Journal of the Korean Geo-Environmental Society ISSN:1598-0820(Print) 2714-1233(Online) 한국지반환경공학회 논문집

The occurrence of soil erosions in Korea is mostly driven by flowing water which has a close relationship with rainfalls. The soil eroded by rainfalls flows into and deposits in the river and it polluted the water resources and making the rivers become difficult to be managed. Recently, the frequency of heavy rainfall events that are more than 30 mm/hr has been increasing in Korea due to the influence of climate change, which creating a favourable condition for the occurrence of soil erosion within a short time. In this study, we proposed a method to estimate the distribution of rainfall intensity and to calculate the energy produced by a single rainfall event using the cumulative distribution function that take into account of the physical characteristics of rainfall. The raindrops kinetic energy estimated by the proposed method are compared with the measured data from the previous studies and it is noticed that the raindrops kinetic energy estimated by the rainfall intensity variation is very similar to the results concluded from the previous studies. In order to develop an equation for estimating rainfall kinetic energy, rainfall particle size data measured at a rainfall intensity of 0.254~152.4 mm/hr were used. The rainfall kinetic energy estimated by applying the cumulative distribution function tended to increase in the form of a power function in the relation of rainfall intensity. Based on the equation obtained from this relationship, the rainfall kinetic energy of 1~80 mm/hr rainfall intensity was estimated to be 0.03~48.26 Jm-2mm-1. Based on the relationship between rainfall intensity and rainfall energy, rainfall kinetic energy equation is proposed as a power function form and it is expected that it can be used in the design of short-term operated facility such as the sizing of sedimentation basin that requires prediction of soil loss by a single rainfall event.