Hydrologic Processes:

Evaporation and Infiltration

CIVENG 411. Engineering Principles of Water Resources Design

Instructor: Qian Liao

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee
Spring 2019
 Evaporation
• Evaporation is the transform of water from the liquid phase to the
vapor (gaseous) phase.
– Water molecules bond loosely with each other to create the liquid
water
– When heat is applied to the liquid, water molecules moves around
faster and apart
– Eventually some molecules escaped as vapor
– Vapor can condense and transform back into the liquid water
• Two thirds of the precipitation on land surfaces is returned to the
atmosphere through evaporation
• 90% of all atmospheric moisture originates as evaporation from
oceans, seas, lakes, rivers and wetlands. The remaining 10% is
released from plants through evaportranspiration
• Water vapor is one of the two most abundant greenhouse gases
(the other one is CO2).
 Physics of Evaporation
• Evaporation depends on
(1) energy
– Latent heat (lv): the heat absorbed (or given up) during vaporization
(or condensation) of a unit mass of water (or vapor)

lv (J/kg)  2.501106  2370T (C o )

– Dimension of latent heat [Energy/Mass]

(2) aerodynamics: transport of water vapor away from the

evaporative surface: wind, turbulence, etc. Negative gradient of
water vapor concentration (or pressure) above the evaporative
surface is necessary for vaporization
 Measurement of Evaporation Rate
Weather Service Class • Evaporation rate: mass of evaporated
A Evaporation pan
water per unit time [Mass/Time]
• In hydrology evaporation is
represented as the change of water
depth per unit time [Depth/Time]
Pan evaporation rate:
dh
Eº
dt
Dh Mass evaporation rate:

h Dm  r w ADh
Dm Dh
A m v   rw A
Dt Dt
 r w AE
Radiation and Heat Balance in the Atmosphere
and at the Earth’s Surface
 Energy Balance Method
Ri, Total Solar
Radiation
aRi, Reflection/absorption,
where a is the albedo

Latent heat
Re, Reflection,
(1a)Ri emission Sensible
heat (Hs) • At equilibrium state:

Rn=Hs+lvrwE+G
Control • Neglecting Hs and G:
volume Rn=(1-a)Ri –Re,
Net radiation

Ground heat flux (G)

 Aerodynamic Method
• Assume: similarity between the transport of momentum (air velocity) and
transport of mass (water vapor). Both are due to turbulent eddies
produce by wind.
• Profile of wind velocity U(z) has similar shape with that of the vapor
pressure deficit eas-ea(z).
• The flux of water vapor is proportional to the flux of momentum 
Thornthwaite-Holzman equation.
z
U(z)~ln(z) ea eas-ea

Turbulent eddies cause eas, saturation

vertical exchange of vapor pressure
momentum, temperature,
moisture, etc.
 Aerodynamic Method (cont.)
z U(z) ea eas-ea

ea2
U2
z2

Therefore, evaporation as a result of boundary layer turbulence:

0.102U 2
Ea  B(eas  ea 2 )
where B 2
z0 : height of
é æ z 2 öù surface roughness
êlnçç ÷÷ú
ë è z0 øû

Saturation vapor pressure depends on temperature:

æ 17.27T ö
eas  611expç ÷, where T( o C) is the air temperature
è 237.7 + T ø
 Combined Method
• Evaporation = weighted average of evaporation estimated
from energy balance method and that from the aerodynamic
method
– For small areas with detailed meteorological data

æ D ö æ g ö
E  çç ÷÷ Er + çç ÷÷ Ea
è D+g ø è D+g ø
de 4098eas g = 66.8(Pa/oC),
D  as 
dT (237.3 + T )2 the Psychrometric constant

– For very large area, solar energy is the dominate factor

that afffects rate of evaporation (Priestley-Taylor method)

æ D ö
E  1.3çç ÷÷ Er
è D+g ø
 Example
• For a particular location the average net radiation is 185 W/m2, air
temperature is 28.5oC. Determine the evaporation rate using Priestly-
Taylor method
 Evapotranspiration
• ASCE Penman-Monteith Model
– Assumptions: transpiration of water through leaves is primarily
composed of two serial processes:
1. transport of water through the surface of the leaves (through
leaf stomata) against the canopy resistance, rs;
2. turbulent transport against an aerodynamic resistance, ra.

é es  ea ù
ê D ( Rn  G ) + r a c p ú
1 ê ra ú
ET 
r w lv ê æ rs ö ú
ê D + g çç1 + ÷÷ ú
êë è ra ø úû
Storm-Rainfall-Runoff

Infiltration:
•Water fills soil pores
and moves down
through soil
•It is the major form of
hydrological abstraction
after rainfall.
•It starts before the
runoff begins and
continues afterwards.
Subsurface water zones and processes
•Infiltration is an unsaturated groundwater flow

•Speed of infiltration depends on condition of the soil surface, soil porosity,

hydraulic conductivity, precedent moisture content
 Infiltration Process
• Infiltration rate f (t) : the
rate at which water
infiltrates into soil from the
surface (per unit area) F(t)

• Cumulative infiltration rate

F (t) : the accumulated
depth of water infiltrated
during a given period of
time f(t)

F(t) t
 Unsaturated Groundwater Flow
• Porosity:
Volume of voids
h
Total volume
• Soil moisture content
Volume of water
q
Total volume
0 £ q £ h, q  h for saturated condition
• Residual moisture content (after thoroughly drained):

Volume of water that can not be drained

qr 
Total volume

• Effective porosity

q e  Porosity - Residule moisture = h  q r

• Effective saturation
Unsaturated Groundwater Flow (cont.)
• Suction force
Friction – Water is attracted to soil particle
Suction
surface through electrostatic force
– Only exists under unsaturated
conditions
– Direction of suction: against the
Gravity gradient of moisture

• Darcy’s law for unsaturated flow

Darcy velocity (flow rate per unit area of cross-section):

Where, total head (h) = Suction head (y) + Gravity head (z)

Conductivity K may depend on moisture content K  K(q )

Suction head y may also be a function of moisture content y  y (q )
 A Simplified Model
• Green-Ampt method
Infiltration rate = Darcy flux
Assume: Continuous Ponding dh y (at the wetting front) + L
f  q  K K
dz L
Cumulative infiltration

F is related to f by
Saturated

Unsaturated

Integrate this equation, we have

Green-Ampt Infiltration Parameters
 Example 7.4.3
• Use the Green-Ampt method to evaluate the infiltration rate and
cumulative infiltration depth for a silty clay soil at 0.1-hr increments up to
6 hrs from the beginning of infiltration. Assume an initial effective
saturation (Se) of 20% and continuous ponding.
Effective porosity for silty clay qe = h  q r  0.423
Suction head at the wetting front for silty clay, y = 29.22 (cm)

Conductivity for silty clay, K = 0.05 (cm/hr)

What is the deficit of moisture content (Dq) at the wetting front?

Initial effective moisture Se =0.2

qi - qr q i - qr
Se    0.2
h - qr qe
 Example 7.4.3 (cont.)
Iteratively solve:

yDq + F æ 9.89 ö
f K  0.05ç + 1÷
F è F ø
Use circular reference in Excel for iteration
Infiltration
Infiltration Green-Ampt Rate, f
Time (hr) Depth, F (cm) Equation (cm/hr)
0 0 0 0
0.1 0.317820217 0.317820391 1.60591109
0.2 0.451438619 0.451438619 1.14538701
0.3 0.554747314 0.554747314 0.94139684
0.4 0.642370807 0.642370807 0.8198046
0.5 0.719971428 0.719971428 0.73683281
0.6 0.790453081 0.790453081 0.67559058
0.7 0.855540766 0.855540766 0.627997
0.8 0.916358386 0.916358386 0.58963603
0.9 0.973686583 0.973686583 0.55786363
1 1.028093722 1.028093722 0.53098728
1.1 1.080008861 1.080008861 0.50786661
1.2 1.129765325 1.129765325 0.48770152
1.3 1.177628184 1.177628184 0.46991183
1.4 1.223812348 1.223812348 0.45406522
1.5 1.268494929 1.268494929 0.43983207
1.6 1.311823941 1.311823941 0.42695607
1.7 1.353924581 1.353924581 0.41523452
1.8 1.39490387 1.39490387 0.40450472
1.9 1.434854146 1.434854146 0.39463433
2 1.473855735 1.473855735 0.38551452
 Ponding Time (tP)
• Infiltration rate (f) decreases
with time
• Assume t = 0 when it starts to
rain (no ponding at the
beginning)
• t = tP when it starts to pond.
• Before ponding, infiltration rate
(f) = rainfall rate (i), all tP
precipitation infiltrates into the
soil. (i.e., infiltration rate is ìi  f when t < t P
limited by precipitation) í
• After ponding starts, infiltration îi > f when t > t P
rate is determined by the
Green-Ampt equation (i.e.,
infiltration rate is limited by the
soil porous capacity)
 Ponding Time (cont.)
• Assume a constant rainfall intensity (i)

– Cumulative infiltration at the start of ponding (t=tP)

F(t  t P )  ft P  it P
– According to Green-Ampt equation, infiltration rate with ponding
at the inception of ponding

– Solve for tP, we have

Richards’ Equation for Infiltration
• Control volume analysis: conservation of mass
¶q ¶q
+ 0
¶t ¶z
Darcy’s law
¶y
q  K K
¶z
Both y and K depends on moisture q.
dy
Define the diffusivity D  K
dq
¶q
then q  D  K
¶z

Richards’ equation

¶q ¶ æ ¶q ö
 çD + K÷  0
¶t ¶z è ¶z ø
 Horton’s Equation
• Assume K and D are independent of moisture content
• Solution of Richard’s equation: moisture content decays
exponentially:
f
¶q ¶q2
Solve PDE D 0 For q
¶t ¶z 2
f0

The infiltration rate f can be written as

¶q
f (t )  D
¶t z 0 fc

 f c + ( f 0  f c )exp( kt )
t

Where k is the decay constant, f0 is the initial infiltration

rate, and fc is the constant final infiltration rate
Double Ring Infiltrometer