CHAPTER 4

(INFILTRATION )
 The process of entering rain water in
to soil strata of earth is called
INFILTRATION.
 The infiltrated water first meets the soil
moisture deficiency if any & excess
water moves vertically downwards to
reach groundwate table Thi
the r movement . is s
vertical
PERCOLATION. calle
 The infiltration capacity of soil is
defined as the maximum rate at which
it is capable of absorbing water and is
denoted by f.
 If i >= f then fa = f (depend upon soil
capacity )
 If i < f then fa = i (depend upon rainfall
intensity)
 where fa = actual
infiltration capacity i = rate
 For
Dry Soil – (infiltration rate) f is
more Moist Soil – (infiltration rate) f
is less

 Maximum rate of water

absorption by soil –Infiltration
Capacity

 Maximum capacity of water

 The rate at which soil is able to
absorb rainfall or irrigation .
 It is measured in (mm/hr) or
(inches/hr )
 Infiltrometer is used for measurement
of infiltration.
 If (i > f ) runoff occurs.

 Infiltration rate is connected to

hydraulic conductivity.
 Hydraulic conductivity is ability of a fluid
to flow through a porous medium.
It is determined by the size and shape of the
pore spaces in the medium & viscosity of
fluid.
OR
It is expressed as the volume of fluid that will
move in unit time under a unit hydraulic
gradient through a unit area measured
perpendicular to the direction of flow.
 SLOPE OF THE LAND:- The steeper the slope
(gradient), the less the infiltration or
seepage.
 DEGREE OF SATURATION:- The more saturated
the loose Earth materials are, the less the
infiltration.
 POROSITY:- Porosity is the
percentage of open space (pores and cracks) in
a earth surface.
 The greater the porosity, the greater the
amount of infiltration.
SPONGE CLAY
BRICK
 COMPACTION:- The clay surfaced soils are
compacted even by the impact of rain drops
which reduce infiltration. This effect is negligible
in sandy soils
 SURFACE COVER CONDITION:-
Vegetation:- Grasses, trees and other plant types
capture falling precipitation on leaves and
branches, keeping that water from being absorbed
into the Earth & take more time to reach in to the
ground.
 MORE the

vegetation
Slower the
Infiltration.
 Land Use:- Roads, parking lots, and buildings
create surfaces that are not longer permeable.
Thus infiltration is less.
 TEMPERATURE – At high temperature
viscosity decreases and infiltration increases

 Summer – increases
Infiltration decrease
 Winter – s
Infiltration

FURROW IRRIGATION
 OTHER FACTORS –

a) Entrapped air in pores- Entrapped air can

greatly affect the hydraulic conductivity at or
near saturation
b) Quality of water-Turbidity by colloidal water

c) Freezing- Freezing in winter may lock pores.

d) Annual & seasonal changes –According to change

in land use pattern. Except for Massive
deforestation & agriculture.
 Infiltrometer is a device used to measure the rate
of water infiltration into soil.
 This consist of metal cylinder
of diameter 25 cm to 30 cm
and
length of 50 cm to 60 cm, with both
ends open. length of cylinder= ( 2 x
diameter )

 It is driven into a level ground such that

about 10 cm of cylinder is above the
ground.

 Water is poured into the top part to a depth of

 The single ring involves driving a ring into the
soil and supplying water in the ring either at
constant head or falling head condition.

Constant head refers to condition where the

amount of water in the ring is always held
constant means the rate of water supplied
corresponds to the infiltration capacity.

Falling head refers to condition where water is

supplied in the ring, and the water is allowed to
drop with time. The operator records how much
water goes into the soil for a given time period.
 The major drawback of the single ring
infiltrometer or tube infiltrometer is that the
infiltrated water percolates laterally at the
bottom of the ring.
 Thus the tube is not truly
representing the area through which
infiltration is taking place.
 This is most commonly used flooding type
infiltrometer.
 it consists of two concentric rings driven into
soil uniformly without disturbing the soil to the
least to a depth of 15 cm. The diameter of rings
may vary between 25 cm to 60 cm.
 An inner ring is driven into the ground, and a
second bigger ring around that to help control the
flow of water through the first ring. Water is
supplied either with a constant or falling head
condition, and the operator records how much
water infiltrates from the inner ring into the soil
over a given time period.
 In this a small plot of land (2m X 4m) size, is provided
with a series of nozzles on the longer side with
arrangements to collect and measure the surface runoff
rate. The specially designed nozzles produce raindrops
falling from height of 2m and capable of producing
various intensities of rainfall. Experiments are
conducted under controlled conditions with various
combinations of intensities and durations and the
surface runoff rates and volumes are measured in each
case. Using the water budget equation infiltration rate
and its variation with time are estimate.
 P – R – G – E - T = ∆S

P = Precipitation, R = Surface runoff, G = net ground

flow,
water E = Evaporation, T =
Transpiration,
 plot of land (2m X 4m)
 The specially designed nozzles produce
raindrops falling from height of 2m
 under controlled conditions with various
combinations of intensities & durations and
the
 surface runoff rates and volumes are measured
in each case.

P – R – G – E - T = ∆S
 The infiltration rate is the velocity or speed at
which water enters into the soil.
 It is usually measured by the depth (mm) of the
water layer that can enter the soil in one hour
Or

 rate at which water enters the soil at the

surface.
It is
 denoted by f(t)INFILTRATION
CUMULATIVE . :-
depth of water Accumulated
infiltrating during given
time period. It is denoted by F(t).
t
F (t )  f (t ) d t dF
 f (t) 
0
 INFILTRATION CAPACITY RATE CURVE
as obtained from infiltrometer is
essentially observed to be decaying curve
(max to min)
 Some mathematical expressions to describe
the shape of curve, given by various
a) investigators are :-
Horton’s equation
b) Phillips equation
c) kostiakov
d) equation holtans
equation
a) Horton’s
equation :

ft= Infiltration
capacity(inches/hour) f0= Initial
infiltration capacity.
fc= Minimum infiltration capacity.
t = Time since the start of rainfall.
k = Constant depending upon soil type &
vegetable cover.
b) Phillips F=[ A+(s/2) x t-
equation
Here a =:Minimum infiltration 0.5
] capacity.
s = Initial infiltration capacity.

c) kostiakov F= (a x t
equation: n)

c) holtans F = ( afnp +
equation : fc )
 Here in above methods a & n are
constants depends on soil moisture &
vegetable cover
 For consistency in hydrological calculations, a
constant value of infiltration rate for the entire
storm duration is adopted. The average
infiltration rate is called the INFILTRATION
INDEX.
 The two commonly used infiltration
indices are the following:
o φ – index
o W – index
There are extremely used for the analysis of
major floods when the soil is wet and the
 This is defined as the rate of infiltration
above which
rainfall volume = runoff
volume(saturation).
 The
assum that
 all lo
For only.
determ Φ
is
unshaded to
that of surface the
runoff.
 Φ – INDEX for a catchment, during a storm depends on

 Soil type
 vegetation cover
 Initial moisture condition

 Application – Estimation of flood magnitudes

due to critical storms.
For the soil conditions in India for flood
producing storms (C.W.C) has found
relationship
Φ = (I - R)/24 , R
X I
= (α
1.2 )
 R = Runoff in cm from a 24 hr
rainfall of intensity I (cm/hr).
 α = Coefficient depends upon soil
type.

 In estimating maximum flood for

design purpose
, in absence of any other data ,
 This is the average infiltration rate during the time
when the rainfall intensity > infiltration rate.
W-index = (P – R – I a )/tf = ( F/t f )

where P = Total storm precipitation

(cm) R = Total surface runoff
(cm)
I a = Depression and interception losses (cm) t f =
Time period of runoff ( in hours)

 The w- index is more accurate than Φ – index because it

excludes the Depression & interception.
INTERCEPTION : it is a part of water caught
by the vegetation and subsequently
evaporated as
a) Surface flow
b) Stem flow

c) Evapotranspiration

For a given storm, the interception loss

is estimated as

Ii = Si + K i
Et
 Wher
e
 I i = Interception loss in
mm.
 S i = Interception storage varies from 0.25
to 1.25 mm depending on the nature of
vegetation
 K i =Ratio of vegetal surface area to its
projected area.
 E t= Evaporation rate in mm/h
during the precipitation.
 t =Duration of rainfall in hours.
  W-index is the refined version of Φ –
INDEX.
 Initial losses Ia are separated
from total abstractions.

 W-index = Φ–index I a

 The accurate estimation of W-index is

rather difficult to obtain hence Φ – index is
most commonly used.

 Since retention rate is very low both index

W & Φ are almost same.
 RUNOFF :- After infiltration remaining
precipitation on the surface is called
runoff. OR

Draining of precipitation from a catchment

area through a surface channel.
COMPONENTS OF RUNOFF

 According to source from which the flow is

derived the total runoff, consist of :-
 Surface runoff
 Subsurface runoff
 For the practical purpose of analysis of total
runoff.
 Direct runoff
COMPONENTS
OF RUNOFF
 SURFACE RUNOFF :- Surface runoff is the water
flow that occurs when the soil is infiltrated to full
capacity and excess water from rain , melt water,
or other sources flows over the land.
 It is combination of overland flow and
channel precipitation.

 SUB SURFACE RUNOFF :- Lateral movement

of water occurring to the soil above the water table.
It is also known as INTERFLOW.
 Interflow is the portion of the stream flow
contributed by infiltrated water that moves laterally
in the subsurface until it reaches a channel.
 OVERLAND FLOW :- When excess
precipitation moves over the land surfaces to reach
smaller stream channel.
 CHANNEL PRECIPITATION :- The precipitation
falling on water surface is called channel
precipitation. It is also called as stream flow.
 DIRECT RUNOFF :- Direct Runoff, which is
composed of contributions from surface runoff and
quick interflow. Unit hydrograph analysis refers
only to direct runoff.
 BASE FLOW :- Base flow, which is composed of
contributions from delayed interflow and
groundwater runoff.
 Runoff area and Runoff volume from an area
mainly influenced by following two factors :-
 CLIMATIC FACTORS.
 PHYSIOGRAPHICAL FACTORS.

 Climate factors associate with

characteristics which includes the
 Type of precipitation.

 rainfall Intensity.

 rainfall Duration.

 Antecedent precipitation.

 Direction of storm movement.

 Physiographic Factors both
includes watershed and channel suc
characteristics, as - h
 Size of Watershed.

 Orientation of Watershed.

 slope of Watershed.
 Land Use.
 Soil type.
 Type of drainage

network.
 Shape of catchment.
 TYPES OF PRECIPITATION:- state of precipitation
as liquid(rainfall), solid(hail) and gasseous(fog).

 RAINFALL INTENSITY:- Thus high intensities of

rainfall yield higher runoff,
where i>f (quick runoff) or i<f (slow runoff)

 DURATION OF RAINFALL:-
directly related to the volume of runoff be cause
infiltration rate of soil decreases with duration of
rainfall.
Therefore medium intensity rainfall even results in
considerable amount of runoff if duration is longer.
 DIRECTION OF PREVAILING WIND: - If
the
direction of prevailing wind is same as drainage
system, it results in peak flow. A storm moving in
the direction of stream slope produce a higher
peak
in shorter period of time than a storm moving in
opposite direction.
 ANTECEDENT MOISTURE OR SOIL
MOISTURE:- Magnitude of runoff yield depends
upon the initial moisture present in soil at the time
of rainfall. If the rain occurs after a long dry spell
then infiltration rate is more, hence it contributes
less runoff.
 SLOPE OF WATERSHED :- It has complex effect. It
controls the time of overland flow and time of
concentration of rainfall. E.g. sloppy watershed
results in greater runoff due to greater runoff
velocity.
 ORIENTATION OF WATERSHED :- This affects the
evaporation and transpiration losses from the area.
The north or south orientation, also affects the time
of melting of collected snow.
 LAND USE :- More vegetation ,Less runoff.
Less vegetation ,More runoff.
 SIZE OF WATERSHED:- A large watershed takes
longer time for draining the runoff to outlet than
smaller watershed.

 SOIL TYPE:- Infiltration rate vary with type of soil.

So runoff is great affected by soil type.
 Open textured soil or porous soil like sand

have high infiltration rate hence less runoff.

 fine grained soil and closely compacted soil such

as clay have high rate of runoff & less

infiltration rate.
TYPE OF DRAINAGE NETWORK –
More
tributaries and stream cause less overland
flow and surface runoff concentrates resulting
in high peaks quickly.

 SHAPE OF CATCHMENT :- Elongated

catchment are less subjected to high runoff
peaks.
the numerical indices like form factor, circularity
ratio, compactness coefficient will express
shape of catchment quantitatively.

YIELD : Yield means to produce
BASIN
gain. or any product from
resources
Gaining is called Yielding.
natural
 BASIN YIELD means quantity of water
available from a stream at a given point over a
specified duration of time.
 Time duration of yield would be a month
longer.
 Hydrological water balance equation for
any basin under consideration –
⌠Q dt = P- E - ∆
S
Q= instantaneous rate of flow from the basin.
P=Total average depth of precipitation over time
t E=Total evaporation and evapotranspiration
from
basin.
∆ S=change in storage.