Analytical model of infiltration under constant-concentration boundary conditions

Known integrable models for ID flow in unsaturated soil have a rescaled soil water diffusivity that is either constant or proportional to C(C - 1)/(C - Θ) ², where Θ is the degree of saturation and C > 1 is constant. With a wider more realistic range of hydraulic conductivity functions than has been used in this context before, a formal series solution is developed for infiltration, subject to constant-concentration boundary conditions. A readily programmed iteration algorithm, applicable for any value of C, is used to construct many coefficients of the infiltration series without requiring any numerical integration. In particular, for either C-1 small or 1/C small, several infiltration series coefficients are constructed as formal power series in C - 1 or in 1/C, for which we construct a number of terms explicitly. In the limit as the diffusivity approaches a delta function, the infiltration coefficients are obtained in simpler closed form. All but the sorptivity depend on the form of the conductivity function.