Experimental Determination of the Relationship between Soil Structure Parameters and Indicators of Water Saturation and Filtration

Abstract

Abstract Modern climatic changes, in particular, changes in the amount and intensity of soil moisture (precipitation regime), have a significant impact on the water-physical properties of mineral soils. The state of soil’s solid phase and the mutual arrangement of its structural particles can be considered as the most significant factor for soil properties. Due to the structure of the soil, it is possible to influence the uniformity of the distribution of water in the soil sample not only in the vertical direction, but, partially, also in the horizontal direction, which will allow to resolve the issue of local flooding of individual areas and the bearing capacity of mineral soils. For the analysis of changes in the water-physical properties of the soil environment, the soil was considered as a homogeneous in density and continuous environment formed by a set of separate structural aggregates connected by cohesive forces. Based on the experimental results of the physical modelling, it was determined that the presence of structural soil macroaggregates with a size of 4 to 6 mm is the most appropriate for slowing down the vertical filtration of water saturating the lower soil layers, and the formation of structural soil macroaggregates of size larger than 6 to 10 mm for the predominant types of soils is necessary to increase the vertical filtration. Due to the size of the formed macroaggregates, it is possible to predict a change in the water-physical parameters of the soil, which then can be used for the assessment of the calculated characteristics of the soil environment.