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M. Iovino
Department of Agricultural, Food and Forest Sciences, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, 90128 Palermo, Italy

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Journal article
Published: 14 August 2021 in Journal of Hydrology
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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.

ACS Style

M. Iovino; M.R. Abou Najm; R. Angulo-Jaramillo; V. Bagarello; M. Castellini; P. Concialdi; S. Di Prima; L. Lassabatere; R.D. Stewart. Parameterization of a comprehensive explicit model for single-ring infiltration. Journal of Hydrology 2021, 601, 126801 .

AMA Style

M. Iovino, M.R. Abou Najm, R. Angulo-Jaramillo, V. Bagarello, M. Castellini, P. Concialdi, S. Di Prima, L. Lassabatere, R.D. Stewart. Parameterization of a comprehensive explicit model for single-ring infiltration. Journal of Hydrology. 2021; 601 ():126801.

Chicago/Turabian Style

M. Iovino; M.R. Abou Najm; R. Angulo-Jaramillo; V. Bagarello; M. Castellini; P. Concialdi; S. Di Prima; L. Lassabatere; R.D. Stewart. 2021. "Parameterization of a comprehensive explicit model for single-ring infiltration." Journal of Hydrology 601, no. : 126801.

Journal article
Published: 01 July 2021 in Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
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Design strategies that enhance modern irrigation practices, reduce energy consumption, and improve water use efficiency and crop yields are fundamental for sustainability. Although microirrigation is currently a widely applied method, center-pivot irrigation systems have become very popular on large farms, thanks to their automation, wide-coverage, and reliability. Different design procedures have been proposed, even though some aspects have not been solved yet. This paper presents a simple design procedure for center-pivot systems using a gradually decreasing sprinkler spacing along with a pivot lateral, which makes it possible to set favorable and uniformly distributed water application rates. The sprinkler spacing distribution along the radial direction is derived by considering just one dimensionless group accounting for the geometric and hydraulic input parameters. According to this outcome, the results showed that the suggested procedure made it possible to select the sprinkler characteristics and the pipe diameter based on the desired input parameters, i.e., the uniform water application rate and the lateral length. For assigned input parameters, the lateral length is delimited by a threshold value, indicating that lateral lengths longer than that threshold value require the modifications of a sprinkler flow rate or pipe diameter. Finally, applications based on the proposed hydraulic design procedure were performed and discussed for two different cases.

ACS Style

Giorgio Baiamonte; Giuseppe Provenzano; Massimo Iovino; Mustafa Elfahl. Hydraulic Design of the Center-Pivot Irrigation System for Gradually Decreasing Sprinkler Spacing. Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering 2021, 147, 04021027 .

AMA Style

Giorgio Baiamonte, Giuseppe Provenzano, Massimo Iovino, Mustafa Elfahl. Hydraulic Design of the Center-Pivot Irrigation System for Gradually Decreasing Sprinkler Spacing. Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering. 2021; 147 (7):04021027.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Giorgio Baiamonte; Giuseppe Provenzano; Massimo Iovino; Mustafa Elfahl. 2021. "Hydraulic Design of the Center-Pivot Irrigation System for Gradually Decreasing Sprinkler Spacing." Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering 147, no. 7: 04021027.

Journal article
Published: 21 May 2021 in Journal of Hydrology and Hydromechanics
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The Beerkan method consists of a ponded infiltration experiment from a single ring inserted a small depth into the soil. Fixed, small volumes of water are repeatedly poured into the ring to maintain a quasi-zero head on the soil surface. According to the standard Beerkan infiltration run, a new water volume is poured on the infiltration surface when the previously applied volume has completely infiltrated and the soil surface is entirely exposed to air (ta criterion). However, water could also be applied when the soil exposition to air begins (to criterion) or half the soil surface is exposed to air (tm criterion). The effect of the infiltration time criterion on determination of the water transmission properties of a sandy-loam soil was tested. As compared with the standard ta criterion, the two alternative criteria (to , tm ) yielded higher and/or more variable estimates of soil water transmission properties. The saturated soil hydraulic conductivity, Ks , was the most sensitive property to the infiltration time criterion. However, statistically significant differences for Ks were not practically substantial since they did not exceed a factor of 1.7. Infiltration time effects likely occurred due to differences between ponding depth of water, soil water pressure head gradient, air entrapment and soil mechanical disturbance. The standard ta criterion was suggested for performing a Beerkan experiment in the field since it appears to yield the most reliable estimates of a mean value. However, the to criterion could be considered in dual permeability soils to maintain macropores active. Factors that could appear minor in the context of an experiment can have statistically relevant effects on water transmission properties.

ACS Style

Vincenzo Bagarello; Gaetano Caltabellotta; Massimo Iovino. Water transmission properties of a sandy-loam soil estimated with Beerkan runs differing by the infiltration time criterion. Journal of Hydrology and Hydromechanics 2021, 69, 151 -160.

AMA Style

Vincenzo Bagarello, Gaetano Caltabellotta, Massimo Iovino. Water transmission properties of a sandy-loam soil estimated with Beerkan runs differing by the infiltration time criterion. Journal of Hydrology and Hydromechanics. 2021; 69 (2):151-160.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Vincenzo Bagarello; Gaetano Caltabellotta; Massimo Iovino. 2021. "Water transmission properties of a sandy-loam soil estimated with Beerkan runs differing by the infiltration time criterion." Journal of Hydrology and Hydromechanics 69, no. 2: 151-160.

Preprint content
Published: 04 March 2021
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Preferential flow is more the rule than the exception. Water infiltration is often led by preferential flow due to macropores, specific soil structures (e.g., aggregates, macropore networks), or lithological heterogeneity (occurrence of materials with contrasting hydraulic properties). Water infiltration in soils prone to preferential flow strongly depends on soil features below the soil surface, but also the initiation of water infiltration at the surface. When the macropore networks are not dense, with only a few macropores intercepting the soil surface, water infiltration experiments with ring size in the order of 10-15 cm diameter may overlook sampling macropore networks during some infiltration runs, minimizing the effect of macropore flow on the bulk water infiltration at the plot scale.

In this study, we investigated the effect of ring size on water infiltration into soils prone to preferential flow. We used two ring sizes: small (15 cm in diameter) and large (50 cm in diameter). By doing so, we hypothesized that the large rings, sampling a more representative soil volume, will maximize the probability to intercept and activate a macropore network. In contrast, the small rings may activate the macropore network only occasionally, with other infiltration runs mainly sampling the soil matrix. Thus, the small rings are expected to provide more variable results. On the other hand, the large rings are expected to provide more homogeneous results in line with the soil's bulk infiltration capability, including all pore networks at the plot scale.

Three different sites were sampled with varying types of preferential flow (macropore-induced versus lithological heterogeneity induced). The experimental plan included inserting large rings at several places in the experimental sites with a dozen small rings nearby to sample the same soil. All the rings were submitted to a similar positive constant water pressure head at the soil surface. The cumulative infiltrations were then monitored and treated with BEST algorithms to get the efficient hydraulic parameters. Note that the cumulative infiltration could not be compared directly since lateral water fluxes varied in extent and geometry between the different ring sizes. The impacts of the ring size on the magnitude of cumulative infiltration and related estimated hydraulic parameters were discussed. Our results demonstrated the impact of ring size but also the dependency of such effect on the site and the type of flow.

Our results contribute to understanding preferential flow in heterogeneous soils and the complexity of its measure using regular water infiltration devices and protocols.

ACS Style

Laurent Lassabatere; Simone Di Prima; Paola Concialdi; Majdi Abou Najm; Ryan D. Stewart; Vincenzo Bagarello; Massimo Iovino; Mirko Castellini; Jesús Fernández-Gálvez; Joseph Pollacco; Deniz Yilmaz; Rafael Angulo-Jaramillo. Coupling large and small ring infiltration experiments for investigating preferential flow. 2021, 1 .

AMA Style

Laurent Lassabatere, Simone Di Prima, Paola Concialdi, Majdi Abou Najm, Ryan D. Stewart, Vincenzo Bagarello, Massimo Iovino, Mirko Castellini, Jesús Fernández-Gálvez, Joseph Pollacco, Deniz Yilmaz, Rafael Angulo-Jaramillo. Coupling large and small ring infiltration experiments for investigating preferential flow. . 2021; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Laurent Lassabatere; Simone Di Prima; Paola Concialdi; Majdi Abou Najm; Ryan D. Stewart; Vincenzo Bagarello; Massimo Iovino; Mirko Castellini; Jesús Fernández-Gálvez; Joseph Pollacco; Deniz Yilmaz; Rafael Angulo-Jaramillo. 2021. "Coupling large and small ring infiltration experiments for investigating preferential flow." , no. : 1.

Preprint content
Published: 03 March 2021
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Stewart and Abou Najm (2018) developed a comprehensive model (SA model) for single ring infiltration that consists of a couple of two-terms explicit infiltration equations similar, in form, to the approximate expansions proposed by Haverkamp et al. (1994) (HV model). Application of SA model requires the transition time, τcrit, from transient to steady state to be known a-priori or establishing a constraint among the four constants that figure in the infiltration equations. Estimation of soil saturated hydraulic conductivity, Ks, and capillary length, λ, from single ring infiltration measurements also needs a scaling parameter referred to “a” to be known. SA model assumes this scaling parameter as a constant and fixes its value at a = 0.45. However, there is evidence that a cannot be considered a constant independent of soil type and initial water content.

This study investigates some open issues related to the use of the SA model for single ring infiltration: 1) how comparable is τcrit with the maximum time, tmax, that separates transient from steady state condition in HV model; 2) how the scaling parameter a depends on different experimental conditions and how it can be related to HV parameters.

Preliminary theoretical considerations showed that the two characteristic times (τcrit and tmax) are related and, for relatively dry initial conditions, parameter a depends only on the soil type and ring radius being maximum for small ring radii or soils with high capillarity (a = 1) and minimum for large rings or coarse soils (a = 0.467).

An optimization procedure, with a constraint among the four infiltration constants, was applied to fit the SA model to both analytical and experimental infiltration data to derive  τcrit and the associated value of a.

The analytical data confirmed that the ratio τcrit/tmax was constant and equal to 1.495, regardless the combination of soil, ring diameter and initial water saturation. The calculated a values varied between 0.706 and 0.904, with a mean equal to a = 0.807, and were independent of the initial water content for saturation degrees up to approximately 0.50.

Application of the optimization procedure to field data was problematic given it was successful only in 29 out of 70 infiltration tests. Fixing τcrita-priori could be advisable in this case and it was shown that two alternative empirical criteria for selecting τcrit yielded a values differing by a nearly negligible mean factor of 1.10 and significantly correlated to one another (R2 = 0.997).

However, a rather high percentage of a values (45.5%) were greater than the theoretical maximum value (a = 1), and therefore were physically implausible. Excluding these values from the analysis, the mean a parameter (a = 0.735) was close to that estimated by the successful applications of the optimization procedure (a = 0.673).

Therefore, consistent results were obtained by field and analytical data with a values intermediate between the suggested values in the literature (a = 0.45 and 0.91). These findings can inform parameterization choices for others working with infiltration models, and should reduce uncertainty during interpretation of infiltration measurements.

ACS Style

Massimo Iovino; Majdi R. Abou Najm; Rafael Angulo-Jaramillo; Vincenzo Bagarello; Mirko Castellini; Paola Concialdi; Simone Di Prima; Laurent Lassabatere; Ryan D. Stewart. Explicit comprehensive models for single ring infiltration: suggestions for model application and parameterization. 2021, 1 .

AMA Style

Massimo Iovino, Majdi R. Abou Najm, Rafael Angulo-Jaramillo, Vincenzo Bagarello, Mirko Castellini, Paola Concialdi, Simone Di Prima, Laurent Lassabatere, Ryan D. Stewart. Explicit comprehensive models for single ring infiltration: suggestions for model application and parameterization. . 2021; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Massimo Iovino; Majdi R. Abou Najm; Rafael Angulo-Jaramillo; Vincenzo Bagarello; Mirko Castellini; Paola Concialdi; Simone Di Prima; Laurent Lassabatere; Ryan D. Stewart. 2021. "Explicit comprehensive models for single ring infiltration: suggestions for model application and parameterization." , no. : 1.

Journal article
Published: 15 February 2021 in Land
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The multi-height (low, L = 3 cm; intermediate, M = 100 cm; high, H = 200 cm) Beerkan run methodology was applied on both a minimum tilled (MT) (i.e., up to a depth of 30 cm) and a no-tilled (NT) bare loam soil, and the soil water retention curve was estimated by the BEST-steady algorithm. Three indicators of soil physical quality (SPQ), i.e., macroporosity (Pmac), air capacity (AC) and relative field capacity (RFC) were calculated to assess the impact of water pouring height under alternative soil management practices. Results showed that, compared to the reference low run, M and H runs affected both the estimated soil water retention curves and derived SPQ indicators. Generally, M–H runs significantly reduced the mean values of Pmac and AC and increased RFC for both MT and NT soil management practices. According to the guidelines for assessment of SPQ, the M and H runs: (i) worsened Pmac classification of both MT and NT soils; (ii) did not worsen AC classification, regardless of soil management parameters; (iii) worsened RFC classification of only NT soil, as a consequence of insufficient soil aeration. For both soil management techniques, a strong negative correlation was found between the Pmac and AC values and the gravitational potential energy, Ep , of the water used for the infiltration runs. A positive correlation was detected between RFC and Ep . The relationships were plausible from a soil physics point of view. NT soil has proven to be more resilient than MT. This study contributes toward testing simple and robust methods capable of quantifying soil degradation effects, due to intense rainfall events, under different soil management practices in the Mediterranean environment.

ACS Style

Mirko Castellini; Anna Stellacci; Danilo Sisto; Massimo Iovino. The Mechanical Impact of Water Affected the Soil Physical Quality of a Loam Soil under Minimum Tillage and No-Tillage: An Assessment Using Beerkan Multi-Height Runs and BEST-Procedure. Land 2021, 10, 195 .

AMA Style

Mirko Castellini, Anna Stellacci, Danilo Sisto, Massimo Iovino. The Mechanical Impact of Water Affected the Soil Physical Quality of a Loam Soil under Minimum Tillage and No-Tillage: An Assessment Using Beerkan Multi-Height Runs and BEST-Procedure. Land. 2021; 10 (2):195.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Mirko Castellini; Anna Stellacci; Danilo Sisto; Massimo Iovino. 2021. "The Mechanical Impact of Water Affected the Soil Physical Quality of a Loam Soil under Minimum Tillage and No-Tillage: An Assessment Using Beerkan Multi-Height Runs and BEST-Procedure." Land 10, no. 2: 195.

Journal article
Published: 26 October 2020 in Journal of Hydrology
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Simulating soil hydrological processes at the plot or field scale requires using spatially representative values of the saturated soil hydraulic conductivity, Ks. Sampling campaigns should yield a reliable mean of Ks with a sustainable workload since measuring Ks at many points is challenging. Uncertainty analysis can be used to determine the lowest number of measurements that yield a mean Ks value with a specified accuracy level. Potential and limitations of this analysis were tested in this investigation for different extents of the sampled area and sampling densities. A clay soil was sampled intensively on two plots (plot area = 44 m2), two dates and using both small (0.15 m in diameter) and large (0.30 m) rings. With the small rings, intensively sampling an appropriate portion of the total plot area should be enough to establish the number of measurements yielding a certain accuracy level for the entire plot since this level remained nearly constant when the same number of measurements was performed on larger areas. Moreover, for these areas, the spatial resolution of the measurements did not influence appreciably the width of the confidence interval of the mean Ks value. However, working with larger rings was recommended since, in this case, the sampled area did not affect at all normalized confidence levels that, in addition, varied only a little with the number of the considered measurements of Ks. In practice, characterizing the plots required about 20 and 10 measurements with the smaller and the larger rings, respectively. The uncertainty analysis appears promising to plan practically sustainable soil sampling campaigns.

ACS Style

Vincenzo Bagarello; Emanuele Barca; Mirko Castellini; Massimo Iovino; Renato Morbidelli; Carla Saltalippi; Alessia Flammini. A plot-scale uncertainty analysis of saturated hydraulic conductivity of a clay soil. Journal of Hydrology 2020, 596, 125694 .

AMA Style

Vincenzo Bagarello, Emanuele Barca, Mirko Castellini, Massimo Iovino, Renato Morbidelli, Carla Saltalippi, Alessia Flammini. A plot-scale uncertainty analysis of saturated hydraulic conductivity of a clay soil. Journal of Hydrology. 2020; 596 ():125694.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Vincenzo Bagarello; Emanuele Barca; Mirko Castellini; Massimo Iovino; Renato Morbidelli; Carla Saltalippi; Alessia Flammini. 2020. "A plot-scale uncertainty analysis of saturated hydraulic conductivity of a clay soil." Journal of Hydrology 596, no. : 125694.

Journal article
Published: 05 June 2020 in Journal of Hydrology
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The macroscopic capillary length, λc, is a fundamental soil parameter expressing the relative importance of the capillary over gravity forces during water movement in unsaturated soil. In this investigation, we propose a simple field method for estimating λc using only a single-ring infiltration experiment of the Beerkan type and measurements of initial and saturated soil water contents. We assumed that the intercept of the linear regression fitted to the steady-state portion of the experimental infiltration curve could be used as a reliable predictor of λc. This hypothesis was validated by assessing the proposed calculation approach using both analytical and field data. The analytical validation demonstrated that the proposed method was able to provide reliable λc estimates over a wide range of soil textural characteristics and initial soil water contents. The field testing was performed on a large database including 433 Beerkan infiltration experiments, with the 99% of the experiments yielding realistic λc values. The generated λc values were then used in conjunction with four different methods for estimating saturated soil hydraulic conductivity, Ks. Estimated Ks values were close to those generated by a reference method, with relative error < 25% in nearly all cases. By comparison, assuming constant or soil-dependent λc values caused relative errors in Ks of up to 600%. Altogether, the proposed method constitutes an easy solution for estimating λc, which can improve our ability to estimate Ks in the field.

ACS Style

Simone Di Prima; Ryan D. Stewart; Mirko Castellini; Vincenzo Bagarello; Majdi R. Abou Najm; Mario Pirastru; Filippo Giadrossich; Massimo Iovino; Rafael Angulo-Jaramillo; Laurent Lassabatere. Estimating the macroscopic capillary length from Beerkan infiltration experiments and its impact on saturated soil hydraulic conductivity predictions. Journal of Hydrology 2020, 589, 125159 .

AMA Style

Simone Di Prima, Ryan D. Stewart, Mirko Castellini, Vincenzo Bagarello, Majdi R. Abou Najm, Mario Pirastru, Filippo Giadrossich, Massimo Iovino, Rafael Angulo-Jaramillo, Laurent Lassabatere. Estimating the macroscopic capillary length from Beerkan infiltration experiments and its impact on saturated soil hydraulic conductivity predictions. Journal of Hydrology. 2020; 589 ():125159.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Simone Di Prima; Ryan D. Stewart; Mirko Castellini; Vincenzo Bagarello; Majdi R. Abou Najm; Mario Pirastru; Filippo Giadrossich; Massimo Iovino; Rafael Angulo-Jaramillo; Laurent Lassabatere. 2020. "Estimating the macroscopic capillary length from Beerkan infiltration experiments and its impact on saturated soil hydraulic conductivity predictions." Journal of Hydrology 589, no. : 125159.

Preprint content
Published: 23 March 2020
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Testing new experimental procedures to assess the effects of the drops impact on the soil sealing formation is a main topic in soil hydrology.

In this field investigation, the methodological approach proposed first by Bagarello et al. (2014) was extended to account for a greater soil infiltration surface (i.e., about 3.5 times higher), a higher range and number of heights of water pouring and to evaluate the different impact on soil management. For this purpose, the effects of three water pouring heights (low, L=3 cm; medium, M=100 cm; high, H=200 cm) on both no-tilled (NT) and conventionally tilled (CT) loam soil were investigated by Beerkan infiltration runs and using the BEST-procedure of data analysis to estimate the soil hydraulic properties.

Final infiltration rate decreased when perturbing runs (i.e., M and H) were carried out as compared with the non-perturbing (L) ones (by a factor of 1.5-3.1 under NT and 3.4-4.4 under CT). Similarly, the water retention scale parameter, hg, increased (i.e., higher in absolute terms) by a factor 1.6-1.8 under NT and by a factor 1.7 under CT. Saturated hydraulic conductivity, Ks, changed significantly as a function of the increase of water pouring height; regardless of the soil management, perturbing runs caused a reduction in soil permeability by a factor 5 or 6. Effects on hydraulic functions (i.e., soil water retention curve and hydraulic conductivity function), obtained with the BEST-Steady algorithm, were also highlighted. For instance, differences in water retention curve at fixed soil pressure head values (i.e., field capacity, FC, and permanent wilting point, PWP) due to perturbing and non-perturbing runs, were estimated as higher under NT (3.8%) than CT (3.4%) for FC, and equal to 2.1% or 1.6% for PWP.

Main results of this investigation confirm that a recently tilled loamy soil, without vegetation cover, can be less resilient as compared to a no-tilled one, and that tested water pouring heights methodology looks promising to mimic effects of high energy rainfall events and to quantify the soil sealing effects under alternative management of the soil.

Acknowledgments

The work was supported by the project “STRATEGA, Sperimentazione e TRAsferimento di TEcniche innovative di aGricoltura conservativA”, funded by Regione Puglia–Dipartimento Agricoltura, Sviluppo Rurale ed Ambientale, CUP: B36J14001230007.

 References

Bagarello, V., Castellini, M., Di Prima, S., Iovino, M. 2014. Soil hydraulic properties determined by infiltration experiments and different heights of water pouring. Geoderma, 213, 492–501. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2013.08.032

ACS Style

Mirko Castellini; Simone Di Prima; Anna Maria Stellacci; Massimo Iovino; Vincenzo Bagarello. Testing an infiltrometer methodology to investigate water impact effects on both soil sealing and hydraulic properties of a loam soil under conventional tillage and no-tillage. 2020, 1 .

AMA Style

Mirko Castellini, Simone Di Prima, Anna Maria Stellacci, Massimo Iovino, Vincenzo Bagarello. Testing an infiltrometer methodology to investigate water impact effects on both soil sealing and hydraulic properties of a loam soil under conventional tillage and no-tillage. . 2020; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Mirko Castellini; Simone Di Prima; Anna Maria Stellacci; Massimo Iovino; Vincenzo Bagarello. 2020. "Testing an infiltrometer methodology to investigate water impact effects on both soil sealing and hydraulic properties of a loam soil under conventional tillage and no-tillage." , no. : 1.

Preprint content
Published: 23 March 2020
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The understanding of hydrological processes requires the investigation of preferential flows. In particular, the infiltration compartment is strongly affected by preferential flows. Recently, Lassabatere et al. (2014) proposed a model for the analytical modelling of the infiltration impacted by preferential flow. These authors extended the model developed by Haverkamp et al. (1994) for single permeability soils to the case of dual permeability soils. However, this model remains implicit, requiring an inversion procedure for the quantification of the bulk cumulative infiltration. Such an implicit feature prevents from direct computation and may annoy any fellow who wants a direct and simple computation procedure. In this paper, we develop two approximate expansions for both transient and steady states. For that, we use the expansions proposed by Haverkamp et al. (1994) for single permeability systems. These expansions are written for each compartment of the dual permeability soils, i.e. the matrix and the fast-flow regions and are combined for the computation of the bulk infiltration. After formulation of these expansions, these are assessed in terms of their capability to accurately reproduce the complete implicit model. Their validity time intervals are also determined and discussed. The main limitation for the use of these expansions results from the fact that the time intervals that define the transient and steady states are contrasted between the matrix and the fast-flow regions. However, some domain of validity can be defined allowing the use of these approximate expansions.

Haverkamp, R., Ross, P. J., Smettem, K. R. J. and Parlange, J. Y.: 3-Dimensional analysis of infiltration from the disc infiltrometer .2. Physically-based infiltration equation, Water Resour. Res., 30(11), 2931–2935, 1994.

Lassabatere, L., Angulo-Jaramillo, R., Soria-Ugalde, J. M., Simunek, J. and Haverkamp, R.: Numerical evaluation of a set of analytical infiltration equations, Water Resour. Res., 45, W12415, doi:doi:10.1029/2009WR007941, 2009.

ACS Style

Laurent Lassabatere; Simone Di Prima; Massimo Iovino; Vincenzo Bagarello; Rafael Angulo-Jaramillo. Approximate expansions for water infiltration into dual permeability soils. 2020, 1 .

AMA Style

Laurent Lassabatere, Simone Di Prima, Massimo Iovino, Vincenzo Bagarello, Rafael Angulo-Jaramillo. Approximate expansions for water infiltration into dual permeability soils. . 2020; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Laurent Lassabatere; Simone Di Prima; Massimo Iovino; Vincenzo Bagarello; Rafael Angulo-Jaramillo. 2020. "Approximate expansions for water infiltration into dual permeability soils." , no. : 1.

Conference paper
Published: 20 March 2020 in Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering
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The vegetated substrate of green roofs may undergo various chemical and physical changes with time. Minidisk infiltrometer (MDI) tests were conducted to assess the short-term variations of the near-saturated hydraulic conductivity, K0, in the extensive green roof test plot established at the University of Palermo. Sampling was repeated four times: before planting (Age 0) and then after four months (Age 1), seven months (Age 2) and ten months (Age 3). A total of 144 infiltration tests were conducted at two pressure heads, h0 = −3 cm and h0 = −0.5 cm and infiltration data analysed by the Zhang (Soil Science Society of America Journal 61(4):1024–1030, 1997) model. Both K-3 and K-0.5 underwent temporal variations resulting in final values that were higher by a factor of 3.0 and 1.4, respectively, than the initial ones. Compaction and washing off of fine particles explained the observed trend in K0 as the lower part of the growing media enriched in fine particles and resulted in higher bulk density than the upper one. The results showed that the hydraulic properties of the growing substrate were subjected to short term modifications that may influence the hydrological performance of the green roof.

ACS Style

V. Alagna; V. Bagarello; P. Concialdi; G. Giordano; M. Iovino. Evaluation of Green Roof Ageing Effects on Substrate Hydraulic Characteristics. Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering 2020, 89 -97.

AMA Style

V. Alagna, V. Bagarello, P. Concialdi, G. Giordano, M. Iovino. Evaluation of Green Roof Ageing Effects on Substrate Hydraulic Characteristics. Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering. 2020; ():89-97.

Chicago/Turabian Style

V. Alagna; V. Bagarello; P. Concialdi; G. Giordano; M. Iovino. 2020. "Evaluation of Green Roof Ageing Effects on Substrate Hydraulic Characteristics." Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering , no. : 89-97.

Journal article
Published: 02 November 2019 in Science of The Total Environment
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A surface flow constructed wetland (SFCW) treating agricultural drainage water was investigated with the aim to detect modifications in hydrological and hydraulic characteristics after more than a decade of operation. Ponded infiltration tests were conducted to estimate the saturated hydraulic conductivity, Ks, of the surface soil layer at the point scale. At the global scale, infiltration rate, i, was computed from the water balance to detect leakages from the pervious wetland surface. Tracer tests were conducted to analyse the existence of preferential flow inside the system and to estimate its hydraulic retention time (HRT). Clogging phenomena occurred given a mean Ks value of 30 mm h−1 was measured near the SFCW inlet, that was 9.61 times lower than the value at the outlet zone. The estimated infiltration losses were two orders of magnitude lower than infiltration measured at the point scale. The results also confirmed the existence of a moderate amount of preferential flow paths and dead zones in the SFCW as the actual HRT (6.7 days) was shorter than the nominal one (8.1 days). Despite this, it can be concluded that the system performance is still good after 17 years of operation.

ACS Style

S. Lavrnić; V. Alagna; M. Iovino; S. Anconelli; D. Solimando; A. Toscano. Hydrological and hydraulic behaviour of a surface flow constructed wetland treating agricultural drainage water in northern Italy. Science of The Total Environment 2019, 702, 134795 .

AMA Style

S. Lavrnić, V. Alagna, M. Iovino, S. Anconelli, D. Solimando, A. Toscano. Hydrological and hydraulic behaviour of a surface flow constructed wetland treating agricultural drainage water in northern Italy. Science of The Total Environment. 2019; 702 ():134795.

Chicago/Turabian Style

S. Lavrnić; V. Alagna; M. Iovino; S. Anconelli; D. Solimando; A. Toscano. 2019. "Hydrological and hydraulic behaviour of a surface flow constructed wetland treating agricultural drainage water in northern Italy." Science of The Total Environment 702, no. : 134795.

Journal article
Published: 08 October 2019 in Journal of Agricultural Engineering
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The water drop penetration time (WDPT) technique was applied in 2018 to check persistence of soil water repellency (SWR) in a Sicilian mountain area affected by a wildfire on June 2016. A total of four sites, that were severely water repellent immediately after burning, were sampled. Depending on the site, wettable soil conditions, less SWR and maintenance of a noticeable SWR were detected two years later. At the site showing a near-constant SWR, WDPTs were particularly high in the top soil layer (0-0.03 m) and they appreciably decreased more in depth. Signs of decreasing SWR in drier soil conditions and in association with coarser soil particles were also detected at this site. High gradients of the WDPT can occur at very small vertical distances and a depth increment of approximately 0.01 m should be appropriate to capture small-scale vertical changes in SWR, especially close to the soil surface. Occurrence of SWR phenomena is easily perceivable and explainable if an inverse relationship between WDPTs and antecedent soil water content is obtained. A direct relationship between these two variables is more difficult to interpret because infiltration times that increase in wetter soil are expected according to the classical infiltration theory. A hypothesis that should be tested in the future is to verify if WDPTs that decrease in drier soil conditions signal less SWR as a consequence of a reduced biological activity of the soil. Finally, long-term monitoring projects on longevity of fire effects on SWR should be developed, even because an in depth knowledge of the involved processes is relevant for the civil protection system.

ACS Style

Vincenzo Bagarello; Giuseppe Basile; Gaetano Caltabellotta; Giuseppe Giordano; Massimo Iovino. Testing soil water repellency in a Sicilian area two years after a fire. Journal of Agricultural Engineering 2019, 51, 64 -72.

AMA Style

Vincenzo Bagarello, Giuseppe Basile, Gaetano Caltabellotta, Giuseppe Giordano, Massimo Iovino. Testing soil water repellency in a Sicilian area two years after a fire. Journal of Agricultural Engineering. 2019; 51 (2):64-72.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Vincenzo Bagarello; Giuseppe Basile; Gaetano Caltabellotta; Giuseppe Giordano; Massimo Iovino. 2019. "Testing soil water repellency in a Sicilian area two years after a fire." Journal of Agricultural Engineering 51, no. 2: 64-72.

Journal article
Published: 13 February 2019 in CATENA
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The Water Drop Penetration Time (WDPT) technique was applied in two subsequent years (2016 and 2017) to check surface soil water repellency (SWR) in a Sicilian mountain area affected by a wildfire on June 2016. A total of 93 sites were sampled and from 3 to 100 droplets were used to characterize a site. The detected SWR varied with the severity of the wildfire, being practically absent in the unburnt control area and slight to extreme in the burnt areas. The percentage of extremely repellent sites increased with wildfire severity. SWR vanished one year after the passage of the fire in sites where fire severity was moderate but it persisted in the case of a severe wildfire. In general, the number of applied droplets at a site (from 3 to 100) and the SWR classification methodology (modal class, mean of the measured WDPTs) did not have a strong impact on SWR assessment. However, the data collected with the first few droplets (i.e. three or four) could help to make choices about the number of droplets to be used to reliably characterize a site. If all the initially used droplets give clear signals of wettable conditions, it is plausible to believe that a small number of droplets will be enough to characterize the site. If signs of water repellency are detected, then it could be advisable to use larger samples sizes. Complementing a detailed information on the spatial distribution of wildfire severity with a WDPT experiment appears appropriate to establish where fire mitigation techniques should promptly be implemented after the fire. Experimental developments with larger databases are advisable to improve our ability to capture spatial and temporal variability of SWR.

ACS Style

Ilenia Tinebra; Vincenzo Alagna; Massimo Iovino; Vincenzo Bagarello. Comparing different application procedures of the water drop penetration time test to assess soil water repellency in a fire affected Sicilian area. CATENA 2019, 177, 41 -48.

AMA Style

Ilenia Tinebra, Vincenzo Alagna, Massimo Iovino, Vincenzo Bagarello. Comparing different application procedures of the water drop penetration time test to assess soil water repellency in a fire affected Sicilian area. CATENA. 2019; 177 ():41-48.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ilenia Tinebra; Vincenzo Alagna; Massimo Iovino; Vincenzo Bagarello. 2019. "Comparing different application procedures of the water drop penetration time test to assess soil water repellency in a fire affected Sicilian area." CATENA 177, no. : 41-48.

Articles
Published: 30 January 2019 in Archives of Agronomy and Soil Science
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Pedotransfer functions (PTFs) make use of routinely surveyed soil data to estimate soil properties but their application to soils different from those used for their development can yield inaccurate estimates. This investigation aimed at evaluating the water retention prediction accuracy of eight existing PTFs using a database of 217 Sicilian soils exploring 11 USDA textural classes. PTFs performance was assessed by root mean square differences (RMSD) and average differences (AD) between estimated and measured data. Extended Nonlinear Regression technique (ENR) was adopted to recalibrate or develop four new PTFs and Wind’s evaporation method was applied to validate the effectiveness of the relationships proposed. PTFs evaluation resulted in RMSD and AD values in the range 0.0630-0.0972 cm3 cm–3 and 0.0021-0.0618 cm3 cm–3, respectively. Best and worst performances were obtained respectively by PTF-MI and PTF-ZW. ENR allowed to recalibrate PTF-MI and PTF-ZW with improvements of RMSD (0.0594 and 0.0508 cm3 cm–3) and to develop two relationships that improved RMSD by 75-78% as compared to PTF-MI. The results confirmed the potential of ENR technique in calibrating existing PTFs or developing new ones. Validation conducted with an independent dataset suggested that recalibrated/developed PTFs represent a viable alternative for water retention estimation of Sicilian soils.

ACS Style

Mirko Castellini; Massimo Iovino. Pedotransfer functions for estimating soil water retention curve of Sicilian soils. Archives of Agronomy and Soil Science 2019, 65, 1401 -1416.

AMA Style

Mirko Castellini, Massimo Iovino. Pedotransfer functions for estimating soil water retention curve of Sicilian soils. Archives of Agronomy and Soil Science. 2019; 65 (10):1401-1416.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Mirko Castellini; Massimo Iovino. 2019. "Pedotransfer functions for estimating soil water retention curve of Sicilian soils." Archives of Agronomy and Soil Science 65, no. 10: 1401-1416.

Research article
Published: 25 November 2018 in Hydrological Processes
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The repellency index (RI) defined as the adjusted ratio between soil‐ethanol, Se, and soil‐water, Sw, sorptivities estimated from minidisk infiltrometer (MDI) experiments has been used instead of the widely used Water Drop Penetration Time (WDPT) and Molarity of Ethanol Drop (MED) tests to assess soil water repellency (SWR). However, sorptivity calculated by the usual early‐time infiltration equation may be overestimated as the effects of gravity and lateral capillary are neglected. With the aim to establish the best applicative procedure to assess RI, different approaches to estimate Se and Sw were compared that make use of both the early‐time infiltration equation (namely, the one‐minute, S1, and the short‐time linearization, SL, approaches), and the two‐term axisymmetric infiltration equation, valid for early to intermediate times (namely, the cumulative linearization, CL, and differentiated linearization, DL, approaches). The dataset included 85 MDI tests conducted in three sites in Italy and Spain under different vegetation habitats (forest of Pinus pinaster and Pinus halepensis, burned pine forest, annual grasses), soil horizons (organic and mineral), post‐fire treatments and initial soil water contents. The S1 approach was inapplicable in 42% of experiments as water infiltration did not start in the first minute. The SL approach yielded a systematic overestimation of Se and Sw that resulted in an overestimation of RI by a factor of 1.57 and 1.23 as compared with the CL and DL approaches. A new repellency index, RIs, was proposed as the ratio between the slopes of the linearized data for the wettable and hydrophobic stages obtained by a single water infiltration test. For the experimental conditions considered, RIs was significantly correlated with RI and WDPT. Compared to RI, RIs includes information on both soil sorptivity and hydraulic conductivity and, therefore, it can be considered more physically linked to the hydrological processes affected by SWR.

ACS Style

Vincenzo Alagna; Massimo Iovino; Vincenzo Bagarello; Jorge Mataix-Solera; Lubomir Lichner. Alternative analysis of transient infiltration experiment to estimate soil water repellency. Hydrological Processes 2018, 33, 661 -674.

AMA Style

Vincenzo Alagna, Massimo Iovino, Vincenzo Bagarello, Jorge Mataix-Solera, Lubomir Lichner. Alternative analysis of transient infiltration experiment to estimate soil water repellency. Hydrological Processes. 2018; 33 (4):661-674.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Vincenzo Alagna; Massimo Iovino; Vincenzo Bagarello; Jorge Mataix-Solera; Lubomir Lichner. 2018. "Alternative analysis of transient infiltration experiment to estimate soil water repellency." Hydrological Processes 33, no. 4: 661-674.

Journal article
Published: 29 October 2018 in Journal of Hydrology and Hydromechanics
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The extent (determined by the repellency indices RI and RIc) and persistence (determined by the water drop penetration time, WDPT) of soil water repellency (SWR) induced by pines were assessed in vastly different geographic regions. The actual SWR characteristics were estimated in situ in clay loam soil at Ciavolo, Italy (CiF), sandy soil at Culbin, United Kingdom (CuF), silty clay soil at Javea, Spain (JaF), and sandy soil at Sekule, Slovakia (SeF). For Culbin soil, the potential SWR characteristics were also determined after oven-drying at 60°C (CuD). For two of the three pine species considered, strong (Pinus pinaster at CiF) and severe (Pinus sylvestris at CuD and SeF) SWR conditions were observed. Pinus halepensis trees induced slight SWR at JaF site. RI and RIc increased in the order: JaF < CuF < CiF < CuD < SeF, reflecting nearly the same order of WDPT increase. A lognormal distribution fitted well to histograms of RIc data from CuF and JaF, whereas CiF, CuD and SeF had multimodal distributions. RI correlated closely with WDPT, which was used to develop a classification of RI that showed a robust statistical agreement with WDPT classification according to three different versions of Kappa coefficient.

ACS Style

Massimo Iovino; Pavla Pekárová; Paul Hallett; Ján Pekár; Ľubomír Lichner; Jorge Mataix-Solera; Vincenzo Alagna; Richard Walsh; Annette Raffan; Karsten Schacht; Marek Rodný. Extent and persistence of soil water repellency induced by pines in different geographic regions. Journal of Hydrology and Hydromechanics 2018, 66, 360 -368.

AMA Style

Massimo Iovino, Pavla Pekárová, Paul Hallett, Ján Pekár, Ľubomír Lichner, Jorge Mataix-Solera, Vincenzo Alagna, Richard Walsh, Annette Raffan, Karsten Schacht, Marek Rodný. Extent and persistence of soil water repellency induced by pines in different geographic regions. Journal of Hydrology and Hydromechanics. 2018; 66 (4):360-368.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Massimo Iovino; Pavla Pekárová; Paul Hallett; Ján Pekár; Ľubomír Lichner; Jorge Mataix-Solera; Vincenzo Alagna; Richard Walsh; Annette Raffan; Karsten Schacht; Marek Rodný. 2018. "Extent and persistence of soil water repellency induced by pines in different geographic regions." Journal of Hydrology and Hydromechanics 66, no. 4: 360-368.

Research article
Published: 19 October 2018 in Hydrological Processes
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Assessing how the infiltration process depends on the water impact energy improves interpretation of hydrological processes. Impact energies vary with the height of water pouring, i.e. the distance between the water delivery point and the soil surface. The effects of the height of water pouring on infiltration in an initially near saturated soil can be tested in the field by two repeated beerkan infiltration runs separated by a short pause (30 min) and using both low (non‐perturbing) and high (perturbing) heights of water application. The double two‐stage beerkan run methodology was applied in two soils. The infiltration rate at the end of the perturbing stage of the experiment was 0.2‐0.3 (sandy‐loam soil) and 0.15 (loam soil) times that obtained with the initial, non‐perturbing stage whereas, without any perturbing effect, infiltration rates at the end of the second run were 0.5 times those at the end of the first run. Therefore, the methodology distinguished between a decrease in infiltration rate due to water redistribution during the pause and that attributable to soil surface perturbation. Maintaining a small depth of water (10 mm) on the infiltration surface was not an alternative to the classical beerkan run for the non‐perturbing stage of the experiment since two times higher infiltration rates were measured with a greater hydrostatic pressure. In conclusion, the relationship between infiltration into an initially near saturated soil and the energy of the applied water can be determined directly in the field at any time with a simple and parsimonious experiment. This circumstance could improve soil hydraulic characterization for interpreting and simulating hydrological processes.

ACS Style

Vincenzo Alagna; Vincenzo Bagarello; Noemi Cecere; Paola Concialdi; Massimo Iovino. A test of water pouring height and run intermittence effects on single-ring infiltration rates. Hydrological Processes 2018, 32, 3793 -3804.

AMA Style

Vincenzo Alagna, Vincenzo Bagarello, Noemi Cecere, Paola Concialdi, Massimo Iovino. A test of water pouring height and run intermittence effects on single-ring infiltration rates. Hydrological Processes. 2018; 32 (25):3793-3804.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Vincenzo Alagna; Vincenzo Bagarello; Noemi Cecere; Paola Concialdi; Massimo Iovino. 2018. "A test of water pouring height and run intermittence effects on single-ring infiltration rates." Hydrological Processes 32, no. 25: 3793-3804.

Journal article
Published: 12 October 2018 in Water
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Modeling soil-water regime and solute transport in the vadose zone is strategic for estimating agricultural productivity and optimizing irrigation water management. Direct measurements of soil hydraulic properties, i.e., the water retention curve and the hydraulic conductivity function, are often expensive and time-consuming, and represent a major obstacle to the application of simulation models. As a result, there is a great interest in developing pedotransfer functions (PTFs) that predict the soil hydraulic properties from more easily measured and/or routinely surveyed soil data, such as particle size distribution, bulk density (ρb), and soil organic carbon content (OC). In this study, application of PTFs was carried out for 359 Sicilian soils by implementing five different artificial neural networks (ANNs) to estimate the parameter of the van Genuchten (vG) model for water retention curves. The raw data used to train the ANNs were soil texture, ρb, OC, and porosity. The ANNs were evaluated in their ability to predict both the vG parameters, on the basis of the normalized root-mean-square errors (NRMSE) and normalized mean absolute errors (NMAE), and the water retention data. The Akaike’s information criterion (AIC) test was also used to assess the most efficient network. Results confirmed the high predictive performance of ANNs with four input parameters (clay, sand, and silt fractions, and OC) in simulating soil water retention data, with a prediction accuracy characterized by MAE = 0.026 and RMSE = 0.069. The AIC efficiency criterion indicated that the most efficient ANN model was trained with a relatively low number of input nodes.

ACS Style

Alessandro D’Emilio; Rosa Aiello; Simona Consoli; Daniela Vanella; Massimo Iovino. Artificial Neural Networks for Predicting the Water Retention Curve of Sicilian Agricultural Soils. Water 2018, 10, 1431 .

AMA Style

Alessandro D’Emilio, Rosa Aiello, Simona Consoli, Daniela Vanella, Massimo Iovino. Artificial Neural Networks for Predicting the Water Retention Curve of Sicilian Agricultural Soils. Water. 2018; 10 (10):1431.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Alessandro D’Emilio; Rosa Aiello; Simona Consoli; Daniela Vanella; Massimo Iovino. 2018. "Artificial Neural Networks for Predicting the Water Retention Curve of Sicilian Agricultural Soils." Water 10, no. 10: 1431.

Journal article
Published: 01 June 2018 in Geoderma
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Mirko Castellini; Simone Di Prima; Massimo Iovino. An assessment of the BEST procedure to estimate the soil water retention curve: A comparison with the evaporation method. Geoderma 2018, 320, 82 -94.

AMA Style

Mirko Castellini, Simone Di Prima, Massimo Iovino. An assessment of the BEST procedure to estimate the soil water retention curve: A comparison with the evaporation method. Geoderma. 2018; 320 ():82-94.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Mirko Castellini; Simone Di Prima; Massimo Iovino. 2018. "An assessment of the BEST procedure to estimate the soil water retention curve: A comparison with the evaporation method." Geoderma 320, no. : 82-94.