P. Anoop (PhD, HWRE)

Broad Area

Unsaturated flow modelling: Optimization, Inverse modelling, Irrigation scheduling
Unsaturated flow modelling: Macropore flow modelling, Thin film flow models
Surface flow modelling: Flood modelling and mapping

Doctoral Research

Investigation and modification of macropore flow models: If Richards' equation has survived a century of preferential-flow criticism, it deserves either a medal or a retrial. My doctoral research investigates macropore flow models and modifies them to account for what water actually does- navigating roughness, shape, and size of macropores. Whether it dramatically improves predictability remains an open question, but it shall certainly gift the scientific community a physically more honest flow model and really, isn't that what we all came here for?

Supervisor:

Dr. Richa Ojha,

Associate Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Kanpur

Email: richao@iitk.ac.in

Publications:

Conferences

Pandey, A., R. Srivastava (2022), Flood modelling and mapping for a reach of the Narmada River, HYDRO-22
Pandey, A., V. Nirali, Ojha R. (2024), Multi-Objective Optimization of Mathematical Models with Multi-population Strategy: A Case Study on Soil-Water Flow Parameter Estimation, International Conference on Computations and Data Science (CoDS, 2024), IIT Roorkee
V. Nirali, Pandey, A., Tripathi, S., Ojha R. (2024), Impact of Temporal Resolution of Soil Moisture Observations on Dual-Porosity Model Parameter Estimation. INTERNATIONAL WATER CONFERENCE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (IWCSDG - 2024)
Vashishth, N., Pandey, A., Ojha R. (2024-25), Optimizing Water Consumption in Macroporous Soils: A Dual-Permeability Approach, International Perspectives in Water and Environment (IPWE) Conference(2025), Bhopal
Pandey, A., Ojha R. (2024-25), Numerical comparison of available flow theories for modelling macropore flow through unsaturated soil media, International Perspectives in Water and Environment (IPWE) Conference(2025), Bhopal
Pandey, A., Ojha R. (2025) OPTIMIZING IRRIGATION FOR WATER SECURITY: SOIL-MOISTURE VS ACTUAL EVAPOTRANSPIRATIONAPPROACHES, HYDRO-2025, NIT Rourkela, Odisha
Pandey, A. and Ojha, R.: Impact of irrigation forcing on parameter estimation of 1-D Richards equation, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-7930, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-7930, 2026.

Book Chapters:

Pandey, A., Ojha, R. (2024). Macropore Flow and Its Characteristics. In: Singh, K.K., Prasad Ojha, C.S. (eds) Sustainable Management of Land, Water and Pollution of Built-up Area. Society of Earth Scientists Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-56176-4_9

Journal Articles:

Anoop Pandey, Richa Ojha (2025), Evaluating existing flow theories for modelling macropore flow through unsaturated soils: A numerical study, Advances in Water Resources, 105136, ISSN 0309-1708, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advwatres.2025.105136.
Vashishth, N., Pandey, A., & Ojha, R. (2025). Estimation of dual permeability model parameters in agricultural fields using a genetic algorithm-based inverse modeling framework. Vadose Zone Journal, 24, e70067. https://doi.org/10.1002/vzj2.70067
Pandey, A., Vashishth, N., Ojha R. (2026), Evaluating single-porosity and dual-permeability approaches for irrigation water requirements in structured agricultural soils. (Under Review)
Anoop Pandey, Richa Ojha (2026), Are remotely sensed soil moisture misleading hydrological calibration in irrigated regions? (To be submitted)
Anoop Pandey, Richa Ojha (2026), A modified source responsive model for preferential flow in soil macropores (To be submitted)

Room No - 4, Hydraulics Lab, Academic Area , IIT Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India, 208016 Office Phone: 0512-259-6443 Email: anoop20@iitk.ac.in