Challenges in Characterizing and Simulating Flow and Transport in Stony Soils

The saturated and unsaturated hydraulic properties of stony soils can be most difficult to characterize in both the field and the laboratory using traditional sampling and testing methods. Thus, there are no standard protocols for testing these type of soils which have been developed by the USDA or ASTM, for example. Innovative methods are suggested in this paper to better characterize stony soils. We also illustrate field techniques and procedures commonly available to correct hydraulic properties for stones. Numerical simulations were conducted to verify the reliability of simple correction procedures. This paper includes field applications to ground water recharge and contaminant transport problems, along with an analysis of the sensitivity of the correction procedures on model predictions.