Vol. 12, Issue 9 (2023)

Author(s):
Shubham Kindo, Narendra Agrawal, A Shori and MP Tripathi

Abstract:
An important component of the hydrological cycle is infiltration. In order to support the growth of plants, it contains soil moisture within the vadose zone. In this work, the validity of four infiltration models was compared to actual results obtained from a double-ring infiltrometer. The infiltration rate in the Chhattisgarh plains was measured at eight separate sites. The effectiveness of the models was evaluated by employing various established infiltration models, such as Horton's, Philip's, Kostiakov's, and Green-Ampt. Subsequent to fitting these models, their performance was assessed using the Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), coefficient of determination (R²), and root mean square error (RMSE). Comparing RMSE, NSE, and R² among the models, Philip's model shows the highest precision with RMSE values from 0.8433 to 1.8642, R² values between 0.935 and 0.981, and NSE values from 0.9347 to 0.9814 (measured in Cm/h). This outperforms Green-Ampt, Horton's, and Kostiakov's models. Philip's model's estimation of the infiltration rate is crucial for the planning and construction of irrigation systems. Therefore, Philip's model might be utilized to generate infiltration information in Chhattisgarh plains soils in the absence of measured infiltration data.