Applicability of wetting front advancing method in the sand to silty clay soils

Abstract The unsaturated hydraulic conductivity function is one of the keys to solve unsaturated seepage issues, and it is difficult to be obtained via the laboratory test considering the time involved. In this study, a series of laboratory tests, include capillary rise test and downward infiltration test, were conducted to obtain the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity function of six kinds of soils varies from sand to silty clay by using the wetting front advancing method. The similarities and differences between instantaneous profile method and wetting front advancing method were discussed. The interpretation of data, demand details and the aspect that notice in test process, and application of the capillary rise test and downward infiltration test were summarized and analyzed. The demerits and its countermeasures for the method were given.