NUMERICAL ESTIMATION OF THE PARAMETERS OF THE MUSKINGUM METHOD BY OPTIMIZATION

Abstract

A numerical estimation of the K and x parameters of the Muskingum Flood Routing Method in rivers is proposed: Optimization with an algorithm of constrained multiple variables, whose objective function is the mean square error between observed and computed values of the output hydrographs of the reach. The proposed method is compared with three criteria, two of them based on the least-squares technique, and the third on a search for the optimal solution. In 17 studied cases, the proposed method gives a better solution, and besides, it eliminates the possibility of obtaining negative values of the x parameter, since only this parameter is considered to be a restricted variable in the interval of 0 to 0.50.