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Are estimates of catchment response time inconsistent as used in current flood hydrology practice in South Africa?

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dc.contributor.author Gericke, O.J.
dc.contributor.author Smithers, J.C.
dc.date.accessioned 2018-08-08T10:04:59Z
dc.date.available 2018-08-08T10:04:59Z
dc.date.issued 2016
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/11462/1476
dc.description Published Article en_US
dc.description.abstract Catchment response time parameters are one of the primary inputs required when design floods, especially in ungauged catchments, need to be estimated. The time of concentration (TC) is the most frequently used time parameter in flood hydrology practice, and continues to find application in both event-based methods and continuous hydrological models. Despite the widespread use of the TC, a unique working definition and equation(s) are currently lacking in South Africa. This paper presents the results of the direct and indirect TC estimation for three sets of catchments, which highlight their inherent variability and inconsistencies. These case studies demonstrate that estimates of TC, using different equations, may differ from one another by up to 800%. As a consequence of this high variability and uncertainty, we recommend that, for design hydrology and calibration purposes, observed TC values should be estimated using both the average catchment TC value, which is based on the event means, and a linear catchment response function. This approach is not only practical, but also proved to be objective and consistent in the study areas investigated in this paper. en_US
dc.format.extent 678 593 bytes, 1 file
dc.format.mimetype Application/PDF
dc.language.iso en_US en_US
dc.publisher Journal of the south african institution of civil engineering en_US
dc.relation.ispartofseries Vol 58;No 1
dc.subject catchment response time en_US
dc.subject lag time en_US
dc.subject peak discharge en_US
dc.subject time of concentration en_US
dc.subject time to peak en_US
dc.title Are estimates of catchment response time inconsistent as used in current flood hydrology practice in South Africa? en_US
dc.type Article en_US


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