Peak rate factor for tringular synthetic unit-graphs

ABSTRACT In most cases when unit-graphs are used as rainfall-runoff operators there is a need for synthetic ones, which are constructed synthetically from measurable watershed physical information. Since the development of the first synthetic unit-graph by Snyder (1938) several attempts have been made to generalize them, emphasizing a variety of dimensionless unit-graphs proposals, a very popular one being that of the old United States Soil Conservation Service (SCS,1972). Its simplified triangular version (triangular unit-graph) virtually assumed the role of a generalized dimensionless unit-graph. However, further studies of peak rate factors (PRF) have shown that the SCS triangular unit-graph has a constant PRF, which is not appropriate to represent the hydrologic behavior of all watersheds. The peak rate factor is done in metric or English units, but it is essentiality a dimensionless factor, in this paper represented by the symbol β, which is equivalent to 1.09Cp, Cp being the well-known peak parameter of Snyder’s unit graph. Using this relationship between β and Cp, this paper analyzes and discusses the peak rate factor as an element of synthetic dimensionless unit-graph generalization. On the basis of the experience of obtaining β and Cp, very often related to basin slopes, the possibility of obtaining more realistic triangular synthetic unit-graphs is assessed.