We propose two modeling approaches of additive-increase/multiplicative-decrease (AIMD) congestion control mechanisms. The first separates the increase and decrease parts whereas the second describes the rate evolution of the congestion window as a continuous process governed by a differential equation. We relate these approaches and show that the second (fluid-flow) model results from deterministic time averaging of the first (discontinuous) model. A generalized class of nonlinear protocols, which includes Floyd's HighSpeed TCP, is then proposed and analyzed. Our findings are validated by simulation.