Evaluation of hydrological rainfall loss methods using small-scale physical landslide model

Bezak, Nejc (author), Peranić, Josip (author), Mikoš, Matjaž (author), Arbanas, Željko (author)

An adequate representation of the relationship between effective rainfall and rainfall losses is required in hydrological rainfall–runoff models to reduce the uncertainty of the modelling results. This study evaluates the performance of several hydrological rainfall loss methods using the experimental data obtained from a laboratory small-scale physical landslide model with variable slope inclination, homogenous material and no vegetation effects. Three different experiments were selected and five rainfall loss methods were tested to evaluate their performance in reproducing the experimental results from the perspective of the surface runoff formation on the experimental slope. Initial and calibrated parameters were used to test the performance of these hydrological rainfall loss methods. The results indicate that the initial parameters of the rainfall loss model can satisfactorily reproduce the experimental results in some cases. Despite the fact that the slope material characteristics used in the laboratory experiments were relatively homogenous, some well-known methods yielded inaccurate results. Hence, calibration of the rainfall loss model proved to be essential. It should also be noted that, in some cases, the calibrated model parameters were relatively different from the initial model parameters estimated from the literature. None of the tested hydrological rainfall loss methods proved to be superior to the others. Therefore, in the case of natural environments with heterogeneous soil characteristics, multiple rainfall loss methods should be tested and the most suitable method should be selected only after cross-validation or a similar evaluation of the tested methods.

• Language: English
• Keywords: landslides, lab experiment, hydrology, infiltration, rainfall loss, surface runoff, temporal dynamics, HEC-HMS, model evaluation
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FGG - Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2022
• Number of pages: 21 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 14, iss. 17, art. 2726
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-140936
• UDC: 502/504:556
• ISSN on article: 2073-4441
• DOI: 10.3390/w14172726
• COBISS.SI-ID: 120546563
• Publication date in RUL: 21.09.2022

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Water
• Shortened title: Water
• Publisher: Molecular Diversity Preservation International - MDPI
• ISSN: 2073-4441
• COBISS.SI-ID: 36731653

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.
• Licensing start date: 20.09.2022

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: zemeljski plazovi, laboratorijski poskusi, hidrologija, izgube padavin, površinski odtok, časovna dinamika, HEC-HMS, ocena modela