The study based on laboratory soil-column experiments to research the effects of different gravel content and particle size on soil infiltration process and the applicability of the traditional soil infiltration model by four models. The results showed that the cumulative infiltration of soil decreased with the increase of gravel content

and the change of the wetting front in soil column was reduced and gradually tend to be level-off with the increase of cumulative infiltration. When the gravel content was less than 20%

the cumulative infiltration rate increased with the increase of the particle size

and there was no difference between the cumulative infiltration and wetting front with time when the gravel content increases to a certain value (20%～30%). There was a good linear relationship between the amount of cumulative infiltration and wetting front distance. Green-Ampt model

General model

Horton model and Kostiakov model were used to fit the relationship between infiltration rate and infiltration duration. Horton model showed best fitting effect when the gravel content was 5%

but worst in 10%～30%

while general model was more applicable

the fitting effect of other models varied with gravel content and particle size.