| Abstract: | Mathematical modelling of overland flow is a critical task in simulating transport of water, sediment and other pollutants from land surfaces to receiving waters. In this paper, an overland flow routing method is developed based on the Saint‐Venant equations using a discretized hillslope system for areas with high roughness and steep slope. Under these conditions, the momentum equation reduces to a unique relationship between the flow depth and discharge. A hillslope is treated as a system divided into several subplanes. A set of first‐order non‐linear differential equations for subsequent subplanes are solved analytically using Chezy's formula in lieu of the momentum equation. Comparison of the analytical solution of the first‐order non‐linear ordinary differential equations and a numerical solution using the Runge‐Kutta method shows a relative error of 0·3%. Using runoff data reported in the literature, comparison between the new approach and a numerical solution of the full Saint‐Venant equations showed a close agreement. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
