Rainfall-runoff Modelling in a Semi-urbanized Catchment using
Self-adaptive Fuzzy Inference Network
Tak Kwin Chang
1
, Amin Talei
1
and Chai Quek
2
1
School of Engineering, Monash University Malaysia, Jalan Lagoon Selatan,
Bandar Sunway, 47500 Subang Jaya, Malaysia
2
Center for Computational Intelligence, Nanyang Technological University, School of Computer Engineering,
50, Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798, Singapore
Keywords: Rainfall-runoff Modelling, Neuro-fuzzy Systems, SaFIN, ANFIS, SWMM, ARX.
Abstract: Conventional neuro-fuzzy systems used for rainfall-runoff (R-R) modelling generally employ offline learning
in which the number of rules and rule parameters need to be set by the user in calibration stage. This make
the rule-base fixed and incapable of being adaptive if some rules become inconsistent over time. In this study,
the Self-adaptive Fuzzy Inference Network (SaFIN) is used for R-R application. SaFIN benefits from an
adaptive learning mechanism which allows it to remove inconsistent and obsolete rules over time. SaFIN
models are developed to capture the R-R process in two catchments including Dandenong located in Victoria,
Australia, and Sungai Kayu Ara catchment in Selangor, Malaysia. Models’ performance aer then compared
with the ANFIS, ARX, and physical models. Results show that SaFIN outperforms ANFIS, ARX, and
physical models in simulating runoff for both low and peak flows. This study shows the good potential of
using SaFIN in R-R modelling application.
1 INTRODUCTION
Rainfall-runoff (R-R) modelling as one of the
important topics in hydrology is focused on better
understanding of the rainfall-runoff process which is
necessary to address some of hydrological problems
such as urban water management and flood
forecasting. In addition to physical and conceptual
models, there is a third group of R-R models known
as system theoretic models which involves a direct
mapping (linear/non-linear) between the inputs and
output data (Minns and Hall, 1996). System theoretic
models do not use the knowledge of the system’s
parameters directly but instead formulate its own set
of parameters based purely on the dataset. Examples
of such models are regression-based models,
Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), and Neuro-Fuzzy
Systems (NFS) (Xiong et al., 2001, Rajurkar et al.,
2002, Sajikumar and Thandaveswara, 1999). NFS are
hybridizations of fuzzy set theory and neural
networks which provide the mapping of input-output
data with varying degrees of non-linearity. NFS
learning can generally be classified as either offline
learning or online learning systems. Offline or batch
learning formulates model parameters based on a
static dataset, whereas online learning enables models
to sequentially update its parameters during each
timestep of the training data. The benefit of online
learning models is that it allows a model to inherit a
dynamic training approach where the model
parameters evolves sequentially as new data becomes
available, enabling the model to capture time varying
properties within the system; whereas offline learning
models requires a retraining process of the entire
dataset merged with new data to achieve similar
results, resulting in greater computational time and
complexity.
NFS models with offline learning such as
Adaptive Network-based Fuzzy Inference System
(ANFIS) are extensively used in R-R modelling
(Nayak et al., 2004, Nayak et al., 2005, Remesan et
al., 2009, Mukerji et al., 2009, Talei et al., 2010b,
Talei et al., 2010a, Bartoletti et al., 2017, Zakhrouf et
al., 2015). The major drawback of a model such as
ANFIS is its offline learning algorithm where the
number of rules is pre-set by the user and remains
fixed. In real-world applications, a reliable R-R
model should be able to dynamically capture time-
varying properties within a system through a
continuous process of updating and reiterating its
86
Chang, T., Talei, A. and Quek, C.
Rainfall-runoff Modelling in a Semi-urbanized Catchment using Self-adaptive Fuzzy Inference Network.
DOI: 10.5220/0007227300860097
In Proceedings of the 10th International Joint Conference on Computational Intelligence (IJCCI 2018), pages 86-97
ISBN: 978-989-758-327-8
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
model parameters. To date, not many studies have
been made on addressing adaptability through online
learning adaptation in R-R modelling. In recent
literature, several authors have attempted
incorporating online learning into various R-R
modelling applications and has generally shown
improvement in modelling performance (Hong, 2012,
Luna et al., 2007, Talei et al., 2013, Ashrafi et al.,
2017, Chang et al., 2016). In this study, Self-adaptive
Fuzzy Inference Network (SaFIN) (Tung et al., 2011)
is adopted and applied in developing a R-R model.
SaFIN is known for its capability of being self-
adaptive which enable the learning mechanism to add
and remove rules automatically. This study aims to
investigate the capabilities of using SaFIN as a R-R
model while comparing its performance with ANFIS
and a physical benchmark model known as Storm
Water Management Model (SWMM).
2 SELF-ADAPTIVE FUZZY
INFERENCE NETWORK
(SaFIN)
SaFIN is a self-organizing neural fuzzy system with
incremental online learning capabilities developed by
Tung et al (2011). SaFIN is a fully data-driven model
capable of formulating and maintaining a consistent
rule-base automatically. SaFIN was developed to
address several issues faced in previously existing
models such as inconsistencies within the rulebase,
the need for prior knowledge, and addressing the
stability-plasticity tradeoff. SaFIN consists of a five-
layer multilayer perceptron (MLP) network which
employs the neural network-based gradient descent
approach to fine-tune the parameters of its
membership functions. In conventional neuro-fuzzy
systems, the fuzzy clusters and fuzzy rule base require
initialization through the knowledge of human
experts. To address this issue, SaFIN employs two
learning mechanisms: (1) self-organizing clustering,
and (2) self-automated rule generation (Tung et al,
2011). Through the self-organizing clustering
technique, the numbers, positions, and spreads of
fuzzy labels are self-determined from the training
dataset. This clustering technique of SaFIN is known
as Categorical-Learning Induced Partitioning (CLIP).
The main motivation for using CLIP is the fact that it
is a tailored approach for addressing the stability-
plasticity dilemma of NFS models. CLIP draws
inspiration from the behavioural category learning
process exhibited by humans whereby categorical
learning builds up from a basic high-contrasting level
of distinction to a low-contrasting categorical
distinction. CLIP represents these categorical
distinctions as Gaussian membership functions where
the parameters α and β allows direct control of these
fuzzy labels. Membership functions transfer the crisp
values of input space to fuzzy values. Although there
are several mathematical functions that can be used
for this purpose, Tung et al (2011) suggested using
Gaussian membership function in CLIP.
Figure 1 shows the fuzzy partitioning process of CLIP
during (A) initialization and (B) the addition process
of second cluster. During initialization, the first
membership function is centered over the input value
while covering over the entire domain in each input-
output dimension as shown in (A.a A.b). At this
stage, parameter α determines the minimum threshold
of the membership function, where the membership
value at any point within the domain is at least α. This
implies that a high α value describes a wider spread
and a greater global significance of the fuzzy label.
CLIP then progresses to regulate the newly made
fuzzy label to maintain semantic prevalence as shown
in A.c. In B.a, when a new data point is present in
SaFIN, a similarity measure is
Figure 1: CLIP Clustering Technique (Tung et al., 2011) (A) Initialization process; (B) Additional process of second cluster.
(A)
(B)
Rainfall-runoff Modelling in a Semi-urbanized Catchment using Self-adaptive Fuzzy Inference Network
87
calculated for each existing cluster to determine the
fuzzy cluster that best relates to the new input.
Parameter β is defined as the contrasting threshold
between the new data point and the best-matched
fuzzy label to determine the novelty of the new data
when compared against existing fuzzy labels. If the
similarity measure metric is greater than β, no new
labels will be added into the system since a similar
label already exists within the system. Conversely, if
the similarity measure matric is less than β, the new
data point is deemed to be novel and CLIP proceeds
to the addition of a new cluster as shown in B.b.
Figure 2: Flowchart of self-automated rule generation
mechanism implemented in SaFIN.
SaFIN also employs a self-automated rule
generation mechanism which formulates and updates
the rule base accordingly over time as depicted in
Figure 2. Upon achieving fuzzy partitioning of data
with CLIP, the rule base is ready to be formulated.
Rule generation runs in two stages, rule creation and
rule consistency check. For each incoming training
tuple, a novelty check is conducted between the new
data and its best matched fuzzy cluster, a new rule is
then added into the rule-base if determined to be
novel. Weights are also assigned to each rule as the
allocated weight is important in depicting each rules
significance while allowing the system to remove any
low impact or conflicting rules. Consistency checks
are performed upon rule-base formation for
inconsistent rule-base, which can be rules with
similar precedent conditions but with varying
outcomes. When inconsistency is found, the rule with
the lower weightage will be removed. This method
provides the rule pruning capability in SaFIN where
inconsistent and obsolete rules is removed over time.
3 METHODOLOGY
3.1 Study Site and Data Used
Dandenong catchment (Catchment 1) with an area of
about 272 kis chosen as the study site which is
located in South East of Melbourne, Australia (See
Figure 3). The primary creek in this catchment is the
Dandenong creek which originates from the
Dandenong Ranges National Park and discharges into
Port Phillip Bay via both Mordialloc Creek and
Patterson River. Although farmlands as well as some
forest pockets remain in the catchment,
approximately 45% of the land has been overcome by
urbanization. Also, industrial activities are carried
extensively in large areas of the catchment. Eleven
years of daily rainfall and river discharge readings
from January 2005 to December 2015 from stations
Dandenong, Rowville, and Heathmont are used in this
study where Rowville and Heathmont are the two
upstream stations with Heathmont having the highest
elevation.
Sungai Kayu Ara river basin (Catchment 2) is
situated in a largely flattened urban landscape in
Selangor, Malaysia, and covers an area of 23.22 km²
(See Figure 4). The river basin is located within the
equatorial zone which is subjected to northeast and
southwest monsoon seasons. Annual mean rainfall
within the region is more than 2000mm while average
daily temperatures ranges from 25˚C to 33˚C. The
annual average evaporation rate for the basin is
estimated at 4 to 5mm per day, while mean monthly
relative humidity falls within 70% to 90%. The basin
consists 10 rainfall station and 1 river discharge
station. 40 rainfall-runoff events with 10-minutes
time series were extracted from the rainfall stations
spanning between March 1996 and July 2004.
Start
Incoming training tuple [x,d]
Find the best matched clusters
Is the newly created rule
novel?
Enhance weightage
Insert new rule;
Initialize weightage
Yes No
Is the created
rulebase consistent?
Delete inconsistent rules
Delete orphanedlabels
End
No
Yes
Rule Creation
Consistency Check
IJCCI 2018 - 10th International Joint Conference on Computational Intelligence
88
Figure 3: Schematic layout of Dandenong catchment.
Figure 4: Schematic layout of Sungai Kayu Ara river basin.
3.2 Physically-based Model Used
3.2.1 Storm Water Management System
(SWMM)
Storm Water Management System (SWMM) is a
dynamic rainfall-runoff simulation model developed
by the United States Environmental Protection
Agency (US EPA) used in conducting runoff quantity
and quality simulations. SWMM conceptualizes
physical elements of a watershed system into a
standard set of modelling objects where rain gauges
and sub-catchments are the principal objects used to
model the rainfall-runoff process. Each sub-
catchment is further subdivided into impervious and
pervious regions for simulating precipitation,
evaporation and infiltration losses. Using kinematic
wave equation, SWMM simulates the runoff based on
the physical routing of runoff through a system of
pipes and channels through a collective sub-
catchment area resulted by precipitation. The
kinematic equation is typically used in rainfall-runoff
modelling in which the model solves the continuity
equation along with a simplified form of the
momentum equation, allowing variations in spatial
and temporal flows within a conduit.
SWMM is one of the most widely used model in
a variety of hydrologic applications which includes
urban sewer planning, rainfall-runoff modelling, and
stormwater quality modelling. The model allows
flexibility of adjusting over 150 different constants
and coefficients which are physical dimensions,
impervious observations, soil properties and pipe
characteristics.
3.2.2 Hydrologic Engineering Center -
Hydrologic Modelling System
(HEC-HMS)
HEC-HMS is a lumped conceptual model in
hydrological applications. It attempts to simulate the
physical processes within the rainfall-runoff response
of a river basin system to a precipitation input through
conceptualizing the entire river basin as a system that
is interconnected by hydrologic and hydraulic
components like river basins, streams and reservoirs.
HEC-HMS is designed to be light in computational
complexity but flexible for a wide range of
geographic areas with different environment and
climates. The model includes many of the processes
involved in water circulation in the basin, such as,
precipitation, evaporation or infiltration. As such, the
model is widely used in many studies involving water
resources.
HEC-HMS requires pre-processing through HEC-
GeoHMS (Geospatial Hydrologic Modelling). HEC-
GeoHMS is an extension of ArcGIS which is
specifically designed for surface delineation and
producing the required geospatial data for HEC-HMS
hydrologic modelling. A surface Digital Elevation
Model (DEM) was used to extract drainage paths and
watershed boundaries to represent the hydrologic
structure used for simulating the watershed response
to precipitation. Results produced by HEC-GeoHMS
is then extracted and exported into HEC-HMS for
watershed hydrologic modelling.
3.3 Adaptive Network-based Fuzzy
Inference System (ANFIS)
ANFIS combines the reasoning capabilities of fuzzy
#
#
#
Rowville
Heathmont
Dandenong
Esri, HERE, DeLorme, MapmyIndia, © OpenStreetMap contributors, and the GIS user community
Rainfall-runoff Modelling in a Semi-urbanized Catchment using Self-adaptive Fuzzy Inference Network
89
systems with the learning mechanism of neural
networks. ANFIS was first developed by Jang (1993)
who implemented the Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy rules in a
five-layer neural network. Figure 5 shows the typical
structure of an ANFIS model for the case of 2 inputs.
Figure 5: Typical ANFIS structure for 2 inputs.
Further details about each layer and the
corresponding variables can be found in Talei et al.
(2010b). ANFIS has been successfully used in several
engineering applications including rainfall-runoff
modelling; therefore, it has been chosen as a
benchmark model in this study for comparison
purposes.
3.4 Input Data Selection and Model
Development
In Catchment 1, 11 years rainfall-runoff time series
were split into 2 datasets. The first 8 years was used
as training (calibration) dataset while the remaining 3
years of the data was used as validation dataset. The
input selection was conducted on training data set
where totally 6 rainfall antecedents of R
D
(t), R
D
(t-
1), R
R
(t), R
R
(t-1), R
H
(t), and R
H
(t-1) and 4 discharge
antecedents of Q
R
(t), Q
R
(t-1), Q
H
(t), Q
H
(t-1) were
considered as candidate inputs. It is worth mentioning
that R
D
, R
R
, R
H
are rainfall at Dandenong, Rowville,
and Heathmont stations, respectively while Q
R
, Q
H
are upstream discharge at Rowville and Heathmont
stations, respectively; t is the present time and t-1 is
considered as a one-day lag. For Catchment 2, 40
event-based data were split into 12 training events
and 28 testing events. The rainfall-runoff dataset
consists of a total of 10 rainfall antecedents and 1
river discharge output, Q(t). The 10 rainfall
antecedents ranges from R1 to R10, where the
position of each respective rainfall station is shown in
Figure 4.
An input selection analysis was applied on both
catchments rainfall and discharge antecedents in
order to determine the choice of inputs for modelling.
As with most data driven models, the selection of
inputs is necessary to ascertain inputs that are better
associated with the discharge consequent to attain
greater efficacy during modelling. A hybridization of
both correlation analysis and mutual information
analysis proposed by Talei and Chua (2012) is
adopted in this study to select the inputs. This
approach prioritizes the inputs that have high
correlation with the output while possessing low
mutual information with other inputs. The Pearson
correlation coefficient is obtained by:
n
i
i
n
i
i
n
i
ii
yx
xy
yyxx
yyxx
yxC
1
2
1
2
1
,C
(1)
in which
xy
is the covariance between variables x
and y;
and
y
are the standard deviations of x and
y, respectively;
x
and
y
are the average values of x
and y, respectively, and n is the number of data points.
On the other hand, mutual information of two
variables x and y, MI(x,y) is calculated by:
xy
yx
yxMI
22
log
2
1
,
(2)
where
2
x
and
2
y
are the variance of the two variables
x and y, respectively and
xy
is the covariance
between variables x and y.
3.5 Performance Criteria
In order to evaluate the models’ performance, four
different statistical measures are considered in this
study.
3.5.1 Nash-Sutcliffe Coefficient of Efficiency
(CE)
Coefficient of efficiency can be obtained by:
2
,,
1
2
,
1
1
n
Obs i Sim i
i
n
Obs i Obs
i
QQ
CE
QQ

(3)
where
iObs
Q
,
and
iSim
Q
,
are the observed and
simulated discharge values (in m
3
/s) for the ith data
point, respectively;
Obs
Q
is the average value of the
observed discharge while n is the total number of data
points. It is worth mentioning that CE varies in the
IJCCI 2018 - 10th International Joint Conference on Computational Intelligence
90
domain of (-∞, 1] and is used to assess the goodness-
of-fitness between observed and simulated discharge
values of this study.
3.5.2 Coefficient of Determination (R
2
)
Coefficient of determination which measures the
degree of co-linearity between observed and
simulated values, varies in the range of [0, 1]. Value
of 1 indicates the perfect positive association while
the value of zero indicates no association. This
measure can be calculated by:
2
1
2
,
1
2
,
1
,,
2
n
i
SimiSim
n
i
ObsiObs
n
i
SimiSimObsiObs
QQQQ
QQQQ
r
(4)
where
iObs
Q
,
and
iSim
Q
,
are the observed and
simulated discharge values (in m
3
/s) for the ith data
point, respectively;
Obs
Q
and
Sim
Q
are the average
value of the observed and simulated discharge,
respectively, while n is the total number of data
points.
3.5.3 Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE)
RMSE accords extra importance on the outliers in
the data set and is therefore biased towards errors in
the simulation of high flow rates.
n
QQ
n
i
iObsiSim
1
2
,,
RMSE
(5)
where
iObs
Q
,
and
iSim
Q
,
are the observed and
simulated discharge values (in m
3
/s) for the ith data
point, respectively; n is the total number of data
points.
3.5.4 Mean Absolute Error (MAE)
MAE is the average of all deviations from the original
data regardless of their sign. This parameter does not
allocate any weight to errors in extreme values. MAE
can be calculated by:
n
QQ
n
i
iObsiSim
1
,,
MAE
(6)
where
iObs
Q
,
and
iSim
Q
,
are the observed and
simulated discharge values (in m
3
/s) for the ith data
point, respectively; n is the total number of data
points.
3.5.5 Relative Peak Error (RPE)
Peak estimation in rainfall-runoff modelling is a very
sensitive tasks since this measure is dealing with
extreme events. In this study, RPE is adopted to
evaluate the models’ capability in predicting peak
values. RPE is defined as:
Obsp
SimpObsp
Q
QQ
,
,,
RPE
(7)
where
Obsp
Q
,
and
Simp
Q
,
are the observed and
simulated peak discharge. Values closer to zero
indicate better estimation of peak flows.
4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Dandenong Catchment (Catchment
1)
Based on input selection analysis the best
combination of inputs was found to be of R
D
(t-1),
Q
R
(t), Q
H
(t). Both SaFIN and ANFIS model was
calibrated using the same training data and input
combination. In addition, SWMM was also calibrated
using 1 arc-second resolution DEM data as well as
rainfall data from 9 different rainfall gauges. Further
comparisons were made through benchmarking
against results obtained from the autoregressive
model with exogenous inputs (ARX) model. ARX is
a linear regression model for input-output mapping.
In R-R modelling, ARX model output, Q(t) is
assumed to be related to rainfall antecedents, R(t-i)
and past outputs Q(t-i) by the following formula:
ba
n
j
kj
n
i
i
tejntRbitQatQ
11
)()1()(
(8)
where n
a
and n
b
are the number of past outputs and
inputs respectively, n
k
is the delay associated with
each input, e(t) is the true error term; and a
i
and b
j
are
model parameters to be optimized. To determine the
optimal model parameters, model fit is evaluated
using three residual statistics which are RMSE,
Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) (Akaike, 1974)
and Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) (Rissanen,
1978). AIC and BIC are denoted by:
poi
2nRMSE)ln(nAIC
(9)
Rainfall-runoff Modelling in a Semi-urbanized Catchment using Self-adaptive Fuzzy Inference Network
91
Figure 6: Observed versus simulated hydrograph in Catchment 1 by (a) SaFIN, (b) ANFIS, (c) SWMM and (d) ARX.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
IJCCI 2018 - 10th International Joint Conference on Computational Intelligence
92
Figure 7: Scatterplots of observed versus simulated discharge in Catchment 1 by (a) SaFIN, (b) ANFIS, (c) SWMM and (d)
ARX.
)ln(nRMSE)ln(nBIC
poi oi
n
(10)
where 𝑛
𝑖−𝑜
is the number of input-output patterns and
𝑛
𝑝
is the number of model parameters. ARX was
employed with through varying range of values for
parameters n
a
, n
b
, n
k
.
The model performance of all 4 models were then
compared using several performance metrics
including coefficient of efficiency (CE), R², RMSE,
and MAE as provided in Table 1.
Table 1: Performance of different models in Catchment 1.
Model
CE
RMSE
MAE
SaFIN
0.893
0.900
0.893
0.468
ANFIS
0.841
0.842
1.087
0.527
SWMM
0.686
0.696
1.532
0.671
ARX
0.417
0.421
1.174
0.550
As it can be seen, SaFIN was able to outperform
ANFIS, SWMM and ARX models for all
performance indices. Although SaFIN and ANFIS
models used data from 3 rainfall stations compared to
the 9 that was used to develop SWMM, both models
were able to outperform SWMM. However, it should
be noted that both SaFIN and ANFIS had the
advantage of having upstream discharge data as
inputs which contributes to performance
improvement. For further comparison, the observed
hydrograph is compared with the simulated ones by
SaFIN, ANFIS, SWMM and ARX as shown in Figure
6. As can be seen, all models were able to simulate
various ranges of flow in the testing dataset. To
evaluate the performance of the models in peak
estimation, the RPE metric was calculated for peak
discharge values greater than 10 m³/s (total 27 peaks).
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
Rainfall-runoff Modelling in a Semi-urbanized Catchment using Self-adaptive Fuzzy Inference Network
93
Figure 7 shows the scatterplots for each of the 4
model simulations. The scatterplots produced by
SaFIN and ANFIS appear to have an almost similar
spread in simulating low flows while ANFIS shows
more underestimations and overestimations for
higher flows values. Whereas the SWMM scatterplot
shows a wider spread when compared to SaFIN and
ANFIS.
Figure 8 shows the boxplots of the RPE values
obtained from SaFIN, ANFIS, SWMM and ARX. As
can be seen, SaFIN has the lowest median value and
the least range of errors when compared to the other
models followed by ANFIS and SWMM model. ARX
was the worst among these four models in the peak
estimation.
Figure 8: RPE boxplots for SaFIN, ANFIS, SWMM and
ARX in Catchment.
4.2 Sungai Kayu Ara River Basin
(Catchment 2)
SaFIN and ANFIS were both trained and tested using
inputs R1(t-7), R3(t-8), R5(t-7) and Q(t-1) that were
obtained from input selection analysis. It is worth
mentioning that R
i
refers to the ith rainfall station. The
results were compared against the ones obtained by
HEC-HMS from a study conducted by Alaghmand et
al. (2010). Additionally, ARX was used as an
additional benchmark to represent a linear regression
model. The averaged performance criteria across 28
testing datasets for all 4 models were compared and
shown in Table 2.
Table 2: Performance of different models in Catchment 2.
Model
CE
RMSE
MAE
SaFIN
0.851
0.868
3.201
3.021
ANFIS
0.824
0.829
3.425
3.275
HEC-HMS
0.743
0.862
3.813
3.261
ARX
0.423
0.501
8.552
8.794
From the averaged results, SaFIN outperformed
ANFIS, HEC-HMS and ARX in all performance
measures. ANFIS marginally underperformed as
compared to SaFIN, while the linear regression model
fails to model the highly non-linear nature of rainfall-
runoff modelling. Although both neuro-fuzzy models
were capable of performing better than the physical
model and linear regression models, it is worth noting
that SaFIN and ANFIS were trained and tested using
discharge antecedents with a lag of one timestep.
Figure 9 shows the boxplots of performance criteria
across 28 testing datasets simulated in catchment 2 by
the 4 models of this study. As it can be seen, SaFIN
boxplots show a consistently low spread across all
performance criteria. Additionally, SaFIN was able to
simulate peak discharge values more accurately and
consistently when compared to the other models.
Figure 10 shows the scatterplots of observed
versus simulated discharge for all 4 models. SaFIN
shows a relatively good performance in low and high
discharge values while having a larger spread in
simulating mid-peak discharges. Both ANFIS and
HEC-HMS show less consistency in simulating the
different categories of flow in this catchment when
compared to SaFIN. The simulated discharge
obtained from ARX model was consistently poor for
both low and high flows.
5 CONCLUSIONS
SaFIN R-R model with rule-pruning mechanism was
able to outperform an offline NFS model, ANFIS,
ARX model, and two physical models SWMM and
HEC-HMS in two different catchments in terms of
several goodness-of-fit indices. Moreover, it was
found that SaFIN significantly outperform ANFIS,
ARX, and the two physical models in peak
estimation. This study showed the great potential for
using SaFIN in Rainfall-Runoff modelling
application. SaFIN’s ability in updating its rule-base
was found as its major strength when compared to the
conventional NFS models with offline learning.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank the Fundamental
Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) for providing
financial support for this research (grant number:
FRGS/1/2014/TK02/MUSM/03/1). This financial
support is provided by the Ministry of Higher
Education of Malaysia.
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Figure 9: Boxplots of performance criteria: (a) CE, (b) R², (c) RMSE, (d) MAE and (e) RPE for SaFIN, ANFIS, HEC-HMS
and ARX models in Catchment 2.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
Rainfall-runoff Modelling in a Semi-urbanized Catchment using Self-adaptive Fuzzy Inference Network
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Figure 10: Scatterplots of observed versus simulated discharge in Catchment 2 by (a) SaFIN, (b) ANFIS, (c) HEC-HMS and
(d) ARX.
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