Numerical estimation of the retention curve in unsaturated media in the Richards equation using Genetic Algorithms
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35819/remat2026v12id8000Keywords:
Richards equation, genetic algorithms, finite difference method, hydraulic parameters, inverse analysisAbstract
This work proposes an inverse analysis methodology for estimating soil physical-hydraulic parameters, based on the coupling between a Genetic Algorithm and the Finite Difference Method for solving the Richards equation. The Richards equation models water flow in unsaturated porous media, being in this work discretized by the Finite Difference Method with an implicit scheme (Picard), thus ensuring stability and consistency in the presence of strong nonlinearities. The inverse problem is formulated as an optimization problem, in which hydraulic parameters are adjusted to maximize the coefficient of determination between simulated and observed moisture profiles. Numerical simulations were performed for a one-dimensional vertical infiltration problem in a 40 cm deep soil column, using the Haverkamp model to describe the soil constitutive relations. The Genetic Algorithm is configured with a fixed population, tournament selection operators, arithmetic crossover, mutation and elitism. Different scenarios are investigated, considering the simultaneous identification of four and five parameters. Results indicate efficient convergence of the inverse process, with determination coefficients greater than R^2 > 0.98 in most tests, demonstrating the robustness of the proposed coupling.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Danilo Vasconceilos dos Santos, Wilian Jeronimo dos Santos, Renan de Souza Teixeira, Rosane Ferreira de Oliveira
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