Numerical Simulation of Water Flow and Solute Transport to Tile Drains

When numerical models are used for estimating the water flow and solute transport at field scale, modelers are confronted with the issue of spatial variability of soil hydraulic properties. In this paper, the concept of effective soil hydraulic parameters is used to study water and solute transport to tile drains using a three-dimensional deterministic model. A direct averaging approach is used to interpret the field as a single equivalent soil. The results obtained using the direct averaging approach and heterogeneous soils were compared. It is concluded that effective soil hydraulic properties can be used for heterogeneous soils in numerical simulation models to simplify calculations.