Evaluating Some Infiltration Models Under Different Soil Texture Classes and Land Uses

The main purpose of this study was to estimate the coefficients of different equations of water infiltration into soil, including Philip, Kostyakov, Kostyakov- Louise, Horton, and SCS to estimate the infiltration rate and potential for runoff in long-duration rainfall in two land uses (rangeland and agricultural) and three soil textures (loam, clay loam ,and silty clay loam). These models were fitted to the measured infiltration data to estimate the model parameters and find a suitable model for this region. After estimating the parameters, the infiltration rates for 2, 4 and 24 hours were calculated using the infiltration rate equations of each model. For this purpose, the infiltration data were obtained by double rings method from 16 point of different regions in the basin. The parameters of these models were then obtained, using least square optimization method. In order to evaluate the accuracy of the models, the coefficient of determination (R2), Nash Sutcliffe (NSE) efficiency, root mean square error (RMSE) and mean error (ME) were calculated. Comparisons of the mean of evaluation statistics using the Tukey method showed that the method of estimating cumulative infiltration in the Kostyakov-Louise model had a more-stable trend compared to other models and was evaluated as the best in most soil texture classes and land uses. Means comparisons showed that despite the differences between the models in estimating the cumulative infiltration, the differences between the models in estimating the infiltration rate were not significant and were in the same group. Regardless of the model used, soil texture and land use are the two main factors affecting the final infiltration rate. According to the results, the rate of infiltration with time in agricultural use has significant changes, such that, in this use, it was initially high and decreased sharply with increasing time from 2 hours to 24 hours. In order to reduce the weakening effects of agricultural activities on soil quality and to increase the infiltration rate in long-duration rainfall and reduce runoff, management activities such as expansion of conservation agriculture, no-tillage, and minimum tillage farming operations will play a very effective role.