Assessment of Sediment Transport Functions with the Modified SWAT-Twn Model for a Taiwanese Small Mountainous Watershed
Department of Civil and Disaster Prevention Engineering, National United University, Miaoli City 36063, Taiwan
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Water 2019, 11(9), 1749; https://doi.org/10.3390/w11091749
Received: 4 July 2019 / Revised: 14 August 2019 / Accepted: 19 August 2019 / Published: 22 August 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Modeling of Soil Erosion and Sediment Transport)
In Taiwan, the steep landscape and highly vulnerable geology make it difficult to predict soil erosion and sediment transportation via variable transport conditions. In this study, we integrated the Taiwan universal soil loss equation (TUSLE) and slope stability conditions in the soil and water assessment tool (SWAT) as the SWAT-Twn model to improve sediment simulation and assess the sediment transport functions in the Chenyulan watershed, a small mountainous catchment. The results showed that the simulation of streamflow was satisfactory for calibration and validation. Before model calibration and validation for sediment, SWAT-Twn with default sediment transport method performed better in sediment simulation than the official SWAT model (version 664). The SWAT-Twn model coupled with the simplified Bagnold equation could estimate sediment export more accurately and significantly reduce the overestimated sediment yield by 65.7%, especially in highly steep areas. Furthermore, five different sediment transport methods (simplified Bagnold equation with/without routing by particle size, Kodoatie equation, Molinas and Wu equation, and Yang sand and gravel equation) were evaluated. It is suggested that modelers who conduct sediment studies in the mountainous watersheds with extreme rainfall conditions should adjust the modified universal soil loss equation (MUSLE) factors and carefully evaluate the sediment transportation equations in SWAT.
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Keywords:
SWAT; TUSLE; sediment transport; model calibration; mountainous catchment
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MDPI and ACS Style
Lu, C.-M.; Chiang, L.-C. Assessment of Sediment Transport Functions with the Modified SWAT-Twn Model for a Taiwanese Small Mountainous Watershed. Water 2019, 11, 1749. https://doi.org/10.3390/w11091749
AMA Style
Lu C-M, Chiang L-C. Assessment of Sediment Transport Functions with the Modified SWAT-Twn Model for a Taiwanese Small Mountainous Watershed. Water. 2019; 11(9):1749. https://doi.org/10.3390/w11091749
Chicago/Turabian StyleLu, Chih-Mei; Chiang, Li-Chi. 2019. "Assessment of Sediment Transport Functions with the Modified SWAT-Twn Model for a Taiwanese Small Mountainous Watershed" Water 11, no. 9: 1749. https://doi.org/10.3390/w11091749
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