In this paper, on the basis of hydrological properties of the pipe drainage from a clayey agricultural field with shrinkage cracks, water movement toward a drain pipe in the soil of a field is investigated quantitatively.
The test field was a lysimeter 30×70 m in area with a depth of O.7m. Drain pipe was installed at the bottom and through the center of the field. In addition, mole drains was installed orthogonally to the drain pipe at intervals of 1.2 m and at a depth of 0.35 m. The field consisted of heavy clay type soil. Many cracks in the subsoil existed, and the densities of the cracks were about 20m/m
2 at a depth of 0.1 m andabout 10m/m
2 at a depth of 0.6 m. So, structure of the subsoil was largely prismatic. The hydraulic conductivities of the subsoil without the cracks (soil matrix) were ranged from 10
-6 to 10
-7 cm/s.
Changes in flow rate of the pipe drainage from the field with time was measured according to the rainfall and after the field was ponded, when the water level was just near the soil surface (pipe drainage test). It was found that the recession property of the pipe drainage could be divided into two parts due to water level in the field.
In case that the water level was high, water flowed mainly through the mole drains toward the drain pipe, and flow rate of the pipe drainage decreased linearly with time. Thiswas similar to flow property from an orifice of a water tank, and could be interpreted by rapid flow through the mole drains and limit of the flow rate of the drain pipe.
In case that the water level was low, water flowed through the cracks in the subsoil toward the drain pipe and flow rate of the pipe drainage decreased exponentially with time. This could be approximated very well using Glover's equation, which are solutions of the differential equation of unsteady Darcy flow. Then, hydraulic conductivity was estimated to be (4-8) ×10
-2 cm/s.
As a result, it was concluded that the property of the pipe drainage from the field could be reflected by flow path of water toward the drain pipe according to the water level in the field, and that when water flowed through the cracks in the subsoil, the flow could be expressed by Darcy's law for a field as a whole and the actual hydraulic conductivity for the entire field was estimated in the order of 10
-2 cm/s.
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