Empirical Determination of Rational Method Runoff Coefficients
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Volume 14, Issue 12
Abstract
The rational method for determining peak flood discharges has been used for the design of hydraulic structures for decades. Despite the popularity of the method, little attention has been paid to improving guidance for selection of the runoff coefficient. This study determined rational runoff coefficients (the rational ) for 72 gauged rural watersheds in Kansas ranging in size from 0.45 to using a frequency-based approach. The median rational values for Kansas ranged from 0.17 for the 2-year recurrence interval in western Kansas up to 0.97 for the 100-year recurrence interval in eastern Kansas. This paper investigates the spatial variation in runoff coefficients and documents the dependence of the rational on recurrence interval. The rational values determined in this study do not exhibit dependence on drainage area, indicating that the method is acceptable for use on much larger basins than is typically assumed.
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Acknowledgments
This work was funded by the Kansas Department of Transportation under K-TRAN Grant No. UNSPECIFIEDKU-06-4. This support is gratefully acknowledged.
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Information
Published In
Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 14 • Issue 12 • December 2009
Pages: 1283 - 1289
Copyright
© 2009 ASCE.
History
Received: Jun 22, 2007
Accepted: Mar 9, 2009
Published online: Nov 13, 2009
Published in print: Dec 2009
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