The design of vertical subsurface flow (VSSF) constructed wetlands (CWs) uses kinetic models to calculate the area based on the kinetic reaction rate constant (k) specific to local environmental conditions and target pollutants. Currently, kinetic modelling does not fully account for the impact of the hydraulic loading rate (HLR), which influences the wetland performance. This study used four experimental VSSF CWs operated at HLRs of 5, 10, 20 and 40 cm/day to investigate the applicability of three first order kinetic models combining plug-flow and continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) flow patterns. The target pollutants were BOD₅, NH₄⁺ and NO₃^-. For each pollutant, estimated k values varied between different HLRs and between plug flow and CSTR models. Assessment of uncertainty in kinetic modelling showed that all three models exhibit a similar trend in predicting the concentrations of BOD₅ and NH₄⁺ at 5–20 cm/day HLRs. A substantial removal of BOD₅ (>88 %) and NH₄⁺ (>70 %) were found for the investigated HLRs, although NO₃- removal was not satisfactory. The HLR had a positive impact on mass removal rates (MRRs) for BOD₅ and NH₄⁺. Accordingly, 20 cm/day was deemed as the highest viable HLR for designing effective VSSF wetlands for the removal of BOD₅ and NH₄⁺. All three models can be employed to design VSSF wetlands at 20 cm/day HLR to treat BOD₅ using k values of 0.352 (k-C), 0.380 (k-C*) and 0.996 (CSTR) m/day and to treat NH₄⁺ using k values of 0.170 (k-C), 0.173 (k-C*) and 0.273 (CSTR) m/day.

垂直地下流（VSSF）人工湿地（CWs）的设计使用动力学模型，根据特定于当地环境条件和目标污染物的动力学反应速率常数（k）计算面积。当前，动力学建模尚未完全考虑液压负荷率（HLR）的影响，而液压负荷率会影响湿地性能。这项研究使用了四个实验VSSF CW，它们以5、10、20和40 cm / day的HLR运行，以研究结合塞流和连续搅拌釜反应器（CSTR）流型的三个一阶动力学模型的适用性。目标污染物为BOD ₅，NH ₄ ⁺和NO ₃ ^-。对于每种污染物，估计的k值在不同的HLR之间以及在塞流和CSTR模型之间有所不同。动力学模型不确定性的评估显示，在预测5-20 cm / day HLRs时，所有三种模型在预测BOD ₅和NH ₄ ⁺的浓度方面都表现出相似的趋势。对于所研究的HLR，发现基本去除了BOD ₅（> 88％）和NH ₄ ⁺（> 70％），尽管NO _3-去除效果不令人满意。HLR对BOD ₅和NH ₄ ^+的质量去除率（MRR）具有积极影响。因此，在设计有效的VSSF湿地以去除BOD时，每天20厘米/天被认为是最高可行的HLR₅和NH ₄ ⁺。所有这三个模型可以在20厘米/天HLR治疗BOD被用来设计VSSF湿₅使用的0.352的k值（KC），0.380（kC的*）和0.996（CSTR）米/天治疗NH ₄ ⁺用k值0.170（kC），0.173（kC *）和0.273（CSTR）m /天。