"A series of one dimensional horizontal infiltration experiments were performed to investigate the predictive capabilities of the Kao and Hunt model. By modifying pristine laboratory apparatus, a reasonable range of soil temperatures was achieved. Experiments were run at approximately 5°C, 20°C, and 35°C. Distilled water was used as an infiltrating liquid and silica powder was used as soil. The infiltrating liquid was dispensed into the column at zero pressure head. The results of the experiments show that the model is adaptable to a range of temperature conditions by modifying terms for the liquid effects of the model, viscosity and surface tension. Experimental data and model predictions differed by 30 percent at most. Although the change in the rate of infiltration across the range of temperatures is perceivable, it is small in comparison to the effects caused by heterogeneity encountered in nature. "

O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar in vitro a capacidade seladora de alguns materiais odontológicos em retrobturações e para tanto, utilizou-se o MTA Ângelus® Branco, MBPc, CPM® e Pasta Lysanda®, através da análise da infiltração do Enterococcus faecalis. Noventa dentes humanos unirradiculares extraídos e instrumentados, tiveram seu ápice radicular cortado num plano perpendicular ao longo eixo onde foram preparadas cavidades retrógradas com 3mm de profundidade, para selamento com os materiais em teste já relacionados. Culturas específicas de Enterococcus faecalis foram preparadas e inoculadas nos condutos radiculares dos dentes previamente fixados em aparatos especiais que tinham do lado oposto um meio de cultura estéril e específico para a bactéria em questão, separados apenas pelas retrobturações dos grupos de materiais em teste. Diariamente, o meio estéril era checado para constatar sua possível turvação; caso ocorresse demonstrava a passagem bacteriana pela retrobturação. Os quatro grupos experimentais apresentaram ao menos um espécime com infiltração bacteriana logo nas primeiras 24 horas do teste, entretanto, o número de espécimes que apresentavam turvação foi diminuindo numericamente no decorrer do período experimental, que foi de 120 dias. Os cimentos MTA Ângelus® Branco, MBPc e CPM® mostraram capacidade seladora eficaz e também comportamento semelhante entre si, pois a turvação das poucas amostras ocorreu logo nos três primeiros dias. A pasta Lysanda® apresentou o maior número de amostras infiltradas (18), em maior período de tempo. / The objective of this study was to in vitro evaluate the sealing ability of some dental retrofilling material and for that, we used the White MTA Angelus®, MBPc, CPM® cements and Lysande® paste, by examining Enterococcus faecalis infiltration. Ninety human extracted single-rooted teeth were instrumented, had their apex cut perpendicular to the long axis where the retrograde cavities were prepared with 3 mm deep, sealed with the retrofilling materials used on the study. Specific cultures of Enterococcus faecalis were prepared and inoculated into the teeths root canals previously fixed in special apparatuses that had in their opposite side a sterile type of culture specific for the bacteria in question, separated only by the retrofilling materials under test. Daily, the sterile culture was checked to verify their possible turbidity; and when there was, it demonstrated the bacterials passage by the retrofilling material. All experimental groups showed at least one specimen with bacterial infiltration in the very first 24 hour testing, however, the number of specimens that showed turbidity had decreased numerically during the trial period of 120 days. White Angelus MTA®, CPM® and MBPC cements showed effective sealing capacity and also similar behavior among themselves, because the turbidity of the few samples occurred just in the first three days. Lysanda® paste presented the greatest number of samples infiltrated (18), in a greater period of time.

No description available.

With the dramatic expansion of pinyon-juniper woodlands over the last century, improved understanding of how these woodlands modify infiltration properties is needed, in order for land managers to make informed decisions on how to best manage their specific resources. However, current methods for measuring soil infiltration are often limited by low sample sizes and high experimental error, due to constraints associated with remote, non agricultural settings. This thesis first presents a scheme for automating and calibrating two commercially available infiltrometers, which allows collection of a large number of precise unsaturated infiltration measurements in a relatively short period of time. Secondly, a new method to precisely determine saturated hydraulic conductivity from small intact soil cores collected in the field is demonstrated. This method removes bias due to measurement error using a multiple head linear regression approach. Finally, hundreds of fine spatial scale measurements of soil sorptivity, unsaturated hydraulic conductivity, saturated hydraulic conductivity, soil water content, and other soil descriptive measurements along radial line transects extending out from the trunk of juniper (Juniperus osteosperma) and pinyon pine (Pinus edulis) trees. Within the subcanopy of these trees, interactions among litter material, root distributions, and hydrophobic soil significantly influence ecohydrologic properties by limiting and redirecting infiltration below the soil surface. Consequently, hydrophobicity appears to be a mechanism that promotes survival of woody vegetation in arid environments, through decreasing evaporation rates from the soil surface. We further demonstrate how differences in unsaturated infiltration and soil water content between the subcanopy and intercanopy zones are not discrete. Unsaturated infiltration was significantly lower within the subcanopy than in the intercanopy, and increased by eight-fold across a gradient extending outward from near the edge of the canopy to approximately two times the canopy radius. This gradient was not strongly related to soil moisture. In the intercanopy, increasing structural development of biological soil crust cover beyond this gradient was positivity correlated with infiltration capacity. Consequently, these results indicate that the spatial location of the trees should be considered in the assessment and modeling of woody plant and biological soil crust influence on infiltration capacity in a pinyon-juniper ecosystem.

Black carbon, a proxy for woodsmoke was measured indoors and outdoors for an occupied residence in Cambria, CA during the winter months of 2009. The purpose was to investigate the infiltration parameters: air exchange rate, deposition rate, and penetration factor. The second part of this study investigated the light absorption properties of organic carbon from residential wood combustion, the dominant fraction of woodsmoke. To assess woodsmoke variation, a study conducted parallel to the one presented in this thesis (Ward, 2009), a grid array of personal emission monitors (PEMS) and aethalometers were placed in a small area, approximately one square kilometer, within a community in Cambria, California between the months of November 2008 and March 2009. In this study, PEMS were used to collect particles on filters, which were analyzed for tracers for woodsmoke, including levoglucosan, elemental carbon, and organic carbon. Aethalometers measured black carbon, an indicator of carbon combustion. Additional PEMS and aethalometers were placed inside one residential home to better understand infiltration of woodsmoke. To model the infiltration of woodsmoke, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Air Infiltration Model was used. The home of interest was chosen such that indoor sources of particulate matter (PM) were minimal. This insures that all PM measured indoors was from outdoor sources, namely household chimneys. While indoor sources such as indoor fires and resuspension of particles were of concern, homes were chosen to minimize these sources. To investigate the infiltration parameters, four different solution techniques were used. Two of the solution techniques used SOLVER, a Microsoft Excel program, to minimize the sum of squared differences between calculated indoor concentrations and measured indoor concentrations, with all three parameters (air exchange rate, penetration, and deposition) as independent variables. The other two solution techniques used the Air Exchange Rate (AER) model from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) (Sherman & Grimsrud, 1980) and then used SOLVER to calculate deposition rate and penetration factor. Solution techniques 1 and 3, which used SOLVER to find all three parameters, had average penetration factors of 0.94 and 0.97 respectively, while solution techniques 2 and 4, which used the LBNL AER model had average penetration factors of 0.85 and 0.78 respectively. The deposition rates for solution techniques 1,2,3, and 4 were 0.10, 0.07, 0.08, and 0.04 hr-1 respectively. The air exchange rates varied throughout the study and ranged from 0.1 to 0.7 hr-1. The average indoor/outdoor ratio was also found to be 0.75. The aerosols derived from the study samples were found to have light absorption properties that were heavily spectrally dependent, which is consistent with expectations for wood combustion aerosols. Conversely, traffic derived aerosols are not found to be heavily spectrally dependent and follow the power law relationship of λ-1 whereas our samples followed λ-1.7 across all wavelengths and λ-2.25 for wavelengths less than 600 nm. The reason for the difference in spectral dependence is the presence of light absorbing organic carbon in wood smoke that is not found in diesel aerosols. The optical absorbances were also calculated for our samples and average values were found to be 3 and 1 m2/g for 370 and 450 nm wavelengths respectively.

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / The current study aimed at providing groundwater recharge estimates in a fractured rock aquifer environment that is occupied by pine plantation and indigenous forests in order to improve the understanding of the effect of pine plantation forests on recharge. This was based on the argument that for the trees to affect recharge, they do not necessarily need to tap directly from the saturated zone, as vegetation may indirectly affect groundwater recharge by interception and abstracting the infiltrating water in the vadose zone before reaching the water table. The study was conducted along the Southern Cape coastline of Western Cape Province in South Africa. This area is 7 km east of George in an area characterized by the occurrence of the Table Mountain Group aquifer. The research presented in this thesis formed part of a Water Research Commission (WRC) project titled “The Impacts of Commercial Plantation Forests on Groundwater Recharge and Streamflow”. To achieve the aim of the current study, three objectives were formulated: i) to characterize the dominantly occurring recharge mechanism ii) to determine long-term groundwater recharge estimates, and iii) to assess the effect of plantation forests on groundwater recharge. As part of characterizing the dominant recharge mechanism in the area, a conceptual groundwater recharge model of the area was developed to explain the recharge mechanism and facilitate an improved understanding of recharge estimates. The model was based on a theoretical understanding and previous investigations conducted in the study area. Methods such as environmental stable isotopes and hydrochemistry were used to refine the conceptual model by identifying the source of recharge and the dominant recharge mechanism. The occurrence and density of lineaments were used as a proxy to delineate potential recharge zones in the area. Recharge was estimated using the Rainfall Infiltration Breakthrough (RIB) and the Chloride Mass Balance (CMB) methods. Additionally, the effect of plantation forests on recharge was assessed using the HYDRUS-2D numerical model. The recharge estimates derived from the RIB and CMB techniques were verified using the published maps by Vegter (1995).

Rain-induced sanitary sewer overflow due to high infiltration is a significant challenge for many utilities, including Pinellas County utilities. The main aim of this study is to develop a hydraulic model to analyze the performance of the existing sanitary sewer system, especially during intense rainfall events. To calculate the flow inputs for the model, a times series analysis was performed to separate the inflow and infiltration from the actual sewer flow. Using the Stevens-Schutzbach method, daily Base Infiltration (BI) was calculated and was subtracted from the total observed flow to give the Dry Weather Flow (DWF). Adjusting the DWF by the diurnal pattern, residual flows were calculated to test the flow variability in the system and compare to rain events (> 0.5 inches); the residual flow help deduced if there is a significant surface inflow into the system. Using PC SWMM as the hydraulic model, the average DWF was simulated using the average value and the diurnal daily and weekend pattern during the dry weather periods. The calculated BI was added to the model as a direct contribution from the statistical model. Both the average value of DWF and BI were distributed throughout the system for simulation. The simulated flow shows that few downstream manholes surcharges during extreme rainfall events and remained surcharge for over 48 hours. Cross-correlation analysis suggests the rainfall of the past seven days still impacts the BI, with the highest impact on days 1, 4 and 5. The correlogram results were used to develop a regression model, to predict the BI for different rainfall depths, which in turn was used for hydraulic performance analysis. Increasing the rainfall depths and routing the flow using PC SWMM, showed that the hydraulic grade line, number and hours of the surcharged manholes increases as total rainfall depths increases, but no sanitary sewer overflow. Sanitary sewer overflow occurred at the lift station with a design capacity of 200 GPM for all increased rainfall depths. Furthermore, the analysis results can help locate areas where overflow is more likely to occur, and can also help plan and implement a cost-effective rehabilitation program for the existing sewer network.

Increased urbanization causes pervious greenfields to be converted to impervious areas increasing stormwater runoff. Most of the urban floods occur because existing drainage systems are unable to handle peak flows during rainfall events. During a storm event, flood runoff will carry contaminants to receiving waters such as rivers and creeks. Engineers and scientists have combined their knowledge to introduce innovative thinking to manage the quality of urban runoff and harvest stormwater for productive purposes. The introduction of pervious pavements addresses all the principles in Water Sensitive Urban Design. A pervious pavement is a load bearing pavement structure that is permeable to water. The pervious layer sits on the top of a reservoir storage layer. Pervious pavements reduce the flood peak as well as improve the quality of stormwater at source before it is transported to receiving waters or reused productively. To be accepted as a viable solution, understanding of the influence of design parameters on the infiltration rate (both from the bedding and the sub-base) as well as strength of the pavement requires to be established. The design of a particular pavement will need to be customized for different properties of sub layer materials present in different sites. In addition, the designs will have to meet local government stormwater discharge standards. The design of drainage systems underneath pervious pavements will need to be based on the permeability of the whole pervious system. The objectives of the research project are to: • Understand the factors influencing infiltration capacities and percolation rates through the pervious surface as well as the whole pavement structure including the bedding and the sub-base using a laboratory experimental setup. • Obtain relationships between rainfall intensity, infiltration rate and runoff quantity based on the sub-grade material using a computational model to assist the design of pervious pavements. A laboratory scale pavement was constructed to develop relationships between the surface runoff and the infiltration volume from a pervious pavement with an Eco-Pavement surface. 2 to 5mm crushed gravel and 5 to 20mm open graded gravel were chosen as the bedding and sub-base material. Initial tests such as dry and wet density, crushing values, hydraulic conductivity, California Bearing Ratio tests for aggregate material were conducted before designing and constructing the pavement model. A rainfall simulator with evenly spaced 24 sprays was set up above the pervious pavement surface. The thesis presents design aspects of the laboratory scale pavement and the tests carried out in designing the pavement and the experimental procedure. The Green and Ampt model parameters to calculate infiltration were obtained from the laboratory test results from aggregate properties. Runoff results obtained from rainfall simulator tests were compared with the Green and Ampt infiltration model results to demonstrate that the Green and Ampt parameters could be successfully calculated from aggregate properties. The final infiltration rate and the cumulative infiltration volume of water were independent of the rainfall intensity once the surface is saturated. The model parameters were shown to be insensitive to the final infiltration capacity and to the total amount of infiltrated water. The Green and Ampt infiltration parameters are the most important parameters in designing pervious pavements using the PCSWMMPP model. The PCSWMMPP model is a Canadian model built specially for designing pervious pavements. This is independent of the type of sub-grade (sand or clay) determining whether the water is diverted to the urban drainage system (clay sub-grade) or deep percolation into the groundwater system (sand sub-grade). The percolation parameter in Darcy's law is important only if the infiltrated water recharges the groundwater. However, this parameter is also insensitive to the final discharge through the subgrade to the groundwater. The study concludes by presenting the design characteristics influencing runoff from a pervious pavement depending on the rainfall intensity, pavement structure and sub-grade material and a step-by step actions to follow in the design.

Cette thèse consiste en l'établissement d'une méthode d'estimation des paramètres hydrodynamiques du sol par le biais d'une modélisation inverse d'une infiltration à disque pendant laquelle des mesures de résistivité électrique sont réalisées dans la zone du bulbe d'infiltration. Après avoir suggéré l'intérêt et les avantages d'une telle méthode, on a démontré, par le biais d'une étude numérique que la méthode peut conduire aux résultats escomptés. Pour cela des représentations de la fonction objective ont été proposées, et des scénarios d'inversion ont été testés. 3 paramètres hydrodynamiques et 2 paramètres pétrophysiques, qui assurent via la relation de Rhoades et al. (1976) la correspondance entre la teneur en eau volumique du sol et sa résistivité électrique, ont été inversés. On a montré que la méthode est adaptée à la détermination des paramètres hydrodynamiques, mais pas à celle des paramètres pétrophysiques. Enfin, des expériences de terrain et des inversions numériques associées ont été réalisées. Pour les 3 sols de textures différentes testés, 4 scénarios d'inversion ont été proposés. Il a été observé, que dans le cas du sol limoneux la méthode conduit vers une estimation correcte des paramètres hydrodynamiques, que les paramètres de Rhoades ne peuvent être inversés qu'avec une incertitude très large, tout comme la dispersivité. Pour les sols sableux et argileux, les paramètres hydrodynamiques ont été optimisés avec des incertitudes plus importantes que dans le cas du sol limoneux. Pour le sol argileux, l'optimisation de la dispersivité s'est révélée impossible. A ce stade de développement, la méthode semble bien adaptée pour les sols de texture moyenne.

Cette étude s'inscrit dans le cadre de la modélisation distribuée à base physique des interactions entre processus de surface et de subsurface. Une nouvelle approche de modélisation, dite darcéenne multidomaine , est présentée. Les équations de Richards et de l'onde diffusive sont respectivement utilisées pour décrire le processus d'infiltration et de ruissellement. L'équation de l'onde diffusive est transformée en une équation de diffusion non linéaire similaire à l'équation de Richards. L'écoulement d'eau à la surface du sol est alors assimilé à un écoulement dans un milieu poreux aux propriétés particulières. Une couche de milieu poreux, appelée couche de ruissellement, est introduite dans le domaine de calcul. L'ensemble de la dynamique surface/subsurface est alors décrite dans un continuum darcéen par une seule équation de Darcy non linéaire avec des paramètres domaine-dépendants. Cela permet notamment d'imposer une continuité hydraulique entre l'eau de surface et l'eau de subsurface. Un modèle de transport permettant de s'attaquer à la problématique de la séparation d'hydrogramme est également implémenté. Le modèle développé est évalué à partir de cas tests classique de la littérature. Une analyse de sensibilité ainsi qu'une étude détaillée du ruissellement hortonien sont ensuite présentée. Enfin, l'expérience réalisée par l'IRD sur la parcelle de Thies au Sénégal est reproduite. Les résultats sont encourageants et laisse penser que l'approche de modélisation développée permet de reproduire correctement à petite échelle la dynamique fortement couplée des systèmes hydrologiques de type parcelle ou versants.