Development of Simple Method for Flood Control Capacity Estimation of Dam in South Korea

Abstract

As flood damage is becoming more frequent and severe worldwide, efficient flood control of dams has been highlighted. The purpose of the study is to establish a simple method for dam operators to estimate the flood control capacity and predischarge level required for flood response. The cumulative probability distribution (CDF) pair with the same return period for 12 major dams located in South Korea were estimated using the frequency matching method. A Ratio of Storage volume to Flood inflow (RSF) concept was suggested and applied for each dam, and they were classified into three types: Linear, Estranged, and Vague according to the water storage characteristics. Using the method presented in this study, we suggested the required amount of flood control capacity and target water level for each dam. The results demonstrated that there is no linear relationship between flood and storage of dam when the ratio of watershed area to a storage capacity of the dam is 2.0 or more, or the ratio of watershed area to flood control capacity is 20.0 or more. Further, it was found that the RSF value is affected by the initial water level of the dam when a high flood inflow was observed for Estranged and Vague types. It is expected that the method presented in this study can be basic information for performing predischarge for flood control in numerous dams.