Abstract:Experiments on infiltration from a surface point source were conducted in the laboratory.The results showed that the wetted solum appeared in the shape of a semielliptic cone and that remarkable power function relat ions were observed between horizontal and vertical wetting fronts and the infiltration time and a significant linear relationship the volume of wetted solum and the volume of water applied;When the volume of water applied was kept the same, the volume of wetted solum did not vary much with the dripping rate, which was kept in range of 2~4 L h-1;in the process of point source infiltrat ion, the increment in soil water content had nothing to do with duration of the infiltration and the dripping rate, but appeared to a constant value being 0.326 for clay loam soil in this experiment.Based on the above-said findings, a model for empirical solution of characteristic values of wetted solum under surface drip irrigation was presented to predict horizontal and vertical wetting front and volume of wetted soil.