Two nonlinear versions of the Muskingum equation are considered. The difference between both equations relates to the exponent parameter. In the first version, commonly used in hydrology, this parameter is considered as free, while in the second version, it takes a value resulting from the kinematic wave theory. Consequently, the first version of the equation is dimensionally inconsistent, whereas the proposed second one is consistent. It is shown that the difference between the results provided by both versions of the nonlinear Muskingum equation depends on the longitudinal bed slope of a channel. For an increasing slope, when a propagating wave becomes more kinematic, the value of the exponent considered as the free parameter tends to its value resulting from the kinematic wave theory. Consequently, when the character of an open channel flow tends to a kinematic one, the dimensionally inconsistent version of the nonlinear Muskingum equation becomes a consistent one. The results of the numerical analysis suggest that apart from the parameters involved in the Muskingum equation, usually considered as free, the parameters of the numerical method of the solution (the number of reservoirs and the time step) should be considered also as free parameters. This conclusion results from the fundamental property of the Muskingum equation, relating to the numerical roots of the wave attenuation process. All numerical examples and tests relate to the solutions of the system of Saint Venant equations, considered as the benchmark.

Research on seepage flow in the vadose zone has largely been driven by engineering and environmental problems affecting many fields of geotechnics, hydrology, and agricultural science. Mathematical modeling of the subsurface flow under unsaturated conditions is an essential part of water resource management and planning. In order to determine such subsurface flow, the two-dimensional (2D) Richards equation can be used. However, the computation process is often hampered by a high spatial resolution and long simulation period as well as the non-linearity of the equation. A new highly efficient and accurate method for solving the 2D Richards equation has been proposed in the paper. The developed algorithm is based on dimensional splitting, the result of which means that 1D equations can be solved more efficiently than as is the case with unsplit 2D algorithms. Moreover, such a splitting approach allows any algorithm to be used for space as well as time approximation, which in turn increases the accuracy of the numerical solution. The robustness and advantages of the proposed algorithms have been proven by two numerical tests representing typical engineering problems and performed for typical properties of soil.

This paper presents a study dealing with increasing the computational efficiency in modeling floodplain inundation using a two-dimensional diffusive wave equation. To this end, the domain decomposition technique was used. The resulting one-dimensional diffusion equations were approximated in space with the modified finite element scheme, whereas time integration was carried out using the implicit two-level scheme. The proposed algorithm of the solution minimizes the numerical errors and is unconditionally stable. Consequently, it is possible to perform computations with a significantly greater time step than in the case of the explicit scheme. An additional efficiency improvement was achieved using the symmetry of the tridiagonal matrix of the arising system of nonlinear equations, due to the application of the parallelization strategy. The computational experiments showed that the proposed parallel implementation of the implicit scheme is very effective, at about two orders of magnitude with regard to computational time, in comparison with the explicit one.