Development of a rainfall and runoff simulator for performing hydrological and geotechnical tests

Abstract

Laboratory apparatuses for the analysis of infiltration and runoff enable studies under controlled environments and at reduced costs. Unfortunately, the design and construction of such systems are complex and face difficulties associated with the scale factor. This paper presents the design, construction, and evaluation of a portable rainfall and runoff simulator. The apparatus allows the evaluation of unsaturated soils with and without vegetation cover, under a wide range of simulation scenarios. The apparatus also enables the control of the intensity, size, and uniformity of simulated raindrops for variable surface slope, specimen thickness, and length conditions. The monitoring of the volumetric water content and matric suction and a rigorous computation of water balance are ensured. The obtained results indicate that the automated rainfall generator produces raindrops with Christiansen uniformity coefficients higher than 70%, and with an adequate distribution of raindrop sizes under a range of rainfall intensities between 86.0 and 220.0 mm h−1 . The ideal rainfall generator conditions were established for a relatively small area equal to or lower than 1.0 m2 and considering rainfall events with return periods of 10 to 100 years.