Intensity Duration Frequency

Curves

Presented by
A S SUCHITHRA
M.TECH (GIS)
K L UNIVERSITY
 Introduction
 An IDF curves indicates rainfall intensity that will occur for a given
duration and return period
 rainfall intensity is a measure of the amount of rain that falls
over a time
 Return period is an average time or an estimated time between
events to occur

 Intensity – Duration –Frequency(IDF) curves describe the

relationship Between rainfall intensity, rainfall duration, and
return period(or its inverse, probability of exceedance. Used in
the design of Hydrologic, hydraulic and water resource system
 .

 When local rainfall data are available, IDF curves can be

developed using frequency analysis
 Minimum of 20 Years data is desirable
 the development of IDF curves requires that a frequency
analysis be performed for each set of annual maxima, one
each associated with each rain duration
 The basic objective of each frequency analysis is to
determine the exceedance probability distribution
function of rain intensity for each duration.
 Steps for IDF analysis

Step 1: Preparation of annual maximum rainfall data series

• From the available rainfall data, rainfall series for different

durations (e.g.,1-hour, 2-hour, 6-hour, 12hour and 24-hour) are
developed.

• For each selected duration, the annual maximum rainfall

depths are calculated.
 Step 2: Fitting the probability distribution

• A suitable probability distribution is fitted to the each

selected duration data series
• Generally used probability distributions are

- Gumbel’s Extreme Value distribution

– Gamma distribution (two parameter)

– Log Pearson Type III distribution

– Normal distribution

– Log-normal distribution (two parameter)

 Step 3: Determining the rainfall depths
• Using frequency factors

The precipitation depth is calculated for a given return period as

XT = X+KT S X=Mean, S=Standard deviation, kt=
Frequency factor

KT =− 6 /π [0.5772+ln(ln( T /T −1))]

 Compute the frequency factors associated with desired return

period(e.g.2,5,10,25,50,100,1000) using above equation
 For each duration (e.g., 5-min, 10-min,.....etc),compute the sample
mean and sample deviation of the series of annual maxima
 .

Step 4:Calculate the average intensity

- Calculate the average intensity It =Xt/D
- Repeat Steps for various design storm durations
 .

Empirical methods plotting positions:

- used to determine the design storm depths.
-If n is the total number of values to be plotted and m is the rank of
a value in a list ordered by descending magnitude, the exceedence
probability of the mth largest value, xm, is , for large n, shown in the
following table.
 .

 Select for example 30 min duration data and proceed as follows

 Rank the observations in descending order

 Compute the exceedance probability associated with each rainfall volume using
he following expression
P=1/T
T=(n+1)/m (Weibull formula)
where n is the number of observations, P is the exceedance probability and T is
the corresponding return period

 Transform the volume data into rainfall intensity by dividing volume by the
corresponding duration

 Plot empirical distribution of rainfall intensity

 this procedure is repeated for each of the desired durations.

Equation for IDF curves
• IDF curves can also be expressed as empirical
equations
i =cTm/te+f

where
i is the design rainfall intensity, T return period
t is the duration, and c, e, m and f are
coefficients varying with location and return
period.
IDF Equations for Indian region:
• Ram babu et. al. (1979) developed an equation analyzing
rainfall characteristics for 42 stations.

i= KTa /(t+b)n
where
i is the rainfall intensity in cm/hr,
T is the return period in years,
t is the storm duration in hours,
and K, a, b and n are coefficients varying with location.

.
Coefficients for a few locations are
given below
Location k a b n
Agra 4.911 0.167 0.25 0.629
New Delhi 5.208 0.157 0.5 1.107
Nagpur 11.45 0.156 1.25 1.032
Bhuj 3.823 0.192 0.25 0.990
Gauhati 7.206 0.156 0.75 0.940
Bangalore 6.275 0.126 0.5 1.128
Hyderabad 5.25 0.135 0.5 1.029
Chennai 6.126 0.116 0.5 0.803
Kothyari and Garde (1992) developed a general relationship
for IDF analyzing data from 80 rain gauge stations.

.
𝑻 𝟎 𝟐𝟎
itT= C ( 𝟎.𝟕𝟏 )( R224)0.33
𝒕

- i T is the rainfall intensity in mm/hr for T year

t
return period and t hour duration,
- C is a constant
- R2 is rainfall for 2-year return period and 24-hour
24
duration in mm

.
 ;

ZONE LOCATION C
1 NORTHERN 8.0
INDIA
2 WESTERN 8.3
INDIA
3 CENTRAL 7.7
INDIA 1
4 EASTERN 9.1
INDIA
5 SOUTHERN 7.1
INDIA
2 3 4