Engineering topics

Kruyt, Bert

Publications and source records attributed to Kruyt, Bert.

3 records

DOE OSTI2024

Observation-Based Evaluation of Flood Estimation Techniques for a Small Snow-Dominated Basin in the Washington Cascade Mountains

Here, this study examines the application of the recently developed next-generation intensity-duration-frequency (NG-IDF) curves in hydrological design, focusing on a small snow-dominated basin in Washington state. Four methods are used to assess the NG-IDF performance: (1) basin outlet flood frequency analysis, (2) use of standard precipitation-based intensity-duration-frequency (PREC-IDF) curves following surface water design manuals typically used in the basin, (3) utilization of locally constructed PREC-IDF curves, and (4) use of locally constructed NG-IDF curves. The standard PREC-IDF design method assumes precipitation as rainfall and neglecting snowmelt or rain-on-snow (ROS) events that can lead to significant flood underestimations in the test basin. In contrast, the NG-IDF method incorporates snow processes and shows promising improvements in accurately estimating design floods. The validation analysis demonstrates the superiority of NG-IDF over standard and local PREC-IDF in this test basin. The study highlights the necessity for adjustments in current design manuals to ensure sufficient flood protection, particularly in light of the planned substantial investments in US infrastructure.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2023

Next-Generation Intensity-Duration-Frequency Curves for Diverse Land across the Continental United States

The current methods for designing hydrological infrastructure rely on precipitation-based intensity-duration-frequency curves. However, they cannot accurately predict flooding caused by snowmelt or rain-on-snow events, potentially leading to underdesigned infrastructure and property damage. To address these issues, next-generation intensity-duration-frequency (NG-IDF) curves have been developed for the open condition, characterizing water available for runoff from rainfall, snowmelt, and rain-on-snow. However, they lack consideration of land use land cover (LULC) factors, which can significantly affect runoff processes. We address this limitation by expanding open area NG-IDF dataset to include eight vegetated LULCs over the continental United States, including forest (deciduous, evergreen, mixed), shrub, grass, pasture, crop, and wetland. This NG-IDF 2.0 dataset offers a comprehensive analysis of hydrological extreme events and their associated drivers under different LULCs at a continental scale. It will serve as a useful resource for improving standard design practices and aiding in the assessment of infrastructure design risks. Additionally, it provides useful insights into how changes in LULC impact flooding magnitude, mechanisms, timing, and snow water supply.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2023

The Role of Snowmelt Temporal Pattern in Flood Estimation for a Small Snow‐Dominated Basin in the Sierra Nevada

Abstract Prior research confirmed the substantial bias from using precipitation‐based intensity‐duration‐frequency curves (PREC‐IDF) in design flood estimates and proposed next‐generation IDF curves (NG‐IDF) that represent both rainfall and snow processes in runoff generation. This study improves the NG‐IDF technology for a snow‐dominated test basin in the Sierra Nevada. A well‐validated physics‐based hydrologic model, the Distributed Hydrology Soil Vegetation Model (DHSVM), is used to continuously simulate snowmelt and streamflow that are used as benchmark data sets to systematically assess the NG‐IDF technology. We find that, for the studied small snow‐dominated basin, the use of standard rainfall hyetographs in the NG‐IDF technology leads to substantial underestimation of design floods. Thus, we propose probabilistic hyetographs that can represent unique patterns of events with different underlying mechanisms. For the test basin where flooding events are generated entirely by snowmelt, we develop a hyetograph that characterizes snowmelt temporal patterns, which greatly improves the performance of NG‐IDF technology in design flood estimates. In contrast to the standard rainfall hyetographs characterized by a symmetrically peaked, bell‐shaped curve, the snowmelt hyetograph displays a more rapid rise (i.e., greater intensity) and a distinct diurnal pattern influenced by solar energy input. The results also show that the uncertainty of hyetography plays an important role in design flood estimation and can have important implications for future flood projections.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗