DOI: 10.36347/sjet.2022.v10i06.003

Pages: 111-120

Most previous hydrological studies advanced mainly by the collection of data from the field. This research aimed at developing and testing of a hydrological demonstration system using a rainfall simulator as a laboratory-scale model. Locally available materials were used to construct the model. It has six major components: reservoir, plot (sandbox), water pump, simulator, a network of pipes and frame. Some rainfall characteristics like intensity, distribution uniformity, drop size diameter, raindrop velocity and kinetic energy (KE) and runoff were used to evaluate the system's performance. The demonstration system produced rainfall intensity ranging from 56.9 to 91.1 mm/hr with an average uniformity of 88.5%. The obtained rainfall drop size varied from 0.96 mm to 2 mm with an average of 1.62 mm. The velocity and kinetic energy of the rain varied from 63.56 to 86.47 m/s and 27.22 to 29.0 Jm-2mm-1 respectively. A 7-minutes rainfall was observed which recorded a peak runoff discharge of 8.343 x 10-2 m3 in 10 minutes 30 seconds after which it recessed to 1.67x10-2 m3. The system is capable of producing rainfall characteristics similar to that of natural rainfall and therefore can be used for demonstration in the laboratory.