EVALUATION OF ANALYTICAL MODELS FOR PREDICTION OF HEIGHT OF CAPILLARY RISE FROM WATER TABLE IN DIFFERENT POROUS MEDIA

He prediction of the capillary rise height in the unsaturated porous media above the water table is important in hydrology, water management, contaminant transport and geotechnical engineering studies. The heights of the capillary rise were predicted by the two analytical models; one based on the exponential function of the hydraulic conductivity proposed by Gardner alongwith the use of its parameter equivalence with Mua lem - based van Genuchten hydraulic conductivity function, and the other based on the power - law conductivity function of Brooks - Corey derived with the use of corresponding soil water retention function in the Burdine model of relative hydraulic conductivity. The parameters of these models were independently evaluated from the corresponding soil water retention functions using the non - linear least squares optimization technique. The predicted heights of the capillary rise were compared with the observed capill ary rise height and it was observed that the predicted heights of the capillary rise were found to be more closer to the observed capillary rise height in the medium - textured porous media of sandy loam and loam soils and moderately fine - textured silty clay loam soil. More deviations between the observed and predicted capillary rise heights were observed in the coarse - textured soil