The use of the centrifuge for determining the soil moisture characteristic curve in one step

Abstract

An equation derived from the centrifuge theory is proposed as a one-step method for determining the soil moisture characteristic curve using the centrifuge. The methodology involves the slicing of a centrifuged soil cores. The model described permits the calculation of the average matric potencial acting on any segment along the centrifuged soil core length. The sample, initially saturated, is centrifuged at a previously selected rotation according to the proposed equation until it reaches the equilibrium between the established matric potential and the retained water. This method was compared with the traditional centrifuge and pressure chamber methods using a dark-red latosol soil of medium texture from the Cerrados of Brazil. Moisture values obtained by all the three methods tested were highly correlated.