Application of a Cell Model to the Bellebeek Watershed

Abstract

A new version of a semi-distributed routing model has been applied to the Bellebeek watershed in Belgium, where runoff data were available for a number of internal gauging stations in addition to the outlet runoff data. The new version has provisions for separately routing the rainfall excess input and the channel inflow input to each unit of area represented in the model by a cell. The cells are interconnected in a tree-like structure reflecting the main drainage pattern of the watershed. The semi-distributed nature of the model makes it possible to simulate spatially variable rainfalls or moving storms. The cell model was calibrated by adjusting its three parameters to reproduce, as nearly as possible, the outflow at the main gauging station of the watershed. The direct surface runoff hydrographs for internal points of the model were then compared to the measured runoff at the internal gauging stations.