Model study of the effect of temporal storm distributions on peak discharges and volumes

Abstract

A series of synthetic five-year return period storms having rectangular, triangular and bimodal (triangular) temporal profiles was compiled from depthduration-frequency (D-D-F) relationships based on (a) standard sorted clock time depths and (b) complete storms only. These were used as inputs to a catchment runoff model to simulate the peaks and volumes of runoff from an actual and a hypothetical catchment respectively. The hypothetical catchment was used to prove the adequacy of the simplified hyetographs and the real catchment to demonstrate the difference in runoff hydrographs for the various hyetographs. The results were compared to establish the effect of storm profiles on peak and volume of runoff as well as to indicate the shortcomings of D-D-F relationships derived by conventional methods. In general, on the assumption that the model correctly converts storm input to runoff, triangular, and in particular bimodal, profiles were shown to reproduce adequately runoff peaks and volumes. © 1987 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.