A physically based FVM watershed model fully coupling surface and subsurface water flows

• Published in: Paddy and water environment Vol. 8; no. 2; pp. 145 - 156
• Main Authors: Takeuchi, Junichiro, Kawachi, Toshihiko, Imagawa, Chie, Buma, Natsuki, Unami, Koichi, Maeda, Shigeya
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01-06-2010; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: 3-D graphics; Agriculture; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Ecotoxicology; Flow control; Freshwater; Geoecology/Natural Processes; Groundwater flow; Hydrogeology; Hydrology/Water Resources; Life Sciences; Overland flow; Pressure head; River flow; Runoff; Saturated flow; Soil Science & Conservation; Subsurface water; Water depth; Water flow; Watershed management; Watersheds; Water exchanges; Overland flow; Variably saturated groundwater flow; Open channel flow; Adaptive scheme
• ISSN: 1611-2490; 1611-2504
• DOI: 10.1007/s10333-009-0193-7

A sophisticated modeling approach for simulating-coupled surface and subsurface flows in a watershed is presented. The watershed model developed is a spatially distributed physically based model of composite dimension, consisting of 3-D variably saturated groundwater flow submodel, 2-D overland flow submodel and 1-D river flow submodel. The 3-D subsurface flow is represented by the complete Richards equation, while the 2-D and 1-D surface flows by the diffusive approximations of their complete dynamic equations. For piecewise integration of these equations, the finite volume method (FVM) is employed assuming unknown variables such as the water depth and the pressure head to be volume-averaged state ones. Problem plane geometry is meshed with the unstructured cells of triangular shape which conforms to external as well as internal irregular boundaries such as those between 1-D and 2-D flows. A cell size controlling scheme, referred to as quasi-adaptive meshing scheme, is introduced to keep the local discretization errors caused by topographic elevation gradient even over the entire-meshed geometry. Performance of the model is tested through its practical application to a rugged intermountain watershed. Tuning the values of the three key parameters ensures successful calibration of the model. Once the model is so calibrated, it could reproduce satisfactory runoff response to any rainfall event. Expansion and shrinkage of the contributing area importantly affecting the direct runoff, caused by the vicissitude of rainfall during its total duration, are well reproduced, like what the commonly accepted runoff theory argues. It is thus concluded that the model developed could serve as a powerful watershed simulator usable for investigating and assessing the hydrological aspect of a watershed.