Infiltration into a frozen heavy clay soil

Abstract

Efforts were made to create different ice contents in three plots by adding different amounts of water before freezing as well as during winter. The measured infiltration rates were high, at maximum 8 mm/min, and the differences between the plots were small, although lower infiltration rates were found in plots with higher amounts of added water. Simulated infiltration rates never exceeded 0.1 mm/min. The discrepancy was probably due to water flow in the partially unfrozen crack system, which the model was not able to simulate, and to a time lag in the simulated soil temperature during thawing. Low infiltration rates were probably caused by high ice content in the cracks, originating from the added water. It should be possible to predict the infiltration capacity during thawing using a simple model which treats the crack system, the water content before freezing, and the number and intensity of warm spells during the winter. -from Authors