Thermodynamic Equation of the Pedostructure Hydric Conductivity | Chapter 1 | Research Developments in Science and Technology Vol. 8

The dynamics of water in a soil pedostructure sample whose interior environment is exposed to a potential gradient caused by the evaporation of water from the surface is the topic of this article. The findings and recommendations of a basic theoretical investigation into the molecular thermodynamic equilibrium of the two aqueous phases of the soil pedostructure are the exclusive subject of this paper. In this article, the systemic paradigm of hydrostructural pedology serves as a reminder of the novel ideas and descriptive variables of the hydro-thermodynamic equilibrium state of the soil medium that were established at the molecular level of the fluid phases of the pedostructure (water and air) in a previous article. They go beyond the traditional mono-scale description of soil water dynamics and provide access to the molecular description of water movement in the soil pedostructure. We have specifically examined and physically defined the water flux in the soil pedostructure at its three levels of organisational scale: the Eulerian flux at the macroscopic level of the entire pedostructure sample, the real flux of the two aqueous phases of the pedostructure through the inter primary-aggregates space, and the molecular flux of the mobile aqueous phase in the inter primary-aggregates space. For each of these fluxes at each of the three scale levels, the continuity equation can be written, and it is this continuity equation that establishes the space/time ratio required to construct the thermodynamic equation for water conductivity. The experimental findings completely support the theory, supporting the framework's systematic approach in the process.

Author(s) Details:

Erik Braudeau,

IRD, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, France and Valorhiz - Parc scientifique Agropolis, F34980 Montferrier sur Lez, France.

Rabi H. Mohtar,

Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences, American University of Beirut, Lebanon and Department Biological and Agricultural Engineering (BAEN), Zachry Department Civil and Environmental Engineering (CVEN), Texas A&M University, USA.

Please see the link here: https://stm.bookpi.org/RDST-V8/article/view/7394