Soil moisture distribution during two-dimensional absorption from a cylindrical source

Abstract

The moisture content distribution in a fine sand, during two-dimensional, horizontal, absorption from a cylindrical source, was analysed using a recently developed theory. Well-justified approximations yield the result that, for a particular rigid porous medium, the time course of the moisture profile depends only on two functions, each of which depends on the moisture diffusivity function. This permits the reduction to a common basis of experimental results on a single soil, using different source dimensions and sampling at different times. Moisture profiles, obtained experimentally after various absorption times and with two source radii, were in satisfactory agreement with the theory.