1Department of Civil Engineering, S.V.U College of Engineering, Tirupathi-517502, A.P., e-mail id: mallikarjuna_perugu@yahoo.co.in
2Department of Civil Engineering, S.V.U College of Engineering, Tirupathi-517502, A.P., e-mail id: aruna_jyothy@yahoo.co.in.
3Telugu Ganga Project, Srikalahasti, Chittoor, A.P.
Online published on 13 December, 2011.
The statistical analysis of hydrologic data derives importance in the planning and design of water resources projects which require information on different hydrologic events that are governed by probability distribution. The present study attempts to select an appropriate probability distribution function to forecast maximum hourly rainfall intensity during southwest monsoon at Kurnool and Ananthapur raingauge stations located in the drought prone area of Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh. The applicability of different probability functions for the maximum hourly rainfall intensity of the region is examined to arrive at a suitable distribution. The extreme value or gamma distribution for Kurnool region and log-normal or gamma distribution for Ananthapur region are recommended based on CDF plots and Smirnov-Kolmorgov statistic. The probability plots prepared based on the theoretical distributions recommended may be used to forecast the maximum hourly rainfall intensity of the region to a reasonable degree of accuracy.
Maximum hourly rainfall intensity, Probability distribution, Cumulative distribution function, Smirnov- Kolmorgov statistic
