Title: Modelling stage-discharge relationship with single inflection point non-linear functions

Authors: François Dubeau; Youness Mir; Ali A. Assani; Alain Chalifour

Addresses: Département de Mathématiques, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke (Qc), J1K 2R1, Canada. ' Département de Mathématiques, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke (Qc), J1K 2R1, Canada. ' Département de Géographie, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières (Qc), G9A 5H7, Canada. ' Département de Mathématiques et d’informatique, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières (Qc), G9A 5H7, Canada

Abstract: The problem of using a non-linear function with only one inflection point for modelling hydrological phenomena is addressed. We present the examples of such functions and retain values of their parameters giving increasing function with one inflection point. For a set of data from one river, their least squares adjustments are compared for the stage-discharge relationship, namely the flow and the height of the water of a river. Finally we raise the problem of classifying rivers in terms of their best non-linear fitting model.

Keywords: stage-discharge relationship; modelling; nonlinear models; inflection point; least squares method; river flow; water height; hydrology.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHST.2012.047430

International Journal of Hydrology Science and Technology, 2012 Vol.2 No.2, pp.153 - 168

Published online: 16 Aug 2014 *

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