Aggregation Methodology to Estimate Hydraulic Conductivity in Unsaturated Heterogeneous Soils

This study presents the validation of an aggregation methodology proposed to obtain hydraulic conductivity equivalents for a homogeneous porous media in unsaturated heterogeneous soils. The first step in this proposal is to numerically model flow in the unsaturated zone of a heterogeneous area, with a highly detailed discretization and parameterization based on suitable pedotransfer functions. The second stage involves calibrating the equivalent parameters from the wet front model based on the results from the first phase and comparing with those proposed by the aggregation methodology. The procedure was applied to 68 soil profiles characteristic of the southern province of Santa Fe (Argentina). The results obtained validate the aggregation methodology proposed for a large sampling of textural compositions, hydraulic properties and antecedent moisture contents. For the series of soils analyzed, estimates of saturated hydraulic conductivity would be acceptable with weighting up to effective saturations of 50%, with a margin of error limited to 10%.