ESTIMATION OF SOIL-MOISTURE CHARACTERISTICS FROM MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF SOILS

Soil-moisture characteristics can be established directly from the physical properties of soils and a single measurement of water potential, φ, in bars, at some moisture content, φ, on a volume basis. The method is applicable for those soils for which the φ - θ relations can be expressed as φ = φe (θ/θo)-β, where φe is the air-entry water potential in bars, θo is the saturated water content in volume per volume, and β is an empirically determined constant. The procedure is useful when a reliable soil moisture characteristic curve is not available. We noted considerable agreement between estimated values using this procedure and those experimentally determined and published for eight soils.