World Journal of Engineering Research and Technology

Antigha R.E.E*

ABSTRACT

Infiltration equations are necessary in designing and evaluating surface irrigation systems. This research work applied the empirical Kostiakov?s infiltration model on the soils of Calabar Metropolis catchment. In order to determine the infiltration model parameters of the soils, field measurements of infiltration were made using a double ring infiltrometer during the wet Season; readings were taken at 5, 10, 15, and 30 minutes intervals. Infiltration rate ranged from 0.0lcm/min to 2.54cm/min. Kostiakov infiltration model was then applied on the field data in order to determine the soils infiltration parameters and also in order to estimate the model equations for the soils. The twelve sampling locations for this study were: (Unical Mary Slessor, Atimbo, Ediba, Army Junction, Ekorinim 2, Wapi Junction, Big Qua, CRUTECH, Akia-Efa, Goldie, and Marina). The Kostiakov infiltration decay constants obtained were: for "a" : -0.63, -0.67, -0.89, -0.89, -0.89, -1.0, -0.77, -0.89, -1.11, -1.0, -1.0, -0.7 respectively. The values for "b" were: 0.121, 0.442, 0.683, 0,475, 0.426, 0.341, 0.678, 0.678, 0.085, 0.250, 0.549, and 0.248 respectively. These were used to simulate data which were evaluated by comparing them with the field data. The two data sets showed close relationships. This showed that the model could be used to simulate water infiltration during irrigation projects in Calabar Metropolis Catchment.

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