Indirect Estimation of Design Flood in Urbanized River Basins Using a Distributed Hydrological Model
Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 19, Issue 1
Abstract
A method for indirect estimation of design flood in poorly gauged urbanized river basins by using distributed hydrological modelling is presented. It is based on the critical flood design criterion that maximizes peak flow for a given return period by transforming precipitation of depth duration frequency curve into runoff. The indirect method is compared against the direct method based on regional approach and index flood estimation. This paper shows that the direct method significantly underestimates design flood in case discharge measurements are strongly affected by artificial alteration of water courses with possible catastrophic consequences in terms of loss of life and damage to property when the cause of alteration would be removed. Moreover, the use of a spatially distributed model allows taking into account the heterogeneity that generally characterizes river basins with an high degree of urbanization. The presented indirect method provides a design hydrograph that is useful for those cases in which design discharge only is not sufficient for designing or planning purposes.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by Comune di Varese and Autorità di Bacino del Fiume Po. We thank Regional Agency for Environmental Protection (ARPA Lombardia) for providing hydrological and meteorological data and Consorzio Fiume Olona for providing dates of historical flood events.
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Information & Authors
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Published In
Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 19 • Issue 1 • January 2014
Pages: 235 - 242
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 19, 2012
Accepted: Dec 10, 2012
Published online: Dec 12, 2012
Discussion open until: May 12, 2013
Published in print: Jan 1, 2014
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