An analytical solution for vertical infiltration in homogeneous bounded profiles

Abstract

In this study, we derive an analytical solution to address the problem of vertical infiltration within 1D homogeneous bounded profiles. Initially, we consider the Richards equation together with Dirichlet boundary conditions. We assume constant diffusivity and linear dependence between the conductivity and the water content, resulting to a linear partial differential equation of diffusion type. To solve the simplified initial boundary value problem over a finite interval, we apply the unified transform, commonly known as the Fokas method. Through this methodology, we obtain an integral representation of the solution that can be efficiently and directly computed numerically, yielding a convergent scheme. We examine various cases, and we compare our solution with well-known approximate solutions. This work can be seen as a first step to derive analytical solutions for the far more difficult and complex problem of modelling water flow in heterogeneous layered soils.