To get a clearcut insight into the evaporation features of sand beds when we use them for crop raising, experiments on the evaporation procedure of sand beds and the relationship between the water contents of the bed under full saturation and under field capacity conditions were performed. In addition, some mechanical properties of particles composing sand beds were investigated.
1. At bed depth of 10cm, two kinds of sands,
Very coarse sand (the particle size was
ca. 2-1mm in diameter) and
Fine sand (
ca. 0.2-0.02mm), attained to similary high evaporation ratios, ranging from 95 to 65% as their surface were drier. In the bed of larger sand particles (
Very coarse), the surface dried more rapidly than that of the bed of smaller particles (
Fine). The water content at that occasion was about 60% in the
Very coarse and about 20% in the
Fine sand.
2. When sand beds were set at 2cm in depth, there were no differences in the evaporation ratio, the time of surface drying, and the water content among
Very corse, Coarse (1-0.5mm),
Medium (0.5-0.2mm) and
Fine.
3. The relationship between the evaporation ratio (
Y) and the water content (
X) at the commencement of drying on the surface of the sand bed of 10cm in depth were as follows:
Very coarse 100% ……
Y=1.56
X-32.7
Coarse 100% ……
Y=1.15
X-2.99
Medium 100% ……
Y=0.498
X+48.6
Fine 100% ……
Y=0.06
X+89.48
Very coarse 20%+
Fine 80% ……
Y=0.113
X+98.52
Very coarse 80%+
Fine 20% ……
Y=1.028
X+4.33
4. In the case of
Very coarse sand, the water content from the upper to lower layer of the sand bed showed a remarkable difference; while in the case of
Fine sand bed; it showed only a small change. When the average water content was
ca. 60%, the surface layer of
Very coarse sand bed was quite dry and the layer below 6cm from the surface was saturated with water. On the other hand, in a similar water content,
ca. 60%,
Fine sand bed retained
ca. 25% of the water on its surface and almost 100% in the layer situating under 8cm or more in depth. Furthermore, when the average water content in the beds was close to 30%, the amount of water contained in sand layers showed a definitely decreasing pattern from upper to lower. In the bed of
Very coarse sand the layer below 9cm from the surface was quite saturated, while in that of the
Fine sand, drying occurred at first in the near surface layer, and in the layer at 10cm deep from the surface the water content was
ca. 50% at the highest.
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