Reynolds Average Navier Stokes (RANS) models are among the most employed models to solve turbulent flows, due to their low computational cost. The majority of RANS models use the Boussinesq approximation, based on a linear relation between the deviatoric part of Reynolds stress tensor and the rate of strain tensor, with the turbulent viscosity as the positive proportionality parameter. However, these models fail in several situations, and a great deal of effort has been made by the scientific community aiming to improve model prediction through the development of non-linear models. Analysis of higher-order models employing objective orthogonal tensors has shown that these are very promising to improve the prediction of the normal components of the Reynolds stress. In this work, non-linear models based on the square of the rate-strain tensor and non-persistence tensor were examined for a range of friction Reynolds number from 395 to 5200. New wall damping functions were developed, employing the turbulent kinetic energy and intensity of the rate of strain tensor to determine the turbulent characteristic velocity and length. Further, a new one-equation turbulent model based only on the turbulent kinetic energy transport equation was proposed coupled with an algebraic closure equation to model the turbulent kinetic energy dissipation. The models prediction for a channel flow were compared with DNS data and presented a better adherence to the DNS data, than the results of other RANS models available in the literature.