Development of the QDF models using partial duration series, case study: Soltani station on Halilrood river

In water resources projects, the maximum instantaneous discharge as well as the maximum average flood discharge and their corresponding volumes in any given durations and return periods are required. In this study a method selected to investigate the Partial Duration Series (PDS) where the sample sizes are greater than pre-identified thresholds. In this method, randomly several observations are selected for a given year while some years have no observation greater than the threshold.. Selecting the most appropriate observations as representative for floods is the main characteristic of the PDS method. In contrast, the main advantage of the Maximum Annual Series (MAS) can be referred to the inherent independence of the data. This subject can be validated and examined in the PDS using randomness and stationary tests. The Soltani hydrometric station in Halilrood River located in south-west of Kerman province, Iran was selected as a case study. Comparison of the theoretical results of the PDS and MAS methods indicated that the estimated values of PDS for 10 years and smaller return period are greater than those of MAS. However the results for this study area show this difference is negligible for 27 years data. The PDS method quickly approaches the population for a given data. Therefore the PDS is favorable for hydrometric stations with limited data availability. The required software coherent with Iranian data were prepared and presented in this study.