Improved SCS-CN–Inspired Model
Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 17, Issue 11
Abstract
The present study enhances the Soil Conservation Service curve number (SCS-CN) predictions by improving the model structure, considering the following issues of concern: implementation of antecedent moisture condition procedure, fixation of initial abstraction ratio () at 0.2, usage of the potential maximum retention parameter, and incorporation of storm intensity or duration in runoff estimation. A five-parameter M3 model is proposed, with storm duration and a new parameter (potential maximum retention), to overcome most of the above limitations prevailing in the SCS-CN model. For simplicity and practical applications obviating storm-duration data, a four-parameter M4 model is also proposed. The performance of the suggested and the available models has been evaluated using the data of 82 small watersheds in the United States of America. As demonstrated, the M3 model performs the best, whereas the conventional SCS-CN model performs the poorest among all the models studied.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 17 • Issue 11 • November 2012
Pages: 1164 - 1172
Copyright
© 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 31, 2010
Accepted: May 19, 2011
Published online: May 21, 2011
Published in print: Nov 1, 2012
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