Scholarly Works, School of Plant and Environmental Sciences

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Browsing Scholarly Works, School of Plant and Environmental Sciences by Author "Abou Najm, Majdi R."

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    BEST-WR: An adapted algorithm for the hydraulic characterization of hydrophilic and water-repellent soils
    Di Prima, Simone; Stewart, Ryan D.; Abou Najm, Majdi R.; Ribeiro Roder, Ludmila; Giadrossich, Filippo; Campus, Sergio; Angulo-Jaramillo, Rafael; Yilmaz, Deniz; Roggero, Pier Paolo; Pirastru, Mario; Lassabatere, Laurent (Elsevier, 2021-12-01)
    Water-repellent soils usually experience water flow impedance during the early stage of a wetting process followed by progressive increase of infiltration rate. Current infiltration models are not formulated to describe this peculiar process. Similarly, simplified methods of soil hydraulic characterization (e.g., BEST) are not equipped to handle water-repellent soils. Here, we present an adaptation of the BEST method, named BEST-WR, for the hydraulic characterization of soils at any stage of water-repellency. We modified the Haverkamp explicit transient infiltration model, included in BEST for modeling infiltration data, by embedding a scaling factor describing the rate of attenuation of infiltration rate due to water repellency. The new model was validated using analytically generated data, involving soils with different texture and a dataset that included data from 60 single-ring infiltration tests. The scaling factor was used as a new index to assess soil water repellency in a Mediterranean wooded grassland, where the scattered evergreen oak trees induced more noticeable water repellency under the canopies as compared to the open spaces. The new index produced results in line with those obtained using the water drop penetration time test, which is one of the most widely test applied for quantifying soil water repellency persistence. Finally, we used BEST-WR to determine the hydraulic characteristic curves under both hydrophilic and hydrophobic conditions.
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    Brief Overview: Field Measurements of Soil Cracks
    Stewart, Ryan D.; Abou Najm, Majdi R. (2018-05)
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    Coupling time-lapse ground penetrating radar surveys and infiltration experiments to characterize two types of non-uniform flow
    Di Prima, Simone; Giannini, Vittoria; Ribeiro Roder, Ludmila; Giadrossich, Filippo; Lassabatere, Laurent; Stewart, Ryan D.; Abou Najm, Majdi R.; Longo, Vittorio; Campus, Sergio; Winiarski, Thierry; Angulo-Jaramillo, Rafael; Del Campo, Antonio; Capello, Giorgio; Biddoccu, Marcella; Roggero, Pier Paolo; Pirastru, Mario (Elsevier, 2021-09-17)
    Understanding linkages between heterogeneous soil structures and non-uniform flow is fundamental for interpreting infiltration processes and improving hydrological simulations. Here, we utilized ground-penetrating radar (GPR) as a non-invasive technique to investigate those linkages and to complement current traditional methods that are labor-intensive, invasive, and non-repeatable. We combined time-lapse GPR surveys with different types of infiltration experiments to create three-dimensional (3D) diagrams of the wetting dynamics. We carried out the GPR surveys and validated them with in situ observations, independent measurements and field excavations at two experimental sites. Those sites were selected to represent different mechanisms that generate non-uniform flow: (1) preferential water infiltration initiated by tree trunk and root systems; and (2) lateral subsurface flow due to soil layering. Results revealed links between different types of soil heterogeneity and non-uniform flow. The first experimental site provided evidence of root-induced preferential flow paths along coarse roots, emphasizing the important role of coarse roots in facilitating preferential water movement through the subsurface. The second experimental site showed that water infiltrated through the restrictive layer mainly following the plant root system. The presented approach offers a non-invasive, repeatable and accurate way to detect non-uniform flow.
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    Current Insights into Nonuniform Flow across Scales, Processes, and Applications
    Abou Najm, Majdi R.; Lassabatere, Laurent; Stewart, Ryan D. (2019-12-05)
    This introduction to the special section Nonuniform Flow across Vadose Zone Scales is a brief summary of this special section's diverse contributions covering nonuniform flow across a wide range of scales, processes, and applications. We summarize the 17 articles constituting this special section and hope that those contributions are positive steps toward a new, generalizable, and comprehensive paradigm to modeling flow and transport in porous media.
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    Parameterization of a comprehensive explicit model for single-ring infiltration
    Iovino, Massimo; Abou Najm, Majdi R.; Angulo-Jaramillo, Rafael; Bagarello, Vincenzo; Castellini, Mirko; Concialdi, Paola; Di Prima, Simone; Lassabatere, Laurent; Stewart, Ryan D. (Elsevier, 2021-10-01)
    Comprehensive infiltration models can simultaneously describe transient and steady-state infiltration behaviors, and therefore can be applied to a range of experimental conditions. However, satisfactory model accuracy requires proper parameterization, including estimating the transition time from transient to steady-state flow conditions (τcrit). This study focused on improving the estimation of two parameters – τcrit and a second constant called a – used in a comprehensive, explicit, two-term model for single ring infiltration (hereafter referred to as the SA model). Different studies have recommended that a should be as low as 0.45 to as high as 0.91. Furthermore, τcrit is often obtained a-priori by assuming that steady-state conditions are reached before the end of an infiltration run. However, there has not been a systematic analysis of those terms for different soils and infiltration conditions. To investigate these open issues related to the use of the SA model, here we introduce a novel, iterative method for estimating τcrit and the parameter a. We then applied this method to both analytical and experimental infiltration data, and compared it with two existing empirical methods. The analytical infiltration experiments showed that τcrit was approximately 1.5 times larger than the maximum validity time of a similar two-term transient infiltration model. Further, the iterative method for obtaining τcrit had minimal effects on the a term, which varied between 0.706 and 0.904 and was larger for finer soils and when small water sources were used. Application of the proposed method was less efficient with experimental data. Only ~ 33% of the experiments yielding plausible estimates of a (i.e., a < 1), indicating that these infiltration model parameters often have high uncertainty. The successful runs indicated that a depended on the rate at which the initial infiltration rate approached the final infiltration rate. Depending on the fitting algorithm used, a had mean values of 0.74–0.78, which were intermediate between those suggested by previous studies. Altogether, these findings expand the applicability of the SA model by providing new methods for estimating τcrit and by showing that a does not need to be fixed a-priori. We expect that these advances will result in more reliable estimations of soil hydrodynamic parameters, including hydraulic conductivity.
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    A scaling procedure for straightforward computation of sorptivity
    Lassabatere, Laurent; Peyneau, Pierre-Emmanuel; Yilmaz, Deniz; Pollacco, Joseph; Fernández-Gálvez, Jesús; Latorre, Borja; Moret-Fernández, David; Di Prima, Simone; Rahmati, Mehdi; Stewart, Ryan D.; Abou Najm, Majdi R.; Hammecker, Claude; Angulo-Jaramillo, Rafael (Copernicus, 2021-09-22)
    Sorptivity is a parameter of primary importance in the study of unsaturated flow in soils. This hydraulic parameter is required to model water infiltration into vertical soil profiles. Sorptivity can be directly estimated from the soil hydraulic functions (water retention and hydraulic conductivity curves), using the integral formulation of . However, calculating sorptivity in this manner requires the prior determination of the soil hydraulic diffusivity and its numerical integration between initial and final saturation degrees, which may be difficult in some situations (e.g., coarse soil with diffusivity functions that are quasi-infinite close to saturation). In this paper, we present a procedure to compute sorptivity using a scaling parameter, cp, that corresponds to the sorptivity of a unit soil (i.e., unit values for all parameters and zero residual water content) that is utterly dry at the initial state and saturated at the final state. The cp parameter was computed numerically and analytically for five hydraulic models: Delta (i.e., Green and Ampt), Brooks and Corey, van Genuchten-Mualem, van Genuchten-Burdine, and Kosugi. Based on the results, we proposed brand new analytical expressions for some of the models and validated previous formulations for the other models. We also tabulated the output values so that they can easily be used to determine the actual sorptivity value for any case. At the same time, our numerical results showed that the relation between cp and the hydraulic shape parameters strongly depends on the chosen model. These results highlight the need for careful selection of the proper model for the description of the water retention and hydraulic conductivity functions when estimating sorptivity.
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    A Simple Correction Term to Model Infiltration in Water-Repellent Soils
    Abou Najm, Majdi R.; Stewart, Ryan D.; Di Prima, Simone; Lassabatere, Laurent (American Geophysical Union, 2021-02-01)
    Soil water repellency can substantially alter hydrologic processes, particularly the ability of soils to infiltrate water. Water repellency often changes through time, making it difficult to simulate infiltration behaviors of water-repellent soils using standard models. Here, we propose a simple rate-based correction term that starts with a value of zero at the beginning of the infiltration process (t = 0) and asymptotically approaches 1 as time increases, thus simulating decreasing soil water repellency through time. The correction term can be used with any infiltration model. For this study, we selected a simple two-term infiltration equation and then, using two data sets of infiltration measurements conducted in soils with varying water repellency, compared model error with versus without the added term. The correction substantially reduced model error, particularly in more repellent soils. At the same time, the rate constant parameter introduced in the new model may be useful to better understand dynamics of soil water repellency and to provide more consistent interpretations of hydraulic properties in water-repellent soils.
  • Three-term formulation to describe infiltration in water-repellent soils
    Yilmaz, Deniz; Di Prima, Simone; Stewart, Ryan D.; Abou Najm, Majdi R.; Fernandez-Moret, David; Latorre, Borja; Lassabatere, Laurent (Elsevier, 2022-12-01)
    Modeling infiltration in water-repellent soils is difficult, as the underlying processes remain poorly quantified. However, recent work has adapted the Beerkan Soil Transfer Parameter (BEST) algorithm to include an exponential correction term for characterizing these types of soils. The original BEST-WR (WR = Water Repellent) method used a two-term approximate expansion of the Haverkamp quasi-exact implicit model. However, the BEST-WR method can have considerable inaccuracy, particularly as the time of infiltration and the soil water repellency increase. Here, we extended the BEST-WR model by adapting a three-term approximation of the Haverkamp quasi-exact implicit model to water-repellent soils. We then tested the new method using analytical data. For highly water-repellent soils, the proposed method had better performance when estimating soil sorptivity (S) and soil saturated conductivity (Ks), with respective errors of less than 1.5 % and 8 %, compared to relative errors of more than 10 % and 30 % with the two-term BEST-WR method. We also tested both approaches with experimental data. The two methods provided similar estimates for hydraulic parameters, with linear correlations between methods of R2 = 0.84 for S and R2 = 0.88 for Ks. Initial infiltration was not well modeled by either the two-term or three-term model for 33 tests, thus revealing limitations in the applied exponential model that we used to account for soil repellency. Nonetheless, the proposed three-term expression provided better fits than the two-term model for most of the infiltration runs, meaning that this new approach is more robust when modeling infiltration processes in water-repellent soils.