vochtigheidsvelden

Vochtigheidsvelden is a term used in hydrology and soil science to describe the spatial distribution of moisture content within a porous medium, such as soil, rock, or building materials. A moisture content field represents the amount of water stored in the material per unit bulk volume, often expressed as volumetric moisture content (theta, θ). In soils, θ varies with location and time, forming a field that reflects processes such as infiltration, drainage, evaporation, root uptake, and precipitation. In other contexts, vochtigheidsveld may refer to the distribution of humidity or moisture content within non-soil materials.

Transport within vochtigheidsvelden is governed by water movement through porous media. In unsaturated soils, flow is commonly described by Richards’ equation, which couples Darcy’s law for unsaturated flow with the soil water retention relationship. The resulting field evolves as boundary conditions and source or sink terms change.

Measurement and mapping: In situ sensors such as time-domain reflectometry (TDR) probes, capacitance sensors, and neutron probes provide point measurements of moisture content. Remote sensing can estimate surface or near-surface moisture over large areas, while geostatistical methods (for example, kriging and variograms) are used to interpolate measurements into continuous fields.

Applications: Vochtigheidsvelden are used to assess irrigation scheduling and crop water stress, monitor drought development, and analyze hydrological processes affecting runoff and groundwater recharge. In civil engineering, they inform soil durability and foundation stability analyses. In environmental sciences, moisture fields influence nutrient transport and contaminant fate and transport.

Note: The term stems from Dutch-language literature; English equivalents include soil-moisture field or moisture-content field.