Comparative analysis of variants of muskingum model

Muskingum flood routing model is one of the most popular flood routing model adopted to route the floods. In quest of obtaining accurate outflow hydrograph various forms of Muskingum equations have been adopted by the researchers over the years. In the present study twelve variants of Muskingum flood routing models have been compared considering data sets from different sources to ascertain the reliability of the outflow estimated by various forms of Muskingum flood routing equations. The performance of various forms of Muskingum equations was assessed based on Sum of Square of Deviation (SSQ), Nash efficiency (NE), Deviation of Peak Outflow (DPO) and Deviation of Peak Outflow Time (DPOT). Comparative analysis of various forms of Muskingum equations reveals that the Muskingum equation with provision of lateral inflow and weighted inflow is the most reliable form of Muskingum equation to route the floods. The results of present analysis suggest that when flood waves propagate through the channel reach there is generally some lateral inflow/outflow associated with it, therefore, lateral flow should not be neglected while routing the floods. The parameters of Muskingum equations were estimated using Generalized Reduced Gradient (GRG) solver which appears to be reliable tool not only for obtaining the parameter of Muskingum model but also for teaching Muskingum flood routing problem in the-classroom as it does not obscure theoretical background of the problem.