Modelling the impact of depth distributed plant water uptake on Soil-Plant-Atmosphere Interactions
File(s)
Published version
OA Location
Author(s)
Maddah Sadatieh, MS
Tsiampousi, A
Paschalis, A
Type
Conference Paper
Abstract
The soil-plant-Atmosphere interaction (SPAI) significantly influences the safety and serviceability of engineering infrastructure by affecting pore water pressure (PWP) distribution. Rainfall and water infiltration increase PWPs, reducing soil strength, while evapotranspirationa "driven by evaporation and plant transpirationa "induces negative pore pressures (suction), enhancing soil strength and safety. However, vegetation can also pose serviceability challenges. During summer, root water uptake causes soil shrinkage, and in wet months, infiltration induces swelling. These cyclic volume changes can disrupt infrastructure, leading to road and track delays or closures. Accurate modelling of SPAI is therefore critical to understanding the effects of climate change and vegetation on soil hydraulic and mechanical behaviour. This study examines how surface and internal flow boundary conditions affect SPAI modelling within a fully coupled flow-deformation framework. While most recent research has focused on surface boundary conditions for hydrological fluxes, this paper evaluates the inclusion of internal boundary conditions to simulate vegetation transpiration. A comparative analysis assesses the safety and serviceability outcomes for models employing only surface boundary conditions versus those incorporating both surface and internal conditions.
Date Issued
2025-08-14
Date Acceptance
2025-09-01
Citation
E3s Web of Conferences, 2025, 642
ISSN
2555-0403
Publisher
EDP Sciences
Journal / Book Title
E3s Web of Conferences
Volume
642
Copyright Statement
© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2025. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Identifier
10.1051/e3sconf/202564202023
Source
5th European Conference on Unsaturated Soils and Biotechnology applied to Geotechnical Engineering (EUNSAT2025 with BGE)
Publication Status
Published
Start Date
2025-09-01
Finish Date
2025-09-03
Coverage Spatial
Lisbon, Portugal
Date Publish Online
2025-08-14