Influence of upstream inflow on wave celerity and time to equilibrium on an overland plane

Abstract

Based on the kinematic wave equations, formulae for the wave celerity along an overland plane subject to uniform rainfall excess and with a constant upstream inflow together with the corresponding average wave celerity and time to equilibrium for the entire plane are derived. The formulae are further developed in terms of both the Darcy-Weisbach resistance coefficient and the Manning resistance coefficient. By comparing the wave celerities, the average wave celerities and the time to equilibrium for planes with and without upstream inflow show that the upstream inflow causes the wave celerity and the average wave celerity to be faster and the times to equilibrium to be shorter. The effect of upstream inflow is greater with increasing inflow, but the marginal effect decreases with increasing inflow. The effect is greatest for laminar flow and least for turbulent flow. For the wave celerity, the effect is also greatest at the upstream end of the plane and least at the downstream end of the plane. © 1996 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.