NRCS Design Storm Erosivity
Publication: Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 135, Issue 1
Abstract
Two methods are developed to estimate rainfall erosivity indices produced by four standard design storms developed by the National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), which are used widely throughout the United States. The first method is based on regression analysis of erosivity indices calculated from the actual duration rainfall distributions and is presented in an uncomplicated form. The second method is founded on fits of an exponential distribution to the ordered rainfall intensities obtained for intervals for each of the design storm types. Subsequent integration of the unit kinetic energy equation used over the storm durations, which makes use of the exponential expression for rainfall intensity, leads to an analytical approximation of the rainfall erosivity index. Although the regression equations estimate erosivity design storms accurately and are easy to apply, they are limited to durations of . The analytical solution, on the other hand, can be used to estimate erosivity indices from the four storm types for any duration of or less.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 135 • Issue 1 • February 2009
Pages: 76 - 86
Copyright
© 2009 ASCE.
History
Received: Jul 15, 2007
Accepted: Jul 7, 2008
Published online: Feb 1, 2009
Published in print: Feb 2009
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