Phosphorus transport through a saturated soil column: Comparison between physical modeling and HYDRUS-3D outputs

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to understand Phosphorus transport from soil columns at different water flux densities and to compare computer simulation results using HYDRUS-3D and the physical model against column-experiment data. Towards that end, two water flux densities (0.0075, 0.0065 m sec-1) and P concentration rates (33 mol cm-3) were used. The soil used has a silty clay- loam texture. The numerical model (HYDRUS-3D) successfully predicted P transport in the present experiment. Overall, the HYDRUS-3D model successfully simulated the water flow in the columns; however, it overestimated the final adsorbed P04 concentrations in the soil. The present column experiment is useful for assessing relative behavior of P in increasing the movement of phosphorus ions out of the soil profile and into ground waters. © 2011 Asian Network for Scientific Information.