Runoff Coefficients for Use in Rational Method

Calculations
written by: Harlan Bengtson • edited by: Lamar Stonecypher • updated: 11/6/2010
Rational method runoff coefficient tables are provided in this article. Watershed
runoff coefficients depend upon the land use, soil type and slope of the watershed.
Runoff coefficients are needed to calculate storm water runoff rate using the Rational
Method.

 Rational Method Runoff Coefficients

One of the parameters in the Rational Method equation ( Q = CiA ) is the runoff
coefficient, C. The other parameters are A, the area of a watershed; i, the design
rainfall intensity for a storm of specified recurrence interval and duration equal to the
watershed time of concentration; and Q, the peak storm water runoff rate due to a
storm of intensity i, on a watershed of area, A, and with runoff coefficient, C.

The article, "Use of Excel Formulas for Design Rainfall Intensity Calculation," contains
information about design rainfall intensity, and a downloadable Excel spreadsheet for
making the calculations. The other articles in this series also provide useful related
information. This article provides information about watershed runoff coefficients,
factors that affect their value, and tables that can be used to obtain values for runoff
coefficients.

 Factors Affecting Watershed Runoff Coefficients

The major factors affecting the rational method runoff coefficient value for a
watershed are the land use, the soil type and the slope of the watershed. The
physical interpretation of the runoff coefficient for a watershed is the fraction of
rainfall on that watershed that becomes storm water runoff. Thus the runoff
coefficient must have a value between zero and one.

Land Use: Surfaces that are relatively impervious like streets and parking lots have
runoff coefficients approaching one. Surfaces with vegetation to intercept surface
runoff and those that allow infiltration of rainfall have lower runoff coefficients.
Slope: All other things being equal, a watershed with a greater slope will have more
storm water runoff and thus a higher runoff coefficient than a watershed with a lower
slope.
Soil Type: Soils that have a high clay content don't allow very much infiltration and
thus have relatively high runoff coefficients, while soils with high sand content have
higher infiltration rates and low runoff coefficients. The U.S. Soil Conservation Service
(SCS) has four soil group identifications that provide information helpful in
determining watershed runoff coefficients. The four soil groups are identified as A, B,
C, and D. Classification of a given soil into one of these SCS groups can be on the
 basis of a description of the soil characteristics or on the basis of a measured
minimum infiltration rate for the soil.
The descriptive characteristics of the four SCS soil groups are summarized in the
following list:

 Group A: Deep sand; deep loess; aggregated soils

 Group B: Shallow loess; sandy loam
 Group C: Clay loams; shallow sandy loam; soils low in organic content;
soils usually high in clay
 Group D: Soils that swell significantly when wet; heavy plastic clays;
certain saline soils
Following are the minimum infiltration rates in inches/hr for each of the SCS soil
groups:

 Group A..............0.30 - 0.45 in/hr

 Group B..............0.15 - 0.30 in/hr
 Group C..............0.05 - 0.15 in/hr
 Group D.................0 - 0.05 in/hr

 Rational Method Runoff Coefficient Table

The images in this section show two rational method runoff

coefficient tables for a variety of land uses, watershed slopes,

and SCS soil types. Part I of the table, which is on the left, gives information for SCS
soil groups A and B. Part II of the table, which is on the right, gives information for
SCS soil groups B and C. Land use and watershed slope are also factors in
determining the runoff coefficient from these tables.
 Spreadsheets for Design Peak Storm Water Runoff
Rate and Peak Rainfall
written by: Harlan Bengtson • edited by: Lamar Stonecypher • updated: 10/27/2010
Download Excel spreadsheets to calculate design rainfall intensity and design peak
storm water runoff rate. The Excel formulas derive an equation for rainfall intensity
and then calculate the design values in either U.S. units or S.I. units.

 The Rational Method Equation and Parameters

The primary equation for Rational Method calculations is: Q = CiA, where:
 A is the area that drains to the design point of interest (the drainage
area) in acres (for SI units: ha) [2.47 acres]
 C is the runoff coefficient for that drainage area, that is, the fraction of
rainfall on the drainage area that becomes storm water runoff. It is
dimensionless.
 i is the design rainfall intensity in inches/hr (for SI units: mm/hr)
 Q is the peak storm water runoff rate from the drainage area due to
the design storm in cfs (for SI units: m3/s)
A note on units: The equation, Q = CiA is for the U.S. units given above. This
equation actually gives Q in acre-in/hr. The unit conversion comes out to be 1.008
cfs/(acre-in/hr), so the equation, Q = 1.008CiA could be used, but in view of the
accuracy with which the runoff coefficient can be determined, the conversion
constant is typically taken to be simply 1. With the S.I. units given above for Q, i,
and A, the Rational Method equation is Q = 0.0028 Cia.
Calculation of the peak storm water runoff rate, Q, is quite straightforward if values

are known for C, i, and A. Some information on

typical ranges for C values is given in the table at the right. The next section presents
and discusses an Excel spreadsheet for calculating the design rainfall intensity, i,
based on rainfall intensity duration frequency data for the design location, and then
calculating the design storm water runoff rate, Q.