Scaling Analysis of Water Retention Curves: A Multi-fractal Approach

Water retention curve (WRC) is analyzed by means of the fractal geometry approach. Three models accounting for the fractal distribution of either the pore and solid phase of unsaturated porous media have been considered. By using data collected during a field scale internal drainage, we determine the functional relationship between the WRC, and the fractal dimension(s). In particular, it is shown that the fractal scaling of the WRC is feasible provided that a large enough set of measurements at the lowest water contents is available.