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Virginia Polytechnic Institute

A synthetic hydrologic flow model for the upper James River Basin

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

The object of this thesis is the synthetic generation of possible future flows in the James River at Buchanan, Virginia, through the utilization of existing records of monthly precipitation and runoff. Twelve separate monthly regression models were chosen on the basis of the degree of correlation as indicated by the correlation coefficient. Random monthly precipitation totals were generated from the twelve separate distributions of historical monthly precipitation totals. The synthetic precipitations were used in the twelve monthly models to generate 5000years of artificial record. The 5000-year synthetic record was divided into fifty separate 100-year records for the purpose of analysis. The dependable flows were found for each of the fifty records for each of eight reservoir sizes. The ninety percent confidence interval and the dependable flow for each of eight reservoir sizes was found. The model had a negative bias of approximately thirteen percent. This bias appeared to be alleviated when the dependable flow was expressed as a percent of the average flow for the period in question. It appears that there is great variability in the estimated value of the dependable flow in the James River.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Science
Level thesis:degree_level
masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Civil Engineering
Department dc:contributor.department
Civil Engineering
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Polytechnic Institute
Year dc:date.issued
1966

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Colston, Newton V.

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright
Language dc:language.iso
en_US

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Handle dc:identifier.uri
http://hdl.handle.net/10919/53812
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/53812

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
related terms
citation

Colston, Newton V.. A synthetic hydrologic flow model for the upper James River Basin. masters thesis, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, 1966. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/53812