A rain water infiltration model with unilateral boundary condition: qualitative analysis and numerical simulations

We present a rigorous mathematical treatment of a model describing rain water infiltration through the vadose zone in case of runoff of the excess water. The main feature of the mathematical problem emerging from the model lies on the boundary condition on the ground surface which is in the form of a unilateral constraint. Existence and uniqueness of a weak solution is proved under general assumptions. We present also the results of a numerical study comparing the proposed model with other models which approach in a different way the rain water infiltration problem. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.