A Comparison of the Effects of Solar Radiation on Sandy-Loam and Clay-Loam Soils with Convective Boundary Condition

A comparison of the effects of solar radiation on sandy-loam and clay-loam soils with convective boundary condition was made. The dimensional governing equations (the continuity, momentum and energy equations) were converted to non-dimensional form using some set of dimensionless quantities, which resulted to a pair of partial differential equations of second order. With the use of perturbation method, these equations were reduced to ordinary differential equation and then solved analytically. Using the numerical values of the thermal conductivities of sandy-loam and clay-loam soils, a good comparison was made between the effects of the solar radiation parameter and internal heat generation parameter on the two soil samples. These results were worked out with the use of Matlab R2009b and visibly displayed on graphs for clearer illustration. For a rise in the intensity of solar radiation and mounting internal heat, the temperature of the soils increased generally. However, the proportion of moisture content influenced the level and the rate at which the temperature is boosted in both soil samples.