Functional Representation of the Soil Hydrophysical Properties Using the Example of Loam

The study examines the physical foundations of modeling the water-retention capacity and hydraulic conductivity of the soil. A functional description of the hydrophysical properties of the soil is given using a pair of formulas that use the same physically and statistically interpreted parameters. The proposed functional description was verified on independent data from an authoritative literary source—the Mualem catalog. In addition, the proposed description was compared with the world's most famous analogue—the Van Genuchten functions. For this, the parameters of the hydrophysical functions were identified by the method of point approximation of the measured data on the water-retention capacity of the soil, and then, using these parameters, it was carried out the predictive calculating the values of the function of the relative hydraulic conductivity of the soil. The advantages of the hydrophysical functions of the soil proposed by the authors are shown. The proposed description of the soil hydrophysical properties has the prospect of being applied in calculating the soil moisture dynamics for predicting the crop yield in precision farming.