Quick Estimation of Hydraulic Conductivity in Unsaturated Sandy Loam Soil

Laboratory experiments were conductedfor determining hydraulic conductivity duringinfiltration in an unsaturated sandy loam soil, usingboth steady state and equilibrium methods. A constanthead Guelph permeameter and a volumetric pressureplate extractor were used. Based on two ponded heightsin the permeameter, the parameters of Gardner'sequation expressing the unsaturated hydraulicconductivity as a function of pressure head (i.e. thesaturated hydraulic conductivity K_s and theexponent ), were estimated simultaneously.Furthermore, it was found that the parameter ,could also be predicted from the soil-water retentioncurve based on equilibrium data obtained from theextractor. This indicated that, for the soil typestudied, one-ponded height in the permeameter methodcould be sufficient for the determination of theexponent , provided that the soil-water retentioncurve is known.