Unit Hydrograph Peak Rate Factor Estimation for Texas Watersheds
Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 27, Issue 11
Abstract
In many cases, estimation of the peak discharge is the primary goal of hydrologic modeling. We employed a dataset of 1,648 rainfall-runoff events in 104 watersheds in Texas to explore the peak rate factor (PRF) of 2.08 recommended by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) for determining peak discharges with the unit hydrograph method, as well as the PRF’s dependency on watershed and storm characteristics. For each event, a unit hydrograph—assumed to follow a two-parameter gamma distribution—was determined by deconvolving the direct runoff hydrograph with the excess rainfall hyetograph. Results showed PRFs reaching up to 9.75 in Houston watersheds with a median of 0.58 and PRFs up to 11.02 with a median of 1.42 for the rest of Texas. It was also found that the recommended PRF of 2.08 falls between the 75th and 90th percentile of the 1,043 events analyzed in all regions except Houston, and is above the 95th percentile in all 605 events analyzed in Houston. Finally, statistical analysis showed that the PRF is primarily dependent on the watershed’s geomorphology but not on its slope, as was suggested earlier. This dependency, however, although statistically significant, explains only marginally the PRF variability.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
This research was partially supported by the Texas Department of Transportation under Project 0-7010 and Project 0-7010-01, “Developing Peak Rate Factor (PRF) Guidance in Hydrologic Modeling.” The authors also thank the editorial board and three anonymous reviewers for their constructive criticisms and helpful suggestions.
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Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 27 • Issue 11 • November 2022
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 24, 2022
Accepted: Jun 14, 2022
Published online: Aug 30, 2022
Published in print: Nov 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Jan 30, 2023
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