Physically Based Coupled Model for Simulating 1D Surface–2D Subsurface Flow and Plant Water Uptake in Irrigation Furrows. II: Model Test and Evaluation

Abstract

A physically based seasonal Furrow Irrigation Model was developed, which comprises three modules: The one-dimensional surface flow, the two-dimensional subsurface flow, and a crop model. The modeling principles of these modules, their simultaneous coupling, and the solution strategies were described in a companion paper (Wöhling and Schmitz 2007). In the current contribution, we present the model testing with experimental data from five real-scale laboratory experiments [Hubert-Engels Laboratory (HEL)], two field experiments in Kharagpur, Eastern India (KGP), one literature data set [Flowell-wheel (FW)], and data from three irrigations during a corn growing season in Montpellier, Southern France [Lavalette experiments (LAT)]. The simulated irrigation advance times match well with the observations of the HEL, FW, and KGP experiments, which is confirmed by coefficients of determination