Reviewing of Overland Flow, Infiltration, Transport and Adsorption Models in Water Resources Engineering

The present paper systematically investigates the development of models related to overland flow, infiltration, adsorption and transport involved in the water environment. Studies of hydraulic or hydrologic phenomena have been made from various viewpoints, which have resulted in the appearance of numerous models either in terms of theory or based on experiment. Much effort has been spent in modeling overland flow during the past several decades; this has resulted in the emergence of two types of models: one based on hydrodynamic simulation while the other is based on purely empirical considerations. A number of infiltration models for estimating infiltration capacities have been established using theoretical consideration or are empirical based on experimental measurement. Attention has focused on the investigation of adsorption behavior so that many adsorption models are currently available. The pollutant transport phenomenon has been extensively modeled using mathematical descriptions of transport processes either in overland flow, in the fluvial or in the groundwater environment. This investigation summarizes the advantages, adaptabilities and limitations of each model and provides a convenient reference frame for model applications.

Keywords:

hydrodynamic models , hydrological models , overland flow , infiltration , adsorption , transport