Evaluation the performance of two hydrological models for the estimation of surface run-off

Abstract EN

The main objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of the HEC-1 and HYDROMED models to predict run-off hydrograph using hydrological data collected from a small watershed in Syria.

One storm was used for calibrated of the two models and three storms for evaluating them.

The calibration parameters for the HEC-1 model were curve number (CN) and lag time (Tlag).

The calibrated parameters for the HYDROMED model were maximum infiltration rate (Zmax), minimum infiltration rate (Zmin), and lag time.

The HEC-1 model produced satisfactory results for of estimation run-off volume, time to peak, and shape of the hydrograph.

The error in the estimation of run-off volume was less than 32%.

The discrepancy between estimated and predicted peak discharge increased as storm depth increased.

Error in estimating peak discharge was as high as 55 %.

The root mean square error between measured and predicted values of the hydrograph ranged from 56 to 102.

The HYDROMED model reasonably estimated the run-off volume.

The error in estimating the run-off volume from the three storms used for the model evaluation was less than 28 %.

However, the model did not produce satisfactory result using the calibrated parameter for estimation of the peak discharge and the shape of the hydrograph.

The error in estimation of the peak discharge was as high as 74 %.

The root mean square error between measured and predicted values of the hydrograph ranged from 61 to 11 9.