Experimental Study of Rainfall-Runoff Process Through Calibrated Simulator; A Case Study of Auchi Polytechnic, Auchi, Edo State, Nigeria

  • Yahaya Olotu Auchi Polytechnic, Auchi
  • Olawale O. Olanrewaju
  • Afolabi A. Rodiya
  • Adesoji P. Adekunle
Keywords: Rainfall simulator, Rainfall-runoff, Surface runoff intensities, Runoff plot, Hydrological process

Abstract

The relationship between rainfall-runoff is a complex hydrological process that requires technical-based approaches to investigate and understand the interaction of the hydrological variables. A calibrated rainfall simulator was developed to produce storms at seven (7) predetermined rainfall intensities (RIs) over two (2) runoff plots (RPs). The runoff plot (RP) is 0.72 m2 and RPB is 0.5 m2 was inserted 0.3 m into the bare sandy loam. The results of the experimentation showed the first rainfall simulation attempt (RSA) of RI of 10.8mm/hr was completely lost to infiltration from the two runoff catchment plots. Subsequently, the RSA generated surface runoff intensities (SRI) and RPB produced higher SRI and volume compared to catchment plots (RPA). Conversely, the relationship of rainfall-runoff showed co-linearity between the simulated rainfall (SR) and generated surface flow RPA and RPB with the determinant of coefficients of 0.9926 and 0.9942 at P < 0.05. Therefore, the study’s finding is useful to develop a rainfall-runoff model under different runoff catchment areas for developing integrated water management schemes, hydraulic structures, and irrigation scheduling.

References

Abudi, I., Carmi, G., Berliner, P., 2012. Rainfall simulator for field runoff studies. Journal of Hydrology 10 (2), 76-81.

Chouksey, A., Lambey, V., Nikam, B.R., Aggarwal, S.P., Dutta, S., 2017. Hydrological modelling using a rainfall simulator over an experimental hillslope plot. Hydrology 4 (1), 1-20.

Dijk, A.I.J.M., Bruijnzeel, L.A., Rosewell, C.J., 2002. Rainfall intensity-kinetic energy relationships: a critical literature appraisal. Journal of Hydrology 261 (45), 1-28.

Eigel, J.D., Moore, I.D., 1983. A Simplified Technique for Measuring Raindrop Size and Distribution. Transactions of the ASABE 26 (4), 1079-1084.

Essig, E.T., Corradini, C., Morbidelli, R., Govindaraju, R.S., 2009. Infiltration and deep flow over sloping surfaces: comparison of numerical and experimental results. Journal of Hydrology 374, 30-42.

French, M.N., Krajewski, W.F., Cuykendall, R.R., 1992. Rainfall Forecasting in Space and Time Using a Neural Network. Journal of Hydrology 137 (1-4), 1-31.

Foster, G.R., Neibling, W.H., Natterman, R.A., 2017. A Programmable Rainfall Simulator. American Society Agricultural Engineers: St. Joseph, MI, USA.

Hudson, N.W., 1993. Field Measurement of Soil Erosion and Runoff, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy.

Humphry, J.B., Daniel, T.C., Edwards, R.D., Sharpley, A.N., 2002. A portable rainfall simulator for pilot scale runoff studies. Applied Engineering in Agriculture 18 (2), 199-204.

Karunanithi, N., Grenney, W.J., Whitley, D., Bovee, K., 1994. Neural Networks for River Flow Prediction. Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering 8 (29), 201-220.

Kurien, E.K., George, T.P., 1998. Design, fabrication and testing of a rainfall simulator. Proc. Tenth Kerala Science Congress. pp. 63-65.

Mech, S., 2011. Limitations of simulated rainfall as a research tool. Transactions of the ASAE 8 (1), 66-75.

Micheala, D., Peter, V., Roman, V., 2017. Evaluation of surface runoff generation processing using a rainfall simulator: A small scale laboratory experiment. IOP Conference Series Earth and Environmental Science 95 (2), 20-28.

Mohamad, A., Ataollah, K., 2015. Effects of rainfall patterns on runoff and soil erosion in field plots. International Soil and Water Conservation Research 3 (4), 273-281.

Moore, I.D., Hirschi, M.C., Barfield, B.J., 1983. Kentucky rainfall simulator. Transactions of the ASAE 26, 1085-1089.

Olotu, Y., Bada, O., Rodiya, A.A., Omotayo, F.S., 2014. Sensitivity-Based Modeling of Evaluating Surface Runoff and Sediment Load Using Digital and Analog Mechanism. Global Journal of Science Frontier Research 14 (3), 1-9.

Ricks, M.D., Matthew, A.H., Faulkner, B., Zech, W.C., Fang, X., Wesley, N.D., Perez, M.A., 2019. Design of a pressurized rainfall simulator for evaluating the performance of erosion control practices. Water 11 (2), 1-18.

Rose, C.W., 1993. Erosion and sedimentation. In: M. Bonell, M.M. Hufschmidt, J.S. Gladwell (Eds.), Hydrology and Water Management in Humid Tropics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Sanchez-Moreno, S., Matthew, A.H., Hirschi, N.K., 2012. Rainfall kinetic energy-intensity and rainfall momentum-intensity relationship for Cape Verde. Journal of Hydrology 454-455, 131-140.

Shelton, C.H., von Bernuth, R.D., Rajbhandari, S.P., 2018. A continuous-application of rainfall simulator. Transactions of the ASAE 28 (4), 1115, 1119.

Shoemaker, A.L., Zech, W.C., Clement, T.P., 2012. Laboratory-Scale Evaluation of Anionic Polyacrylamide as an Erosion and Sediment Control Measure on Steep-Sloped Construction Sites. Transaction of the ASABE 55(3), 809-815.

Singh, P.K., Purty, P., 2016. Estimation of rainfall-runoff relationship in East Singhbhum District, Jharkhand, India. BEST: International Journal of Management, Information Technology and Engineering 4 (10),15-28.

Stomph, T.J., de Ridder, N., Steenhuis, T.S., van de Giesen, N.C., 2002. Scale effects of Hortonian overland flow and rainfall-runoff dynamics: Laboratory validation of a process-based model. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 27 (2), 847-855.

Suhaila, J., Jemain, A.A., 2012. Spatial analysis of daily rainfall intensity and concentration index in Peninsular Malaysia. Theoretical and Applied Climatology 108 (1-2), 235-245.

Truman, C.C., Potter, T.L., Nuti, R.C., Franklin, D.H., Bosch, D.D., 2011. Antecedent water content affects runoff and sediment yields from two Coastal Plain Ultisols. Agricultural Water Management 98, 1189-1196.

Vahabi, J., Ghafouri, M., 2009. Determination of Runoff Threshold Using Rainfall Simulator in the Southern Alborz Range Foothill-Iran. Research Journal of Environmental Sciences 3(1), 193-201.

Varikoden, H., Samah, A.A., Babu, C.A., 2010. Spatial and temporal characteristics of rain intensity in peninsular Malaysia using TRMM rain rate. Journal of Hydrology 387 (3-4), 312-319.
Published
2022-07-03
Issue
Vol 4 No 2 (2022): Vol 4 Issue 2
Section
Articles

Copyright (c) 2022 Yahaya OLOTU

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The authors keep the copyrights of the published materials with them, but the authors are aggee to give an exclusive license to the publisher that transfers all publishing and commercial exploitation rights to the publisher. The puslisher then shares the content published in this journal under CC BY-NC-ND license.