Time of Concentration (Tc):

The Tc is most often defined as the time required for a particle of water to travel from the most
hydrologically remote point in the watershed to the point of collection.
Or
The maximum or peak runoff rate from small areas usually results from a rain that covers the
area uniformly and lasts long enough so that there is a concentration of runoff from all parts of
the watershed. The time required for this accumulation of runoff is called Tc.
A key parameter in most methods for predicting runoff. Numerous methods exist for
estimating time of concentration

There are various formulas to calculate the time of concentration. Following is one simple
formula.
Kirpich Method:
Kirpich developed a formula for predicting time of concentration based on data from seven rural
watersheds in Tennessee. These watersheds had well defined channels and steep (3 to 10%)
slopes.
Tc = 0.0078 L0.77 (L/H)0.385
where Tc is the time of concentration in minutes, L is the maximum hydraulic flow length in feet,
and H is the difference in elevation in feet between the outlet of the watershed and the
hydraulically most remote point in the watershed.
Kirpich method yields very conservative or short times of concentration that result in high peak
runoff rates, especially from the Rational method. This method should only be used if the
available data are limited to watershed length and slope (or) the method is specified.
Practice Problem:
Given a watershed with a maximum flow path of 6,000 feet and an average slope of 7%, estimate
the time of concentration?