A calibration-free physicality-based model for predicting peak river flows

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Morawiecki, Piotr, Trinh, Philippe H.
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2023
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author Morawiecki, Piotr
Trinh, Philippe H.
author_facet Morawiecki, Piotr
Trinh, Philippe H.
contents Many simple hydrologic models are based on parametric statistical relations between the river flow and catchment properties such as its area, precipitation rates, soil properties, etc., fitted to the available data. The main objective of this work is to explain how these statistical relations emerge from the physical laws governing surface and subsurface flow at a catchment scale. The main achievement of this work is the derivation of an analytic formula for predicting peak monthly and annual river flows. It does not require any parameter calibration, but requires a measurement or estimation of the mean flow at the given catchment's outlet. We found that this model 1) has a simple physical interpretation, 2) provides more precise estimates than the median maximum annual flow (QMED) estimation method from the Flood Estimation Handbook (FEH), commonly used to estimate flood risk in the ungauged catchments in the UK, and 3) is highly accurate for all types of catchments, including the small catchments, for which the standard FEH method is the least accurate.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2401_05349
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A calibration-free physicality-based model for predicting peak river flows
Morawiecki, Piotr
Trinh, Philippe H.
Geophysics
Fluid Dynamics
Many simple hydrologic models are based on parametric statistical relations between the river flow and catchment properties such as its area, precipitation rates, soil properties, etc., fitted to the available data. The main objective of this work is to explain how these statistical relations emerge from the physical laws governing surface and subsurface flow at a catchment scale. The main achievement of this work is the derivation of an analytic formula for predicting peak monthly and annual river flows. It does not require any parameter calibration, but requires a measurement or estimation of the mean flow at the given catchment's outlet. We found that this model 1) has a simple physical interpretation, 2) provides more precise estimates than the median maximum annual flow (QMED) estimation method from the Flood Estimation Handbook (FEH), commonly used to estimate flood risk in the ungauged catchments in the UK, and 3) is highly accurate for all types of catchments, including the small catchments, for which the standard FEH method is the least accurate.
title A calibration-free physicality-based model for predicting peak river flows
topic Geophysics
Fluid Dynamics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.05349