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Part of the book series: Water Science and Technology Library ((WSTL,volume 42))

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Abstract

Since the inception of the SCS-CN method, the issues such as the rational derivation of the method (equation (2.5)), the rationale of initial abstraction, the analytics of the S-CN mapping relation (equation (2.7)), and the CN-AMC relations have been of major concern. These relations appear to be mysterious in a sense that no analytical or physical explanation of their development is yet available in the literature. Thus, the objective of this chapter is to revisit the existing SCS-CN method from an analytical perspective and explore the fundamental proportionality concept (equation (2.2)). The general notion that the SCS-CN method is a generalization of the Mockus (1949) method (Rallison and Miller, 1982) is proved analytically. Alternate analytical means are proposed to derive the existing SCS-CN method and these are shown to be an improvement over the existing derivations. The description of its functional behaviour leads to the development of criteria useful for field applications. The empirical S-CN relationship is investigated for its analytical derivation. The relations linking CN with AMC are also proposed and discussed. A few case studies are presented to support the analytical derivations and finally, a brief investigation is made for using the SCS-CN concept as an alternative to the power law widely used as a surrogate to the popular Manning’s equation described in Chapter 1.

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Mishra, S.K., Singh, V.P. (2003). Analytical Derivation of the SCS-CN Method. In: Soil Conservation Service Curve Number (SCS-CN) Methodology. Water Science and Technology Library, vol 42. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0147-1_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0147-1_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-6225-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-017-0147-1

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