Redistribution of moisture in porous materials after infiltration: 2

Youngs, E. G.

Moisture profiles during the redistribution after vertical infiltration to various depths into two inert porous materials were obtained using an apparatus employing thermo-electric elements to estimate moisture content. By an extension of an analysis used in the horizontal case, the initial transition moisture content from the draining to the wetting zone was calculated from the hydrological properties of the porous materials for various infiltration depths and compared with experimental values. This indicated that the redistribution of moisture depends more critically on infiltration depth for porous materials with steep wetting moisture characteristics; that is, for materials with limited pore-size distributions. The experimental moisture profiles are discussed.