Engineering Hydrology

Chapter 6 Discussion

Eng. Abdullah Hijazi

Eng. Alaa Hassan

2015 - 2016
 First
components of a
hydrograph
COMPONENTS OF THE HYDROGRAPH 6.3
The essential components of a hydrograph are:
(i) The rising limb: between point A the starting point of the rising
limb and point B the point of inflection
(ii) The crest segment: between the two points of inflection B and C
(iii) The falling (recession) limb: from the second point of deflection
C to the start of the natural groundwater flow at point D
Note
Two different storms in a given catchment produce
hydrographs differing from each other.
Identical storms in two catchment areas produce
hydrographs that are different.
Recession Limb
Represents the withdrawal of water from the storage built up in the
basin during the earlier phases of the hydrograph.

The starting point of the recession limb (the point of inflection)

represents the condition of maximum storage.

Since the depletion of storage takes place after the end of rainfall, the
shape of this part of the hydrograph is independent of storm
characteristics and depends entirely on the basin characteristics.

The storage of water in the basin exists as

- surface storage, which includes both surface detention and
channel storage,
- interflow storage, and
- groundwater storage, i.e. base-flow storage.
 Second

Base Flow Separation

Base flow separation
The parts that contribute in the total storm hydrograph:
Surface runoff
Interflow
Base flow

Base flow separation = total storm hydrograph (surface runoff +

Interflow)
Method I: Straight line method
- Draw a horizontal line from start of runoff (Point A) to
intersection with recession limb that represent the end of
direct runoff.
- Extend from time of peak to intersect with recession limb
using a lag time, N.
- An empirical equation for the time interval N (days) from the
peak to point B is: N =0.83 A0.2

Where:
A = the drainage area
in Km2 and
N = days where Point B can be
located and determine the
end of the direct runoff .
:Method II
- In this method the base flow curve existing prior to the beginning of the
surface runoff is extended till it intersects the ordinate drawn at the peak
(point C in Fig, 6.5). This point is joined to point B by a straight line.

- Segment AC and CB separate the base flow and surface runoff.

- This is probably the most widely used base-flow separation procedure.

Q
N
B
A

C
time
 Method III
- In this method the base flow recession curve after the
depletion of the flood water is extended backwards till it
intersects the ordinate at the point of inflection (line EF ),
Points A and F are joined by an arbitrary smooth curve.
- This method of base-flow separation is realistic in
situations where the groundwater contributions are
significant and reach the stream quickly.

- The surface runoff hydrograph obtained after the base-

flow separation is also known as direct runoff
hydrograph (DRH).
 Third

Effective Rainfall
Effective rainfall (Excess Rainfall) (ER)
The part of rainfall that becomes direct runoff at the outlet of the
catchment
The total rainfall in a given duration from which abstractions such as
infiltration and initial losses are subtracted.
The rainfall that is neither retained on the land surface nor infiltrated
into the soil.

Both Direct Runoff Hydrograph (DRH)

and Effective Rainfall Hetograph (ERH)
represent the same total quantity but in
different units.
ERH: is in cm/hr plotted against time
Area under the curve multiplied by the
catchment area gives the total volume of
direct runoff
Which is the same area of DRH
Solution #6.4
 Forth

Unit Hydrograph
6.6 UNIT HYDROGRAPH
- A large number of methods are proposed to solve the
problem of predicting the flood hydrograph for a given
storm and most popular and widely used method is the
unit-hydrograph method.

- A unit hydrograph is defined as the hydrograph

of direct runoff resulting from one unit depth (1
cm) of rainfall excess occurring uniformly over
the basin and at a uniform rate for a specified
duration (D hours).

- The term unit here refers to a unit depth of rainfall

excess which is usually taken as 1 cm.

- The duration, being a very important characteristic, is

used as indication to a specific unit hydrograph.
definition of a unit hydrograph implies the following:

- It relates only the direct runoff to the rainfall excess.

Hence the volume of water contained in the unit
hydrograph must be equal to the rainfall excess.

As 1 cm depth of rainfall excess is considered, the area of the unit

hydrograph is equal to a volume given by 1cm over the
catchment.

- The rainfall is considered to have an average intensity of excess

rainfall (ER) of 1/D cm/h for the duration D-hour of the
storm.

- The distribution of the storm is considered to be uniform all

over the catchment.
- Fig 6.9 shows a typical 6-h unit hydrograph. Here the duration of the rainfall
excess is 6 h

Area under the unit

hydrograph =
12.92 X 106 m3
 Solution Time (h) flow UH
0.00 0.00 0.00
6.00 100.00 23.15
12.00 250.00 57.87
18.00 200.00 46.30
24.00 150.00 34.72
DRH= 6*3600* sum Q 30.00 100.00 23.15
36.00 70.00 16.20
ER= DRH/ catch. Area 42.00 50.00 11.57
48.00 35.00 8.10
Then; 54.00 25.00 5.79
60.00 15.00 3.47
UH = Flow/ER 66.00 5.00 1.16
72.00 0.00 0.00

Depth(ER) 4.32 1.00

Time UH storm 1 Storm 2 Base Hydrograph
0.00 0.00 0.00 10.00 10.00
6.00 20.00 20.00 0.00 10.00 30.00
12.00 60.00 60.00 20.00 10.00 90.00
18.00 150.00 150.00 60.00 10.00 220.00
24.00 120.00 120.00 150.00 10.00 280.00
30.00 90.00 90.00 120.00 10.00 220.00
36.00 66.00 66.00 90.00 10.00 166.00
42.00 50.00 50.00 66.00 10.00 126.00
48.00 32.00 32.00 50.00 10.00 92.00
54.00 20.00 20.00 32.00 10.00 62.00
60.00 10.00 10.00 20.00 10.00 40.00
66.00 0.00 0.00 10.00 10.00 20.00
72.00 0.00 10.00 10.00
450.00
400.00
350.00
300.00
250.00
Hy drograph
200.00 6hrs-UH
150.00
100.00
50.00
0.00
0.00 10.00 20.00 30.00 40.00 50.00 60.00 70.00 80.00
Rainfall (duration*)