Innovatory rainfall simulator design – A concept of moving storm automation

Abstract. We developed an advanced design programmable rainfall simulator (RS) to simulate a moving storm rainfall condition. The RS consists of an automated nozzle control system coupled with a pressure regulator mechanism for an operating range of 50 kPa to 180 kPa at a drop height of 2000 mm above the soil flume surface. Additionally, a programmable mobile application was developed to regulate all RS valves. Near natural rainfall conditions were simulated at varying spatial and temporal resolutions in a controlled environment. A soil flume of 2500 mm × 1400 mm × 500 mm was fabricated to conduct different hydrological experiments. The flume was designed to record overland, subsurface, and base flows simultaneously. This study focused on a detailed analysis of moving storms and their impact on hydrograph characteristics. Experimental results showed a considerable difference in terms of time to peak (tp), peak discharge (Qp), and hydrograph recession for two different storm movement directions (upstream and downstream). Two multiple regression models indicate a statistically significant relationship between the dependent variable (tp or Qp) and the independent variables (i.e. storm movement direction, storm velocity, and bed slope gradient) at a 5 % level of significance. Further, the impact of these moving storm phenomena reduces with the increase in the storm movement velocity.