Improvement of the Method using the Coefficient of Variation for Automatic Multi-segmentation Method of a Rating Curve

Abstract

In general, the water stage-discharge relationship curve is established based on the assumptions of linearity and homoscedasticity. However, the relationship between the water stage and discharge is affected from geomorphological factors, which violates the basic assumptions of the water stage-discharge relationship curve. In order to reduce the error due to the violations, the curve is divided into several sections based on the manager's judgement considering change of cross-sectional shape. In this research, the objective-splitting criteria of the curve is proposed based on the measured data without the subjective decision. First, it is assumed that the coefficient of variation follows the normal distribution. Then, if the newly calculated coefficient of variation is outside of the 95% confidential interval, the curve is divided. Namely, the groups is divided by the characteristics of the coefficient of variation and the reasonable criteria is provided for establishing a multi-segmented rating curve. To validate the proposed method, it was applied to the data generated by three artificial power functions. In addition, to confirm the applicability of the proposed method, it is applied to the water stage and discharge data of the Muju water stage gauging station and Sangegyo water stage gauging station. As a result, it is found that the automatically divided rating curve improves the accuracy and extrapolation accuracy of the rating curve. Finally, through the residual analysis using Shapiro-Wilk normality test, it is confirmed that the residual of water stage-discharge relationship curve tends to follow the normal distribution.