Unsaturated soil variables response within the vadose zone at the UNIWA field station

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4. Unsaturated soil variables response within the vadose zone at the UNIWA field station

The unsaturated soil variables response, saturation degree, water content and suction, in Mediterranean to continental climates within the vadose zone vary between the extremes of excessive evaporationdry season and floodingwet season, in which soil suction takes the lowest value, zero, at the near surface soil. The University of West Attica field station at the backyard of Soil Mechanics Laboratory consists of two monitoring pits. Pit 1 constructed in July 2023 includes three porous block sensors and tensiometers for soil suction measurement at 0.45m, 0.75m, and 1.40m depths and one volumetric water content sensor at 0.45m. Pit 2 constructed in April 2025 is 3 m away from pit 1 and includes two porous block sensors at 0.45m and 0.80m and one volumetric water content sensor at 0.80m. The sensors have responded in various rainfall events from extreme rainfall to dry. The patterns show that at cumulative rainfall of 100mm/day suction dropped to zero at 0.45 and 0.75m depths, at 50mm/day suction dropped to zero at 0.45m, while for lower rainfall intensities soil suction is either unaffected or only slightly affected. The paper presents collected data and the experimentally determined physical properties and the WRC, providing a coherent thermohydromechanical (THM) field response information for creating behavioural models and performing THM analysis of real response in all possible weather conditions and to include trees canopy and distance from station effect.

3rd International Workshop on Soil-Vegetation-Atmosphere Interaction (RootS2025)

1a. Experimental characterisation of thermo-hydraulic properties of the rooted soils