing breakthrough data in the time domain of the transport process. European Journal of Soil Science 55, 699–711.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Parker JC, van Genuchten MT
(1984) Determining transport parameters from laboratory and field tracer experiments, Bulletin 84–3, Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station, Blacksburg, VA.
Passioura JB, Rose DA
(1971) Hydrodynamic dispersion in aggregated media: 2. Effects of velocity and aggregate size. Soil Science 111, 345–351.
Roth K, Flühler H, Attinger W
(1990) Transport of a conservative tracer under field conditions: qualititative modelling with random walk in a double porous medium. ‘Field-scale water and solute flux in soils’. (Eds K Roth, H Flühler, WA Jury, JC Parker)
pp. 239–249. (Birkhäuser Verlag: Basel, Switzerland)
Sposito G,
White RE,
Darrah PR, Jury WA
(1986) The transfer-function model of solute transport through soil. III. The convection−dispersion equation. Water Resources Research 22, 255–262.
Taylor GI
(1953) Dispersion of solute matter in solvent flowing slowly through a tube. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series A 219, 186–203.
Vanclooster M, Viaene P, Diels J, Christiaens K
(1994) WAVE, a mathematical model for simulating water and agrochemicals in the soil and vadose environment, reference and user’s manual (release 2.0), Institute for Land and Water Management, K. U., Leuven, Belgium.
Vereecken H,
Vanclooster M,
Swerts M, Diels J
(1991) Simulating water and nitrogen behaviour in soil cropped with winter wheat. Fertilizer Research 27, 233–243.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Wakao, NS ,
and
Kaguei, S (1982).
Ward AL,
Kachanoski RG, Elrick DE
(1994) Laboratory measurements of solute transport using time-domain reflectometry. Soil Science Society of America Journal 58, 1031–1039.
White RE,
Dyson JS,
Haigh RA,
Jury WA, Sposito G
(1986) A transfer function model of solute transport through soil. 2. Illustrative applications. Water Resources Research 22, 255–262.
Yamaguchi T,
Moldrup P,
Rolston DE, Petersen LW
(1994) A semi-analytical solution for one-dimensional solute transport in soils. Soil Science 158, 14–21.
