Catchment response time and design rainfall: the key input parameters for design flood estimation in ungauged catchments

Abstract

Catchment response time and design rainfall are regarded as fundamental input to all design flood estimation methods in ungauged catchments, while errors in estimated catchment response time and design rainfall directly impact on estimated peak discharges. This paper presents the independent testing and comparison of the latest catchment response time and design rainfall estimation methodologies with current well-known and simplified methodologies used in South Africa to ultimately highlight the impact thereof on design flood estimation. The results confirmed that catchment response time, design rainfall, and to some lesser extent runoff coefficients, are the key input parameters for design flood estimation in ungauged catchments and have a significant impact on the design of hydraulic structures. It is recommended that the current well-known and simplified catchment response time (USBR TC equation) and design rainfall (modified Hershfield/TR102 DDF approach) estimation methodologies should be replaced with the empirical G&S TC equations and the RLMA&SI DDF approach when deterministic design floods are estimated in ungauged catchments in South Africa.