The Time of Concentration and River Physical Geometry Relationship

Abstract

Time of concentration (T_c) is one of the main inputs in rainfall–runoff model which depends on catchment length, slope, soil properties and surface cover. Factor such as floodplain also has a significant contribution on the flood wave travel time. Floodplain which influences the flow and the travelling time is not possible to be calculated using common T_c formulae. One approach to handle this complex behaviour is to deploy the hydrodynamic model as part of the rainfall–runoff model. This chapter explains the application of hydrodynamic approach to determine T_c for large catchment with the effect of floodplain. A hydrodynamic river model for Sg Relai was developed as part of the rainfall–runoff model covering 460 km² catchment area. It includes channels covering 90 km long which is extended to the floodplain based on the digital terrain model. The simulation results show that once the flood water spill to the floodplain, the channel travelling time is delayed by several hours. The delay of the travel time increases as the rainfall intensity increase which demonstrates that hydrodynamic modelling with the integration of floodplain is capable to compute the variation of T_c.

Citation

Hassan, A.J., Harun, S. and Ismail, T. (2021), "The Time of Concentration and River Physical Geometry Relationship", Alias, N.E., Haniffah, M.R.M. and Harun, S. (Ed.) Water Management and Sustainability in Asia (Community, Environment and Disaster Risk Management, Vol. 23), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 99-107. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2040-726220210000023016