Method for calibrating a theoretical model in karst springs: an example for a hydropower station in South China

作者:Luo, Mingming; Chen, Zhihua*; Criss, Robert E.; Zhou, Hong; Jakada, Hamza; Shi, Tingting
来源:HYDROLOGICAL PROCESSES, 2016, 30(25): 4815-4825.
DOI:10.1002/hyp.10950

摘要

A theoretical, dimensionless rainfall-runoff model was used to simulate the discharge of Wulongdong spring in western Hubei province, South China. The single parameter (time constant tau) in the model is easy to obtain by fitting the recession rate of the observed hydrographs. The model was scaled by simply matching the total annual flow volume of the model to the observed value. Annual distribution of actual evapotranspiration was embedded in the model input to calculate the accumulated deficit of soil moisture before each rain event. Hourly precipitation input data performed better than daily data, defining tau of 0.85 days and returning a Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency of 0.89 and the root mean square error of 0.07. This model offers an effective way to simulate the discharge of karst springs that respond sensitively to rainfall events. The model parameters of a successful simulation can be used to estimate the recharge area and indicate the intrinsic response time of the basin.