Instantaneous Unit Hydrograph Evaluation for Rainfall-Runoff Modeling of Small Watersheds in North and South Central Texas
Publication: Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 132, Issue 5
Abstract
Data from over 1,600 storms at 91 stations in Texas are analyzed to evaluate an instantaneous unit hydrograph (IUH) model for rainfall-runoff models. The model is fit to observed data using two different merit functions: a sum of squared errors function, and an absolute error at the peak discharge time function. The model is compared to two other models using several criteria. Analysis suggests that the Natural Resources Conservation Service Dimensionless Unit Hydrograph, Commons’ Texas hydrograph, and the Rayleigh IUH perform similarly. As the NRCS and Commons’ models are tabulations, the Rayleigh model is an adequate substitute when a continuous model is necessary. The adjustable shape parameter in the Rayleigh model does not make any dramatic improvement in overall performance for these data, thus fixed shape hydrographs are adequate for these watersheds.
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Acknowledgments
The research described in this paper was supported by the Texas Department of Transportation under Project No. UNSPECIFIED0-4193. The discussions and guidance of the project director George R. Herrmann, and the program coordinator David Stolpa are gratefully acknowledged. The contents of this paper reflect the views of the writers, who are responsible for the facts and accuracy of the data presented herein. The contents do not necessarily reflect official views or policies of the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, or the Texas Department of Transportation. This paper does not constitute a standard, specification, or regulation. The 1-min derived data, IUH results, and plots for all the storms using all the models in this paper are publicly available at the corresponding author's web server (Cleveland 2004).
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Published In
Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 132 • Issue 5 • October 2006
Pages: 479 - 485
Copyright
© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: Nov 2, 2004
Accepted: Sep 30, 2005
Published online: Oct 1, 2006
Published in print: Oct 2006
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