Evaluation of closed-form analytical models for predicting unsaturated soil hydraulic properties

Knowledge of the unsaturated soil hydraulic properties is essential requirement for prediction of seepage flow and contaminant transport through the vadose zone. Unfortunately, these parameters are usually time consuming and expensive to measure in the field and laboratory. At the present condition, there are few data accumulation for Japanese soils. In this paper, van Genuchten's closed-form expressions are described to estimate unsaturated soil hydraulic properties. To evaluate the adequacy of these expressions, comparisons are performed between observed and calculated unsaturated hydraulic properties for typical Japanese soils.