Uncertainty assessment

Assessing uncertainties in measurements must become a standard practice in the field of urban drainage and stormwater management. This chapter presents three standard methods to estimate uncertainties: the Type A method (repeated measurements), the Type B method (law of propagation of uncertainties) and the MC method (Monte Carlo method). Each method is described with its fundamental principles and equations, various examples are presented in detail and Matlab® codes are given to facilitate the calculations for routine applications. An advanced method to account for partial autocorrelation in time series is presented. Lastly, typical orders of magnitude of standard uncertainties for usual sensors used in urban drainage and stormwater management are given.