Coupled Transfer of Water and Heat in Red Soil: Experiment and Numerical Modelling

Coupled transfer of soil water and heat in closed columns of homogeneous red soil was studied under laboratory conditions. A coupled model was constructed using soil physical theory, empirical equations and experimental data to predict the coupled transfer. The results show that transport of soil water was affected by temperature gradient, and the largest net water transport was found in the soil column with initial water content of 0.148 m3 m-3. At the same time, temperature changes with the transport of soil water was in a nonlinear shape as heat parameters were function of water content, and the changes of temperature were positively correlated with the net amount of water transported. Numerical modelling results show that the predicted values of temperature distribution were close to the observed values, while the predicted values of water content exhibited limited deviation at both ends of the soil column due to the slight temperature changes at both ends. It was indicated that the model proposed here was applicable.