ESTIMATION OF SOIL-MOISTURE CHARACTERISTICS FROM MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF SOILS

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Abstract
Soil-moisture characteristics can be established directly from the physical properties of soils and a single measurement of water potential, .psi., in bars, at some moisture content, .theta., on a volume basis. The method is applicable for those soils for which the .psi. - .theta. relations can be expressed as .psi. = .psi.e (.theta./.theta.o)-.beta., where .psi.e is the air-entry water potential in bars, .theta.o is the saturated water content in volume per volume, and .beta. is an empirically determined constant. The procedure is useful when a reliable soil moisture characteristic curve is not available. Agreement was noted between estimated values using this procedure and those experimentally determined and published for 8 soils.