Methodology for Identifying the Best Equations for Estimating the Time of Concentration of Watersheds in a Particular Region

Abstract

In this paper, a methodology is proposed for identifying the best equations for estimating the time of concentration (ToC) of watersheds located in a specific geographic region. The methodology primarily works on the basis of modifying available equations to minimize their bias for any particular region of interest. In the methodology, for each watershed, the ToC considered as “reference” is determined using the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) velocity method employed in the TR-55 model and geographic information systems data. Moreover, a ranking-based selection strategy is developed for evaluating and selecting the best performing methods. In a case study, the proposed methodology is applied to 72 watersheds and subwatersheds in Khorasan Razavi province, Iran. According to the study, the California equation (with a correction factor of 1.715), the Kirpich (Tennessee) equation (with a correction factor of 1.721), and the Arizona DOT equation (with a correction factor of 1.126) have the best performance for the selected watersheds.