Infiltration Characteristics of Tropical Soil in University Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP) Campus Area

Infiltration characteristic of Tropical Soil is a study in determining representative
infiltration rate parameters for use in modeling infiltration characteristics of soil under
tropical climate in terms of geostatistical analysis. This study deals with the variation of
soil hydraulic properties of different locations at the campus area of University
Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP). The proposed project allowed understanding in
describing the various characteristics of the nature of infiltration characteristics of
tropical soil in the campus area of UTP. The aim of the study is to assess the difference
in soil hydraulic characteristics around the campus area of UTP by performing double
ring infiltrometer and evaluate the infiltration rate for every location. 50 infiltration test
data obtained in different locations will be used in Horton's Infiltration equation to
learn the characteristic of the soil. This allowed arriving at a generalized of Horton's
infiltration equation for the campus area of UTP. Difference in soil hydraulic
characteristics and determining field scale flow processes are complex due to the
various natures of soil properties. The method of modeling this variety of nature of
infiltration characteristics at the campus area of UTP comprises three parts which are
determination of geo-grid locations, field data experiments where by the double ring
infiltration tests are conducted at pre determined geo-grids locations and computer
analysis on the soil infiltration data; to examine the spatial distribution of soil
infiltration rates, to quantify the spatial correlation in the data in terms of
semivariogram parameters and to prepare spatial distribution maps of soil hydraulic
properties . Results from this project are expected to contribute to the understanding and
characterization of small scale spatial variability nature of infiltration characteristics of
tropical soil