Flood routing in ungauged catchments using Muskingum methods

Abstract

River stage or flow rates are required for the design and evaluation of hydraulic structures. Most river reaches are ungauged and a methodology is needed to estimate the rates of flow, at specific locations in streams where no measurements are avail able. Flood-routing techniques are utilised to estimate the stages, or rates of flow, in order to predict flood wave propagation along river reaches. Models can be developed for gauged catchments and their parameters related to physical characteristics such as slope, reach width, reach length so that the approach can be applied to ungauged catchments within the same region. The objective of this study is to assess the Muskingum-Cunge method for flow routing in ungauged river reaches, both with and without lateral inflows. The Muskingum-Cunge method was assessed using catchment-derived parameters for use in ungauged river reaches. Three sub-catchments in the Thukela catchment in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa were selected for analyses, with river lengths of 4, 21 and 54 km.

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