Advances in Flow of Water Through Variably Saturated Soils: A Review of Model Approaches and Experimental Investigations with Use of Sensors

The study of the flow of water through soils is important and has applications in many fields such as irrigation in agriculture, engineering, hydrogeology, and earth sciences. Many research efforts have been focused on different aspects of the subject of flow through soils. These include flow through the vadose zone where the flow is transient, saturated flow, soil water evaporation, Darcian or laminar flow, macroporous or differential flow, flow through homogeneous soils, and flow through heterogeneous soils. Although Darcy’s law is the most fundamental law governing soil water subsurface flow, it considers a linear relation between flow velocity and pressure gradient. Formulation of Darcy’s law is based on steady flow of incompressible liquid when the porous medium is isotropic, homogeneous, and saturated. However, these classical representations of water flow are not adequate when considering flow through natural soils, due to influences caused by the existence of macropores and spatial variability of soil properties. Despite researchers’ non-linear models which modify Darcy’s law, such as Richard’s equation for transient unsaturated flow of water in soils, determination of soil hydraulic properties also requires other techniques and measurement methods. This study focuses on model approaches and experimental investigations of water flow through the soil subsurface with instruments and sensors for determination of hydraulic properties and parameters for flow characterisation. It critically examines challenges and the accuracy of best practices and aims to present novel methods of experimental approach for potential solutions.