TECHNICAL NOTES
Jun 13, 2003

Simplified Two-Parameter Gamma Distribution for Derivation of Synthetic Unit Hydrograph

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Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 8, Issue 4

Abstract

Several methods for synthetic unit hydrographs are available in the literature. Most of them involve manual, subjective fitting of a hydrograph through few data points. Because it is difficult, the generated unit hydrograph is often left unadjusted for unit runoff volume. To circumvent this problem, a simplified version of the existing two-parameter gamma distribution is introduced to derive a synthetic hydrograph more conveniently and accurately than the popular Gray, Soil Conservation Service, and Synder methods. The revised version incorporates the approximate, but accurate, empirical relations developed for the estimation of β and λ (factors governing the shape of the dimensionless unit hydrograph) from the Nash parameter n (=number of reservoirs). The Marquardt algorithm was used to develop the nonlinear relationships. The applicability of the simplified version is tested on both text and field data.

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References

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Go to Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 8Issue 4July 2003
Pages: 226 - 230

History

Received: Feb 8, 2002
Accepted: Dec 17, 2002
Published online: Jun 13, 2003
Published in print: Jul 2003

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Authors

Affiliations

P. K. Bhunya
National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, Uttaranchal, India 247 667.
S. K. Mishra
National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, Uttaranchal, India 247 667.
Ronny Berndtsson
Dept. of Water Resources Engineering, Lund Institute of Technology, Lund Univ., Lund, Sweden.

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