JWSS - Journal of Water and Soil Science

Exploitation of dam reservoirs is one of the major problems in the management of water resources. In this research, Crow Search Algorithm (CSA) was used for the first time to manage the operation of reservoirs. Also, the results related to the exploitation of the single-reservoir system of Shahid-Rajaei dam, located in Mazandaran province, northern Iran, which meets the downstream water demands, were compared to those obtained by applying the Particle Swarm and Genetic algorithms. Time reliability, volume reliability, vulnerability and reversibility indices, and a multi-criteria decision-making model were used to select the best algorithm. The results showed that the CSA obtained results close to the problem’s absolute optimal response, such that the average responses in the Crow, Particle Swarm and Genetic Algorithms were 99, 75 and 61 percent of the absolute optimal response, respectively. Besides, except for the time reliability index, the CSA had a better performance in the rest of the indices, as compared to Particle Swarm and Genetic Algorithms. The coefficient of variation of the obtained responses by CSA was 14 and 16 times smaller than the Genetic and Particle Swarm Algorithms, respectively. The multi-criteria decision-making model revealed that the CSA was ranked first, as compared to the other two algorithms, in the Shahid-Rajaei Reservoir's operation problem.

In this study, the distribution of heavy metals pollution including arsenic, antimony, nickel, copper, cadmium, cobalt, bismuth, lead and zinc in the stream sediments of Zarshuran- Aghdarreh area was investigated by using statistical techniques and the geometric integration of each sample basin. For this purpose, the degree of pollution in 154 stream sediment samples was analyzed and the distribution maps for enrichment factors were prepared by using a combination technique, pixel estimation, and statistical and geostatistical methods. The results of calculating the enrichment factors indicated that the higher enrichment was related to arsenic, antimony, bismuth, cadmium and lead. Furthermore, the concentration of zinc, copper, lead, arsenic, antimony, cadmium and bismuth in the stream sediment samples was higher than the global average. Application of the principal component analysis on the data led to the recognition of 9 main components for the dataset; the first 5 were components with eigen values greater than 1 and a cumulative percentage more than 85%. Arsenic, antimony, cadmium, lead and zinc in the first component, cobalt in the second component, bismuth in the third component, copper in the fourth component and nickel in the fifth component had the highest values.

Infiltration is the most important characteristic in the design and management of any surface irrigation system. Since the hydraulic of flow in meandering furrows is different from the standard furrows, the accuracy of infiltration function parameter estimation methods should be examined for the optimal design and management of meandering furrow irrigation. The main objective of this study was to compare Elliot and Walker’s two-point and two-time methods for estimating the empirical infiltration function parameters of meandering furrow irrigation using four sets of field data. The estimated infiltration functions, as obtained by the two methods, were validated by performing the unsteady flow simulations and using the Slow-change/slow-flow (SC/SF) model. The results showed that Elliot and Walker prediction of the advance trajectories (with a mean RMSE of 0.68 minutes) was comparable to the two-time method (with an average RMSE of 0.66 min). The Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient for the simulated outflow hydrograph by the two-time and two-point methods was 0.89 and 0.50, respectively, indicating the excellent predictive power of the two-times method. In addition, the two-time method predicted the total volume of infiltration with the less relative error (-1.5%), in comparison to the two-point method (-47.2%). Therefore, the use of post-advance data (such as a two-time method) for infiltration function parameters estimation improves the flow simulation in the meandering furrows.

Soil water content is the most effective factor associated with the hydrophobic and hydrophilic changes in a soil. Water repellency in soils, is not a permanent feature; it can be reached in the dry season and reduced or eliminated in the wet season It can be said that in terms of moisture, there is a critical region that is defined as the threshold moisture content, where in lower moisture, the soil is repellent and in higher moisture, the soil is wet able. The purpose of this study was to investigate soil moisture variations on degree of hydrophobicity and determine the amount of threshold water content in soil samples of wetland around Shahr-e-Kord. In this study, some samples of Shahr- e-Kord wetland were investigated. After determining the initial moisture content of the soil, the soil hydrophobicity conditions were determined by determining the time of water droplet penetration (WDPT). Soil moisture variations were carried out using soil wetting and drying method, and in each step the soil hydrophobicity conditions were tested. Reducing water content in soil samples, led to a change in the degree of hydrophobicity in hydrophobic samples, in one soil hydrophilic soil sample, Reducing water content changed hydrophilic soil to hydrophobic soil. The threshold water content was also observed up to a maximum of 54% volumetric water content at a given point. Based on this, the higher moisture content of the threshold at this point indicates the higher soil potential for runoff generation. Soil analysis showed that soil organic matter had a positive correlation with threshold water content.

In this research, by using FLOW3D, the performance of non-linear (arced) piano key (PKW-NL) in plan and linear piano key weir (PKW-L), with equal length of weir, was compared. Results showed that nonlinearity of the weir caused 20% increase in the discharge coefficient. Investigating the velocity contours for these two weir models also showed that maximum velocity within the PKW-NL weir structure is about 30% lower than the PKW-L weir. Also, the performance of non-linear piano key weir was evaluated under inward (PKW-IC) and outward (PKW-OC) curvatures to the channel. Results showed that in the case of PKW-IC weir, the discharge coefficient was increased by 8% as compared to the PKW-OC weir. Investigating the pressure contours for these two weir models also shows that the average pressure within the PKW-IC weir structure is about 5% higher than the PKW-OC weir. This increase in pressure leads to a decrease in the speed and better distribution of flow over the weir keys.

River discharge is among the influential factors on the operation of water resources systems and the design of hydraulic structures, such as dams; so the study of it is of great importance. Several effective factors on this non-linear phenomenon have caused the discharge to be assumed as being accidental. According to the basics the chaos theory, the seemingly random and chaotic systems have regular patterns that are predictable. In this research, by using methods of phase space mapping, correlation dimension, largest Lyapunov exponent and Fourier spectrum power, a period covering 43 years of Zayandehrud River discharge (1971-2013) was evaluated and analyzed based on the chaos theory. According to the results, the non-integer value of the correlation dimension for Eskandari and Ghale Shahrokh stations (3.34 and 3.6) showed that there was a chaotic behavior in the upstream of Zayandehrud-Dam Reservoir. On the other hand, in the Tanzimi-Dam station, the correlation dimension curve was ascending with respect to the embedding dimension, showing that the studied time-series in the downstream of Zayandehrud-Dam Reservoir was random. The slope of the Lyapunov exponent curve for Eskandari, Ghale Shahrokh and Tanzimi-Dam stations was 0.0104, 0.017 and 0.0192, respectively, and the prediction horizon in the chaotic stations was 96 and 59 days. The non-periodical feature of time series was studied by using the Fourier spectrum power. The wide bandwidth, besides other indices, showed that river discharge in the upstream stations of Zayandehrud Reservoir was chaotic.

In this research, conjunctive and integrated operation of surface and ground water resources of Behbahan plain (Maroon dam's reservoir and existing wells, respectively) was investigated. Simulation of allocation of water demands in this basin was performed by four scenarios, using WEAP software: 1) current conditions (M1), 2) reference scenario for the next 16 years (M2), 3) land development scenario (M3), and 4) optimal scenario (M4). The optimal scenario was performed with multi-purpose linear programming. Based on the results, drinking water demands was satisfied completely in all scenarios. Under the scenario of current conditions, all agricultural demands, except the traditional rights, supplied more than 50% in the low-flow months. In the reference scenario, water supply for agricultural demands in some months was less than 100% and even in June and July, the water supply for North and South Irrigation networks of Behbehan plain was less than 10%. In the land development scenario, agricultural demands of all irrigation networks, except Ramhormoz network, satisfied more than 90% in all months. The optimal scenario performed better than other scenarios for minimum Maroon River flow and volume of storage in the reservoir. Comparison of the four scenarios in satisfying the environmental needs also revealed that the optimal scenario performed better than the other three scenarios in the spring months. However, it provided less than 100% of water needs in the whole year. Comparison of the four scenarios also showed that the first two scenarios had the highest reliability percent in the Jayzan-Fajr, South Behbahan and North Behbahan Irrigation Networks and traditional water rights. Frequency of storage-time-probability from the storage volume in the optimal scenario also showed that maximum storage lifetime of the lasting storage volume was 558 million m3 (which was equal to half of the volume of Maroon dam’s reservoir) with the highest probability (60%).

Occurrence of heavy floods in rivers causes a lot of damages and losses. In this research, to highlight the river-training reaches in 10.9 km of Babolrud River, first, using topographic map of the area, the Tin layer was created in GIS software. Then, using the HEC-GeoRAS extension, the main route and cross sections of the river were prepared and introduced to the HEC-RAS model. River discharge with return periods of 2 to 200 years was calculated. Flow analysis in the agricultural and urban areas was performed and the areas which need training measures such as flood-retaining walls and levees were specified and designed. The structural design, stability control and sliding was performed based on the Standard No. 518, using RetainWall software, and design and control of levee stability was performed based on the Standard No. 214, using GeoStudio software. The cost of project implementation was estimated based on the Price List of 2017. The output of HEC-RAS software showed that height of flood-retaining wall in 3 urban reaches ranged between 1.73 to 2.8 m and in 5 agricultural reaches ranged between 1.46 to 2.25 m. It was concluded that the overall cost of levee implementation is about 9.01 billion Rials, of gravity concrete flood-retaining wall is about 9.26 billion Rials and of concrete cantilever inverted T shape flood-retaining wall is about 10.05 billion Rials. Thus, using flood-retaining levee is the most economical option.

In the last few decades, the use of porous concrete to cover the sidewalks and pavements as an interface to collect the urban runoff has been increased. This system is economically more efficient than other runoff-pollution reduction methods. To design a runoff control system and reduce its pollution, it is necessary to determine the hydraulic and dynamic properties of the porous concrete (with and without additives). In this research, the effects of cement type (2 and 5), water to cement ratio (0.35, 0.45 and 0.55), fine grains percent (0, 10 and 20%), the type of additive (pumice, industrial pumice, perlite and zeolite), and the added additive percent (5, 10, 15 and 20%) on the physical properties of the porous concrete (porosity, hydraulic conductivity and compressive strength), each with three replications,  were  investigated using robust design. Qualitek-4 software was also used to discuss the results. The results showed that to obtain the highest porosity in the mixing scheme of the porous concrete, no fine grains, cement type 2 and 15% industrial pumice should be used, and water to cement ratio should be 0.35. Also, the water to cement ratio of 0.55, 0% fine grains, type 2 cement and 15% industrial pumice resulted in the highest value of hydraulic conductivity in the porous concrete. Finally, the water to cement ratio of 0.55, 20% fine grains, type 2 cement and 5% zeolite led to the maximum compressive strength. In general, it was not possible to reach a logical conclusion in this research with the least costs without employing the robust design.

Digital soil mapping plays an important role in upgrading the knowledge of soil survey in line with the advances in the spatial data of infrastructure development. The main aim of this study was to provide a digital map of the soil family classes using the random forest (RF) models and boosting regression tree (BRT) in a semi-arid region of Ilam province. Environmental covariates were extracted from a digital elevation model with 30 m spatial resolution, using the SAGAGIS7.3 software. In this study area, 46 soil profiles were dug and sampled; after physico-chemical analysis, the soils were classified based on key to soil taxonomy (2014). In the studied area, three orders were recognized: Mollisols, Inceptisols, and Entisols. Based on the results of the environmental covariate data mining with variance inflation factor (VIF), some parameters including DEM, standard height and terrain ruggedness index were the most important variables. The best spatial prediction of soil classes belonged to Fine, carbonatic, thermic, Typic Haploxerolls. Also, the results showed that RF and BRT models had an overall accuracy and of 0.80, 0.64 and Kappa index 0.70, 0.55, respectively. Therefore, the RF method could serve as a reliable and accurate method to provide a reasonable prediction with a low sampling density.

Nowadays, the prediction of river discharge is one of the important issues in hydrology and water resources; the results of daily river discharge pattern could be used in the management of water resources and hydraulic structures and flood prediction. In this research, Gene Expression Programming (GEP), parametric Linear Regression (LR), parametric Nonlinear Regression (NLR) and non-parametric K- Nearest Neighbor (K-NN) were used to predict the average daily discharge of Karun River in Mollasani hydrometric station for the statistical period of 1967-2017. Different combinations of the recorded data were used as the input pattern to predict the mean daily river discharge. The obtained esults  indicated that GEP, with R²= 0.827, RMSE= 59.45 and MAE= 26.64, had a  better performance, as compared to LR, NLR and K-NN methods, at the  validation stage for daily Karun River discharge prediction with 5-day lag, at the Mollasani station. Also, the performance of the models in the maximum discharge prediction showed that all models underestimated the flow discharge in most cases. 

The contact angle is a numerical index of differentiation between hydrophilic and hydrophobic soils. The objectives of this research are: 1) assessing different methods such as capillary rise, the molarity of ethanol droplet, repellency index, and sessile drop, and 2) Determining the most efficient method in a typical soil with sandy loam texture. In this study, hydrophobic soil was hydrophobized artificially using stearic acid and according to the water drop penetration time classification method. Calculated contact angles of hydrophilic soil with capillary rise method, the molarity of ethanol droplet method, repellency index (two methods of calculation), and sessile drop method were 89.9, 75.41, (57.81), 56.28, and 58.91, respectively. Using the contact angle measuring device, the contact angle of five hydrophobic levels were 58.91, 104.92, 120.48, 129.96, and 173.07, respectively. According to the precession of the device where the operator is capable to control data and processes and there is no limitation in usage, therefore, the sessile drop method is the most suitable method to measure contact angle. The contact angle of the late method and water drop penetration data are positively correlated (R² = 0.975).

In the present study, CanESM2 climate change model and stormwater management model (SWMM) were employed to investigate the climate change effects on the quantity and quality of urban runoff in a part of Karaj watershed, Alborz Province. The base period (1985-2005) and future period (2020-2040) are considered for this purpose. Based on the existing main and lateral drainage system and to be more accurate, the watershed was divided into 37 sub-watersheds by ArcGIS software. To simulate rainfall-runoff, the intensity-duration-frequency (IDF) curve has been prepared for a 2-hour duration and 10-year return period, for the base period and RCP2.6 and RCP8.5 climate change scenarios based on the obtained precipitation data from Karaj synoptic station. Results showed that mean 24-hour precipitation values in RCP2.6 and RCP8.5 scenarios will increase by 21% and 11%, respectively, and maximum 24-hour precipitation values will decrease by 17% and 23%, respectively, as compared to the observed values in the base period. Also, based on the results of quantitative and qualitative runoff modeling in the study watershed, and according to the outflow hydrograph in the RCP2.6 and RCP8.5 scenarios, the outlet runoff discharge will decrease by 5.8% and 7.1%, respectively. Also, the flooded areas in the watershed will decrease by 13% and 15.28%, respectively. The concentration of pollutants in the RCP2.6 and RCP8.5 scenarios, compared to the base period, including total suspended solids (TSS), will increase by 7.48% and 9.24%, total nitrogen (TN) will increase by 6.93% and 8.48%, and lead (Pb) will increase by 7.32% and 8.91%, respectively.

The present study is investigated the earth dam stability during drawdown based on both numerical and experimental aspects. To validate the numerical model, a model was performed experimentally. Some soil mechanic tests were carried out through the hydraulic experiments to attain the usage factors of the numerical investigation. To investigate the effect of hydraulic conductivity on the rapid drop of water level and the use of hydraulic parameters of materials, seepage flow in the model was modeled by seep/w software. The input information to the software including hydraulic conductivity and water volume were measured by performing a constant load test and using a disc penetration meter, respectively. After validation of hydraulic conductivity with the experimental model, the results were compared with observed data. Comparison between numerical and laboratory discharge illustrated that the numerical model with laboratory model is well confirmed. In addition, saturated and unsaturated simulations demonstrated that the unsaturated model is highly consistent with the experimental model. It is assumed that due to the drawdown conditions, unsaturated models can achieve high accuracy for simulating the flow through a homogeneous earth dam.

The objective of the present study was to investigate the performance of some of the extracted information for mapping land degradation using remote sensing and field data in Fras province. Maps of vegetation cover, net primary production, land use, surface slope, water erosion, and surface runoff indicators were extracted from MOD13A3, MOD17A3, Landsat TM, SRTM, ICONA model, and SCS model, respectively. The rain use efficiency index was obtained from the net primary production and rainfall map, which was calculated from meteorological stations. The final land degradation map was prepared by integrating all the mentioned indicators using the weighted overlay method. According to the ICONA model, 5.1, 9, 47.21, 27.91, and 10.73 percent of the study area were classified as very low, low, moderate, severe, and very severe water erosion; respectively. Overlaying the ICONA map with other indicators showed that very high and high classes, moderate, and low and very low classes of land degradation covered 1.3, 18.7, 70, 0.9, and 9.1 percent of the study area, respectively. According to the results, integrating remote sensing with ICONA and SCS models increases the ability to identify land degradation.

The existence of silty sand in the infrastructure under concrete constructions, hydraulic structures, and irrigation systems has always caused challenges. Improving this kind of soil is always a challenging approach to increase compressive strength and shear stress. There is a conception that adding some extra material such as concrete can increase the stability of this soil against contributed forces. The present study investigated the effects of curing time (3, 7, 14, 21, and 28 days) and different percentages of various additives (3%, 5%, and 7%) on the strength of the silty sand soils. A series of laboratory tests were carried out to measure the Uniaxial Compressive Strength (UCS) and California Bearing Ratio (CBR) by evaluating the effect of additives on the strength parameters of silty sand soil. In total, 299 experimental tests have been conducted in the soil mechanics laboratory of SRBIAU. Results indicated that adding additives such as concrete to silty sand soil improved significantly the compressive strength and shear strength. The comparisons among the experimental test illustrate that due to increasing the curing time, the aforementioned parameters were increased significantly; however, Confix and Bentonite aggregates did not have a marginal effect on the compressive strength and shear strength. Also, after the 21^st day of the curing time, the rate of increment of the UCS and CBR reached slightly and then attained a constant value. Also, after this duration, the curing time is an independent factor in the variation of the UCS and CBR tests. Furthermore, the addition of 5% Pozzolana cement and 7% Portland cement with 28 days of curing had the highest CBR number and UCS resistance of 176.26 and 17.58 kg/cm², respectively. Also, the sketch of the different failure patterns was shown during the curing time. Finally, by increasing the curing time, the behavior of specimens from semi-brittle to brittle made them harder.

The impact of different management options on the region and the existing conditions can be evaluated with minimal cost and time to select the most practical case using various tools including mathematical models. In this study, the SWAT hydrological model was performed from 2009 to 2019 using climatic, hydrological, and hydrometric data in the Malayer catchment, and the final model was validated by SWAT-CUP. To reduce the amount of uncertainty in the input parameters to the MODFLOW model, using the values of surface recharge from the implementation of the SWAT hydrological model, quantitative modeling of Malayer aquifer was performed more reliably in GMS software by using MODFLOW model. After modeling the study area in the 2009-2018 period and calibrating the model in the years from 2018 to 2019, the mean values of absolute error (MAE) were 0.35-0.65 m, and root means square error (RMSE) was 0.62-0.94 m, which seems acceptable considering computational and observational heads equal to 1650 m. Results of water level changes in observation wells located in the Malayer region indicate that the groundwater level in the aquifer has decreased by an average value of 9.7 m in the 10-year study period.

Class A pan evaporation method as one of the most common methods for reference evapotranspiration (ET₀) estimation has been widely used in the world due to its simplicity, relatively low cost, and ability to estimate daily ET. In this study, the performance of 8 empirical methods consisting of Allen and Pruitt (1991), Cuenca (1989), Snyder (1992), modified Snyder, Pereira, et al. (1995), Orang (1998), Raghuwanshi and Wallender (1998), and FAO/56 were analyzed to estimate class A pan coefficient and ET₀ at Fasa synoptic station located in Fars province. The calculated pan evaporation coefficients from the above equations were compared with measured pan evaporation coefficients which were obtained from the ratio of evapotranspiration calculated by the FAO-Penman-Monteith method to the rate of evaporation from the pan. The results showed that all empirical methods did not predict pan coefficient values well (R² < 0.3 and NRMSE > 0.25). The comparison results between ET₀ from empirical methods and ET₀ obtained from FAO-Penman–Monteith indicated that the FAO/56 method had the best performance (R² = 0.72 and NRMSE = 0.3). To increase the accuracy of empirical pan coefficient equations, these equations were modified with eight years (2007-2015) of meteorological data from the Fasa synoptic station and validated using two years of independent data (2015-2017). The results showed that the accuracy of all empirical models was improved and the Cuenca equation with NRMSE = 0.16 and R²= 0.63 was selected as the best equation for pan coefficient estimation and ET₀ (R² =0.85; NRMSE =0.18) in Fasa region. The sensitivity analysis revealed that the estimated pan coefficient is more sensitive to wind speed, followed by relative humidity, fetch distance, the slope of the saturation vapor pressure curve, sunshine hours, and air pressure. According to statistical results and sensitivity analysis, an equation was expanded for the Fasa region and other areas with the same climate.