Surface runoff estimation based on the intense rainfall equation obtained by disaggregating daily rainfall
International Journal of Development Research
Surface runoff estimation based on the intense rainfall equation obtained by disaggregating daily rainfall
Received 28th September, 2020; Received in revised form 21st October, 2020; Accepted 14th November, 2020; Published online 31st December, 2020
Copyright © 2020, Álvaro José Back et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Several hydrological models make use of surface runoff estimates, among which the soil water balance method developed by the Research Group on Water Resources of the Federal University of Viçosa stands out. This method, which is used in software for dimensioning terraces and other soil conservation structures, requires knowledge of the intensity-duration-frequency (IDF) equation in the site of interest. This note presents an adaptation of this method for the model of intense rainfall equation obtained by disaggregating daily rainfall. We used equations for estimating maximum average intensities and instantaneous intensities, and compared the IDF equation to the alternative generalized equation model in soils with basic infiltration rate of 10 and 50 mm h-1. The results demonstrate that the equations presented in this article allow the use of the method of estimating the maximum surface runoff depth based on the surface water balance in places where the IDF equation is not available.
