Abstract
The transfer of water at the soil-atmosphere interface is addressed through a thermo dynamical approach which constitutes a general framework for describing both the thermodynamical status of the water in the soil and the transfer mechanisms at stake : liquid phase ltration, water vapor di usion, liquid-vapor phase change. An experimental characterization of a soil has been carried out and completed with bibliographical data. Experimental tests of water transfer in columns of the same soil, placed in drying atmosphere enabled the establishment of the global kinetic of water loss and the evolution of the pro les of the water content through time. A numerical simulation of the water transfer in the neighborhood of the interface is proposed. A study about the sensitiveness to the physical parameters of the soil is presented. The results of the numerical model are then compared with the tests of the transfer on the columns. The correspondence is good on the basis of an adjustment of the hydrologic parameters as mentioned in the literature. Water and vapor uxes evolutions in low water content soils allow the description of transfer mechanisms near the interface. It is shown that the phase change which ensures the continuity of the transfers between the soil and the atmosphere relates to a few centimeters of the soil under that interface.