Least-squares parameter estimation for Muskingum flood routing

The importance of flood routing in rivers in hydraulic engineering practice is pointed out. Field data scarcity often prevents the use of the Saint Venant equations to route floods in natural streams. As a consequence, approximate techniques such as the Muskingum method are commonly employed. An important aspect in this method is the calibration of the model parameters. The purpose of this technical note is to examine the available least-squares parameter estimation techniques for Muskingum routing. The least-squares estimation methods of the Muskingum flood routing parameters proposed by Gill (1977), Heggen (1984), and O'Donnell (1985) are examined and compared. Gill's procedure appears to be the most adequate for the prediction of a river reach response to inflow hydrographs different from the one used for calibration of the routing parameters.