EG-329 Coursework 2014/15

1.

A river catchment C is equipped with 7 raingauges either within or near the

catchment. On a rainy day, the daily rainfall readings were obtained at each
raingauge location (see Figure 1 on Page 2).
a) Use the Thiessen polygon method to calculate the areal rainfall for this day
with detailed description including intermediate diagrams, measurements and
calculation. This can be done either manually or by using a computer program.

[10 marks]
b) Suppose that the gauge near the centroid (the one has 8.0 mm reading) did not
work, using the IDW method estimate the rainfall value at this location with
the values from other gauge readings. You need to show the steps and the
measurements as well.
[3 marks]
Hint: To calculate the areas of the polygons, you may wish to copy the catchment map
onto a graph paper and count how many grids fall in each polygon. You can also use
CAD software if you would like to digitize the polygon and then get the areas.

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Figure 1 The catchment and the readings of the daily rainfall (indicated by the numbers in mm) on a rainy day from the raingauges at the locations
marked by dots.
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2.

Listed below is the storm inflow hydrograph for a full reservoir

that has an uncontrolled spillway for releasing flood water:
Time (h)

12

15

18

21

24

27

30

Inflow
(m3/s)
Time (h)

2.00

98.0

195

230

210

180

150

130

118

102

85.0

33

36

39

42

45

48

51

54

57

60

63

Inflow
(m3/s)

78.0

68.0

56.0

47.0

39.0

30.0

22.0

15.0

9.00

4.00

2.00

The storage and outflow characteristics of the reservoir and spillway are:
Height above spillway crest
(m)

Storage
(m3 106)

Outflow
(m3/s)

0.4

0.7

3.80

0.8

1.5

10.6

1.2

2.3

19.5

1.6

3.3

30.0

2.0

4.5

42.0

2.4

5.6

55.0

2.8

6.8

70.0

3.2

8.1

85.0

3.6

9.5

101

4.0

10.9

119

Determine the PEAK discharge of the outflow hydrograph. Assume that the
outflow is 1 m3/s at time t=0 h. Please observe the followings when answering
the question:
1. Include the steps of calculation.
2. Please keep THREE significant figures for your calculated discharge.
3. Where a graph-based method is used, you should include proper explanations
as to how it is used with reference to the procedure of obtaining readings from
the graph.
[12 marks]

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