Solute Transport Modeling in Overland Flow Applied to Fertigation

A model of solute transport in overland flow is developed and applied to the simulation of surface fertigation. Water flow is simulated using the depth-averaged, 1D shallow water equations. Solute flow is represented by an advection-diffusion model. The resulting set of three partial differential equations is sequentially solved at each time step. First, water flow is computed using the explicit two-step McCormack method. Based on the obtained velocity field, solute transport is explicitly determined from the advection-diffusion equation using the operator split technique. Four field experiments involving fertigation events on an impervious free-draining border were performed to validate the proposed model and to obtain estimates of Kx, the longitudinal dispersion coefficient. A value of Kx = 0.075 m2 s−1 satisfactorily reproduces the field experiments. The model is also applied to the simulation of a fertigation event on a pervious border. A sensitivity analysis is performed to assess the dependence of fertilizer distribution uniformity on the value of Kx. Finally, the proposed model is compared with a previous model based on pure advection.