PREDICTING REQUIRED TIME FOR SALT LEACHING THROUGH LABORATORY PHYSICAL MODELING USING ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS
Anahita Polous, Ebrahim Pazira, Mehrdad Esfandiari · Journal of Residuals Science and Technology · 2011
Forecasting appropriate time for cultivation after salt leaching in saline soils is considered as a fundamental element in sustainable production in natural resources management. The aim of this study is to develop an artificial neural network in combination with laboratory physical model to precisely estimate required leaching time before cultivation phase. To achieve this objective, soil samples from field were ordered in to cylinders in the laboratory as same as soil profile in the field. Process of salt leaching was carried out and time series of electrical conductivity (EC) were measured in collected drainage water. Parameters in the neural network were trained and predictions were validated. The results indicate that the developed ANN is capable of predicting required time for salt leaching accurately with an error of less than 0.0001 minute from observations.