Evaluating the Effects of Initial Abstraction Ratio on Curve Number Accuracy
Publication: World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2024
ABSTRACT
The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) curve number (CN) method holds immense significance in various critical analyses, including floodplain management, land use planning, and water quality management. The proposed change of the initial abstraction ratio (λ) to 0.05 from 0.2 in the USDA National Engineering Handbook: Part 630—Hydrology indicates uncertainty in the approach to curve number. The objective of this study is to evaluate three approaches to curve number calibration and the effects of changing λ on the accuracy of curve number determination. The study utilizes rainfall-runoff datasets from eight locations around the United States representing a wide geographic and climate distribution. Three distinct methodologies, namely least square error (LSE), asymptotic, and the NRCS National Engineering Handbook (NEH) method, were employed for this purpose. The effects of the λ value and two distinct data ordering approaches (natural and ordered data) were also evaluated.
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Published In
World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2024
Pages: 1535 - 1548
History
Published online: May 16, 2024
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Analysis (by type)
- Business management
- Engineering fundamentals
- Environmental engineering
- Federal government
- Freight transportation
- Government
- Hydrologic engineering
- Hydrology
- Infrastructure
- Least squares method
- Logistics
- Management methods
- Organizations
- Practice and Profession
- Quality control
- Regression analysis
- Resource management
- Runoff
- Runoff curve number
- Statistical analysis (by type)
- Transportation engineering
- Water and water resources
- Water quality
- Water treatment
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