Generation of Runoff Components from Exponential Expressions of Serial Reservoirs

Taiwan frequently experiences heavy rainfall events during the summer. The rainfall–runoff regeneration is an important job in specific areas where excessive rainfall causes serious flooding. The primary goal of this study is to generate and understand runoff components of the watershed outlet by using a conceptual model of three linear cascade reservoirs. The conceptual model is needless to determine direct runoff and excess rainfall in advance. Every linear cascade reservoir has an independent response function with an exponential expression. The outflows of the linear reservoirs represent streamflow components of a watershed outlet during rainfall–runoff processes, in which surface runoff is considered as quick runoff, whereas subsurface and groundwater runoffs are slow runoffs. In the simulation process, mean rainfall as model inputs were estimated using the block Kriging method. Available recordings of 68 rainfall–runoff events during 1966–2002 were used as the study sample. Fifty‐four events were calibrated to determine the best hydrograph parameters and were used to compare simulation precision resulting from the model with those based on the Nash with NLP. The efficacy of the proposed model was verified using the remaining 14 observed rainfall–runoff data from an actual basin. The seven averaged parameters, which were applied for verification, show that the IUH shape of quick flow is more sharp‐pointed with the peak shifted forward than that of slow flow. In rainfall–runoff processes, peak discharge of quick runoff is far larger than that of slow runoff, the time it takes for the peak discharge for a quick flow is earlier than that for a slow runoff, and the base time of a slow flow is longer than that of a quick flow. Furthermore, this study also found: (1) the base time of a slow runoff hydrograph is the same as that of a total runoff hydrograph; (2) the base time of a quick runoff hydrograph is contrariwise to the value of the soil antecedent moisture; (3) an amount of quick runoff is directly proportional to that of total runoff. These analytical results reveal that the model used in this study is suitable to evaluate hydrological conditions in this and other watersheds and can be further applied to watershed management in Taiwan.