Comparison of two models for estimating the soil particle-size distribution curve based on soil textural data

Abstract

Mathematical models employing textural data are commonly used for the estimation of the particle-size distribution (PSD) curve. In this study, two models were used: (1) the model proposed by Fredlund et al. (2000) (F model), and (2) the model proposed by Skaggs et al. (2001) later modified by Fooladmand and Sepaskhah (2006) (FS model). Comparison of the results obtained by these two models, applied for 30 soils from the south of Iran, showed that the F model was better when the model parameters were determined by setting minimum differences between the measured and estimated PSD curve. Also, three equations based on soil textural data were derived for estimating parameters of the F model, and these equations were used to estimate the PSD curve. The results showed that for 10 independent soils from the south of Iran and 50 soils from the UNSODA database, the FS model was better than the F model based on three new derived equations. Therefore, the FS model can be safely used to estimate the PSD curve with different soil textures; however, the F model is appropriate for representation of the measured PSD curve.

Keywords:

• particle-size distribution
• soil texural data
• Fredland model
• Fooladmand and Sepaskhah model