Modelagem da infiltração de água no solo com modelo Green-Ampt

Abstract

Modeling water infiltration using physical based models, including the vertical variability of soil and rainfall intensity throughout a precipitation event, allows to estimate the runoff and infiltration measured in uncontrolled environments. In this study, the hypothesis was evaluated that, for natural rainfall conditions, a layered heterogeneous soil profile and at plot scale, the assumption of piston-type flow before and after the ponding allows to simulate satisfactorily the infiltration and runoff rates. Infiltration and runoff were simulated for ten events of rainfall, in plots of soil with heterogeneous profile and using the Green-Ampt model (piston type). The calibration of the model was done with the modification of only two parameters, the final degree of saturation and the initial soil water content, implying changes in other parameters of the model but preserving the physical relations. To evaluate model performance, statistical indexes were calculated by comparing the simulated cumulative runoff (Es) with the measured cumulative runoff (Eo). For seven of the ten events, only the adjustment of the degree of saturation was enough for good performance of the model. For the other three events an adjustment the degree of saturation and the initial soil water contente was necessary. Although some simulations did not reproduce the gradual increase in the measured runoff, the model was able to estimate runoff satisfactorily in all events, especially in those of longer duration.