From Haan et al. 1994.

Design Hydrology and

Sedimentation for
Small Catchments.
Academic Press, New
York, pp. 588.
BEE 473 Watershed Engineering Fall 2007

IMPOUNDMENTS (PONDS, WETLANDS, RESERVOIRS, AND DETENTION BASINS)

Designing ponds and detention basins and similar impoundments requires engineers to keep
track of stored water during a storm; most or our previous designs have only required that the
structure or system have a capacity greater than the peak discharge. Because of this, we often
design ponds and detention basins for large volume storms as well as high intensity storms. The
synthetic hydrograph approaches you have been using are only valid for storms with durations
similar to a watershed’s time of concentration. Typically detention basin and similar structures
are designed for a 24-hr storm, which will require some extra calculations. Ponds, detention
basins, etc. typically consist of a pool for storing water, a mechanical spillway for controlling
outflow, and an emergency or auxiliary spillway for events exceeding the design so that the
structure is not destroyed; you know how to design most of these components already. The
following will provide additional information needed.

A. Level-Pool Flood Routing

B. Triangular Hydrograph Superposition
C. Synthetic Unit Hydrograph
D. Embankment Design

October 17, 2008

BEE 473 Watershed Engineering Fall 2004

A. Level-Pool Flood Routing

Level-pool flood routing is a simple step-wise mass balance that allows engineers to
simultaneously estimate of outflow and storage from a pond or similar structure that is receiving
variable inflow, usually described by a hydrograph. The first step is to determine your inflow
hydrograph and divide it into small time increments, ∆t, such that ∆t ≤ tp/10. IMPORTANT: Use
this ∆t throughout the rest of the analysis.

In essence, level-pool flood routing uses the fact that outflow and storage are both function of
the water depth in the pond so that we can combine inflow and storage into a single function.

⎛o S ⎞
⎜ + ⎟ = f (H ) (A.1)
⎝ 2 ∆t ⎠

where o is outflow discharge (m3 s-1), S is flood storage in the pond (m3), and ∆t is in seconds.
Determine relationship by guessing the dimensions of the pond and outflow structure (e.g., a 1 m
deep oval pond with a 5 m long, 10 cm dia. culvert with a1% slope) and calculating the outflow
discharge and storage volume for a range of depths, H. For the subsequent analysis it is easiest
to consider the relationship between the left-hand side of Eq. (A.1) and outflow:

⎛o S ⎞
o= f⎜ + ⎟ (A.2)
⎝ 2 ∆t ⎠

Sometimes you will find that a continuous function describes (A.2) and can be used through the
rest of the analysis.

The mass balance for the pond can be written in the following form.

⎛o S ⎞ i +i ⎛o S ⎞
⎜ + ⎟ = t t + ∆t + ⎜ + ⎟ − ot (A.3)
⎝ 2 ∆t ⎠ t + ∆t 2 ⎝ 2 ∆t ⎠ t

Assuming that at t = 0, outflow and storage are zero, the following table illustrates how to
proceed with flood routing.

known known known Eq. A.3 Eq. A.2

it + it + ∆t o S
t i + o
2 2 ∆t
0 io (io+ i1)/2 0 0
∆t i1 (i1+ i2)/2 (io+ i1)/2+0-0 Eq. A.2
2∆t i2 (i2+ i3)/2 Repeat Repeat
↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓
n∆t 0 0 on
BEE 473 Watershed Engineering Fall 2004

B. Triangular Hydrograph Superposition

Perhaps the simplest way to approximate a hydrograph for a long storm is to divide the storm
into periods with duration equal to the time of concentration, use a triangular hydrograph to
approximate the flow from each sub-storm, and then superimpose them as shown in Fig. B.1

rain

Composite hydrograph
discharge

~ tc time
Figure B.1: Illustration of a composite hyetograph (top) and hydrograph (bottom) constructed
by superimposing three SCS-triangular hydrographs.
BEE 473 Watershed Engineering Fall 2004

C. Synthetic Unit Hydrograph

The unit hydrograph concept was first developed in the 1930’s by L.K. Sherman. As illustrated
in Fig. C.1, the unit hydrograph assumes that for a given uniform input of rain over a specific
duration, ∆D, that generates in a unit, e.g., 1 mm, (1 inch in English units) of runoff (also called
precipitation excess), a watershed will produce a characteristic runoff outflow response or unit
hydrograph. In other words, if the watershed experiences a 1 mm slug or pulse of runoff, the
unit hydrograph describes how fast that runoff reaches to the watershed outlet.

Don’t worry about amount, just

rain be cognizant of that its duration,
∆D, is <tc (e.g. ∆D˜ 0.133tc)
0.00

1.00 ∆D
Runoff
Depth

Total Runoff
(a.k.a. Excess Precipitation)
0.00

1.00
0.75 Watershed
qu/qp Outflow
0.50
0.25
0.00
1 2 3 4
t/tp
Figure C.1: Schematic of the unit hydrograph concept – the axes have been normalized for
illustration purposes. Here, qu is the unit hydrograph

The primary assumption that makes the unit hydrograph useful is that the watershed is a linear
system; that is, (1) the unit hydrograph obeys the principle of proportionality and (2) multiple
unit hydrographs can be superimposed.

Thus, considering the proportionality of the unit hydrograph, if the watershed experiences a
rainfall event of duration ∆D that produces 2 mm of runoff (i.e., twice the unit hydrograph), the
response or resulting hydrograph, q(t), is determined by doubling qu for all times.

The ability to superpose unit hydrographs is essential to capture hydrograph responses to long
storms when rainfall rates may be non-uniform. For instance, if 2 mm of runoff occurred over
two consecutive periods of ∆D (each generating 1 mm of runoff), the resulting response or
hydrograph is determined by creating independent hydrographs for each runoff event (in this
case the unit hydrograph is multiplied by “one” for each event) and superimposing them on each
other as illustrated in Fig. C2. Note, it might be tempting to simply double the response time
following the logic that qp doubles when runoff doubles for an event of duration ∆D. However
the times at which runoff reaches the outlet is largely controlled by the time of concentration, tc,
which is an innate physical characteristic of the watershed that does not change from storm to
storm.
BEE 473 Watershed Engineering Fall 2004

1.00 Two Runoff

Pulses generated

Runoff
Depth
by two rainfall
pulses of ∆D.
0.00

Superimposed
1.00 Watershed
Outflow
0.75
q/qp
0.50
0.25
0.00
1 2 3 4
t/tp
Figure 2.C: Illustration of using superposition to create a composite hydrograph from two
consecutive unit runoff impulses – the axes have been normalized for illustration purposes.

An important aspect of using unit hydrographs is deciding on the duration of rainfall excess, ∆D
(Fig. C.1). One standard calculation of rainfall excess duration is: ∆D = t c × 0.133 (NEH, Eqn
6.12 -- Chapter 16 of NEH includes an example illustrating the effects of using too large a ∆D).
Remember that a long storm will be composed of multiple rainfall-runoff pulses of duration ∆D;
the storm length will, in most cases, not be ∆D.

Another complication is determining tp for a storm of duration ∆D. A commonly used

calculation is:

∆D
tp = + 0.6t c (C.0)
2

Note, this is consistent with the approximation we use when we are developing a hydrograph for
a design storm that will produce the maximum peak runoff rate, i.e., when the duration of the
storm is equal to the tc; i.e., if ∆D = tc then Eq. C.0 becomes tp = 1.1tc.

Figures C.1 and C.2 show curvy unit hydrographs because sometimes the unit hydrograph is
determined from actual storm discharge data generated by an actual storm of duration ∆D. Later
we will discuss using synthetic hydrographs.

Quantification of Unit Hydrograph

Thus far, we have kept the unit hydrograph discussion descriptive. It is relatively easy to use the
unit hydrograph concept to develop a hydrograph for a long, perhaps non-uniform rainfall event
by (1) dividing the long storm into many uniform mini-rainfall events of duration ∆D, (2)
calculating the runoff from each mini-rainfall event, (3) scaling the unit hydrograph for each
runoff pulse, and (4) superimposing all the resulting hydrographs. Indeed, there is nothing
wrong with this approach.
BEE 473 Watershed Engineering Fall 2004

The following is a more computationally efficient way to do this. The basic equation used is
referred to as the discrete convolution equation (equivalent to the convolution integral used in
continuous calculations):
n
qm = ∑ QmU n −m +1 (C.1)
m =1

where q is the runoff outflow rate, Q is the runoff depth generated by a precipitation event of
duration ∆D, U is a response function (unit hydrograph, essentially qu in Fig. C.1), m is the time
interval, and. n is the number of intervals in the response function plus the number of input
pulses minus 1.

Example: Consider the response function in Table C.1 and the input pulses summarized in Table
C.2. Note n = 5+3-1, n = 7

Table C.1: Response Function

Unit Time U Table C.2: Runoff Pulse
1 0.05 Unit Time Q
2 0.1 1 0.5
3 0.6 2 1.5
4 0.2 3 1
5 0.15

At m = 1, q1=Q1U1 or q1 = 0.5x0.05 = 0.025.

At m = 2, q2 = Q1U2 + Q2U1 or q2 = 0.5x0.1 + 1.5x0.05 = 0.125
↓ ↓
At m = 5, q5 = Q1U5 + Q2U4+ Q3U3 or q5 = 0.5x0.15+1.5x0.2+1x0.6 = 0.975
↓ ↓

This process is repeated to m = 7. The runoff outflow at distinct time intervals is given by the
series of quantities q1 to q7.

Synthetic Unit Hydrograph

The unit hydrograph concept allows that each watershed has a unique response to a storm.
Because it is not always tenable to develop unique unit hydrographs for every watershed, which
would require simultaneous streamflow and rainfall measurements over a prolonged period,
synthetic unit hydrographs have been developed by, the Soil Conservation Service (SCS –
currently the Natural Resources Conservation Service or NRCS) using compiled data from
multiple watersheds. One of these is the triangular unit hydrograph we have used earlier in this
class, which can be used to develop a synthetic unit hydrograph with a tp determined by Eq. C.0
(i.e., tp = ∆D/2+0.6tc where ∆D << tc) and the volume of runoff equal to 1-mm over the
watershed area (the recession time, tr, is still 1.67tp). Using the tp and qp from a synthetic
triangular unit hydrograph, you can create a more curvy synthetic unit hydrograph by
multiplying these values by the appropriate ordinates of the dimensionless synthetic hydrograph
given on an attached sheet (i.e., by multiplying the y-axes by qp and the x-axis by tp). In many
design cases engineers use the SCS synthetic unit hydrograph, largely because it is embedded in
commonly used watershed design software.
BEE 473 Watershed Engineering Fall 2004

Unit Hydrograph Application to Storms with Longer Duration than tc (the NRCS approach)
Recall, tc is a static, physical characteristic of a watershed. If a storm is the less-than or same
duration as a catchment’s tc, a design storm hydrograph can be calculated rather simply using the
SCS triangular hydrograph directly (previously discussed – use Eq. C.0 for tp). If a storm event
is longer than the tc, a synthetic unit hydrograph is a better approach.

The basic steps are:

1. Determine tc for your watershed calculate ∆D (≈0.133 tc)
2. determine tp (= ∆D/2+0.6tc) and tr (= 1.67tp)
3. Determine qp for your watershed for a runoff volume from a runoff of 1 unit (mm, cm,
3
inch, etc.) – eg., Qu = 1 mm x watershed area (convert to m ); qp = 2Qu/(tp+tr)
4. Knowing tp, tr, and qp you can construct a unit hydrograph function, U, (either triangular or
via the smoother dimensionless synthetic hydrograph included in this packet), finding
runoff rates for the unit hydrograph for every ∆D interval.
5. Divide your long storm into units of ∆D (for a 24 hr storm in most of the US, you’d use the
type II precipitation function discussed earlier) and determine the depth of rain for each
interval (∆P).
6. Calculate the total runoff amount (∆Q) for each pulse of rain, ∆P, using the CN equation –
note: assume no runoff is generated until the cumulative rainfall is ~Ia (i.e., 0.2S) and
calculate subsequent runoff amounts with ∆Q = ∆P2/(∆P+S) (i.e., take the Ia term out of the
usual CN equation).
7. For each discrete runoff amount, ∆Q, determine the resulting hydrograph by multiplying
each point in U (determined in step 4) by ∆Q (to make units work, you are actually
multiplying by ∆Q/1-mm).
8. Superimpose all the resulting hydrographs to create a composite hydrograph for the long
storm.
BEE 473 Watershed Engineering Fall 2004

D. Embankment Design
Figure D.1 shows the various dimensions that need to be determined when designing an earth
embankment; K is the hydraulic conductivity of the embankment material. One of the primary
design constraints, especially if the embankment is supposed to impound a permanent water
body, is the seepage through the structure, q. The downstream toe should be outfitted with a
drain to remove this water. If the available material for embankment construction is too
permeable, a clay core can be constructed assuming the same relationships as shown in Fig. D.1.

wt

hf Actual water surface

App
r oxi m
ate sd
wat
H er surf
a ce
su 4 KH 2
q=
9L H
0.3M α 3

M
L
cot (α )
H
6
Figure D.1: Schematic of embankment cross-section and relevant design dimensions

The slope of upstream face, su, should not generally not exceed 1:3; <1:4 if the embankment
material is coarse and <1:7 for uncompacted material such as in levees.

The slope of downstream face, sd, should not generally not exceed 1:2; <1:3 if the embankment
material is coarse and <1:7 for uncompacted material such as in levees.

The upstream and downstream faces can have slopes up to 1:1 if the seepage section is a core
embedded in a larger dam.
1/2
The freeboard height, hf, is often estimated as 0.014(fetch) ; all units are meters and fetch is the
unobstructed upwind distance above the dam.

The top width, wt, should be at least 2.4 m and for H > 3.5 m the minimum wt can be estimated
as 0.4H+1; all units are meters.

Allow 5-10% settling height in general and 20 – 25% for levees.

BEE 473 Watershed Engineering Fall 2004

References:
National Engineering Handbook (NEH). 1972. Dean Snider. Part 630: Hydrology. Chapter 16-
Hydrographs. NRCS. website: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/ENG/neh.html

For further information:

*
Chow, V.T. 1959. Open Channel Hydraulics. McGraw-Hill Company, New York. pp. 680.
†
Haan, C.T., B.J. Barfield, J.C. Hayes. 1994. Design Hydrology and Sedimentology for Small
Catchments. Academic Press, New York. pp. 588.
*
Montes, S. Hydraulics of Open Channel Flow. ASCE Press, Reston. pp. 697.
†
Schwab, G.O., D.D. Fangmeier, W.J. Elliot, R.K. Frevert. 1993. Soil and Water Conservation
Engineering, 4th Ed. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New York. pp.508.
†
Tollner, E.W. 2002. Natural Resources Engineering. Iowa State Press, Ames. pp. 576.

*
Particularly good books for open channels
†
These texts were previously used for this course
BEE 473 Watershed Engineering Fall 2004

References:

National Engineering Handbook (NEH). 1972. Dean Snider. Part 630: Hydrology. Chapter 16-
Hydrographs. NRCS. Website: www.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/ENG/neh.html.

For further information:

Chin, D.A. Water Resources Engineering. Prentice Hall. Upper Saddle River. pp. 750.
*
Chow, V.T. 1959. Open Channel Hydraulics. McGraw-Hill Company, New York. pp. 680.
†
Haan, C.T., B.J. Barfield, J.C. Hayes. 1994. Design Hydrology and Sedimentology for Small
Catchments. Academic Press, New York. pp. 588.
†
Schwab, G.O., D.D. Fangmeier, W.J. Elliot, R.K. Frevert. 1993. Soil and Water Conservation
Engineering, 4th Ed. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New York. pp.508.
†
Tollner, E.W. 2002. Natural Resources Engineering. Iowa State Press, Ames. pp. 576.

*
Particularly good books for this topic
†
These texts were previously used for this course
BEE 473 Watershed Engineering Fall 2007

C. Synthetic Unit Hydrograph

The unit hydrograph concept was first developed in the 1930’s by L.K. Sherman. As illustrated
in Fig. C.1, the unit hydrograph assumes that for a given uniform input of rain over a specific
duration, ∆D, that generates in a unit, e.g., 1 mm, (1 inch in English units) of runoff (also called
precipitation excess), a watershed will produce a characteristic runoff outflow response or unit
hydrograph. In other words, if the watershed experiences a 1 mm slug or pulse of runoff, the
unit hydrograph describes how fast that runoff reaches to the watershed outlet.

Don’t worry about amount, just

rain
be cognizant of that its duration,
∆D, is <tc (e.g. ∆D˜ 0.133tc)
0.00

1.00 ∆D
Runoff
Depth

Total Runoff
(a.k.a. Excess Precipitation)
0.00

1.00
0.75 Watershed
qu/qp Outflow
0.50
0.25
0.00
1 2 3 4
t/tp
Figure C.1: Schematic of the unit hydrograph concept – the axes have been normalized for
illustration purposes. Here, qu is the unit hydrograph

The primary assumption that makes the unit hydrograph useful is that the watershed is a linear
system; that is, (1) the unit hydrograph obeys the principle of proportionality and (2) multiple
unit hydrographs can be superimposed.

Thus, considering the proportionality of the unit hydrograph, if the watershed experiences a
rainfall event of duration ∆D that produces 2 mm of runoff (i.e., twice the unit hydrograph), the
response or resulting hydrograph, q(t), is determined by doubling qu for all times.

The ability to superpose unit hydrographs is essential to capture hydrograph responses to long
storms when rainfall rates may be non-uniform. For instance, if 2 mm of runoff occurred over
two consecutive periods of ∆D (each generating 1 mm of runoff), the resulting response or
hydrograph is determined by creating independent hydrographs for each runoff event (in this
case the unit hydrograph is multiplied by “one” for each event) and superimposing them on each
other as illustrated in Fig. C2. Note, it might be tempting to simply double the response time
following the logic that qp doubles when runoff doubles for an event of duration ∆D. However
the times at which runoff reaches the outlet is largely controlled by the time of concentration, tc,

October 17, 2008

BEE 473 Watershed Engineering Fall 2004

which is an innate physical characteristic of the watershed that does not change from storm to
storm.

1.00 Two Runoff

Pulses generated

Runoff
Depth
by two rainfall
pulses of ∆D.
0.00

Superimposed
1.00 Watershed
Outflow
0.75
q/qp
0.50
0.25
0.00
1 2 3 4
t/tp
Figure 2.C: Illustration of using superposition to create a composite hydrograph from two
consecutive unit runoff impulses – the axes have been normalized for illustration purposes.

An important aspect of using unit hydrographs is deciding on the duration of rainfall excess, ∆D
(Fig. C.1). One standard calculation of rainfall excess duration is: ∆D = t c × 0.133 (NEH, Eqn
6.12 -- Chapter 16 of NEH includes an example illustrating the effects of using too large a ∆D).
Remember that a long storm will be composed of multiple rainfall-runoff pulses of duration ∆D;
the storm length will, in most cases, not be ∆D.

Another complication is determining tp for a storm of duration ∆D. A commonly used

calculation is:

∆D
tp = + 0.6t c (C.0)
2

Note, this is consistent with the approximation we use when we are developing a hydrograph for
a design storm that will produce the maximum peak runoff rate, i.e., when the duration of the
storm is equal to the tc; i.e., if ∆D = tc then Eq. C.0 becomes tp = 1.1tc.

Figures C.1 and C.2 show curvy unit hydrographs because sometimes the unit hydrograph is
determined from actual storm discharge data generated by an actual storm of duration ∆D. Later
we will discuss using synthetic hydrographs.

Quantification of Unit Hydrograph

Thus far, we have kept the unit hydrograph discussion descriptive. It is relatively easy to use the
unit hydrograph concept to develop a hydrograph for a long, perhaps non-uniform rainfall event
by (1) dividing the long storm into many uniform mini-rainfall events of duration ∆D, (2)
calculating the runoff from each mini-rainfall event, (3) scaling the unit hydrograph for each
BEE 473 Watershed Engineering Fall 2004

runoff pulse, and (4) superimposing all the resulting hydrographs. Indeed, there is nothing
wrong with this approach.

The following is a more computationally efficient way to do this. The basic equation used is
referred to as the discrete convolution equation (equivalent to the convolution integral used in
continuous calculations):
n
qm = ∑ QmU n −m +1 (C.1)
m =1

where q is the runoff outflow rate, Q is the runoff depth generated by a precipitation event of
duration ∆D, U is a response function (unit hydrograph, essentially qu in Fig. C.1), m is the time
interval, and. n is the number of intervals in the response function plus the number of input
pulses minus 1.

Example: Consider the response function in Table C.1 and the input pulses summarized in Table
C.2. Note n = 5+3-1, n = 7

Table C.1: Response Function

Unit Time U Table C.2: Runoff Pulse
1 0.05 Unit Time Q
2 0.1 1 0.5
3 0.6 2 1.5
4 0.2 3 1
5 0.15

At m = 1, q1=Q1U1 or q1 = 0.5x0.05 = 0.025.

At m = 2, q2 = Q1U2 + Q2U1 or q2 = 0.5x0.1 + 1.5x0.05 = 0.125
↓ ↓
At m = 5, q5 = Q1U5 + Q2U4+ Q3U3 or q5 = 0.5x0.15+1.5x0.2+1x0.6 = 0.975
↓ ↓

This process is repeated to m = 7. The runoff outflow at distinct time intervals is given by the
series of quantities q1 to q7.

Synthetic Unit Hydrograph

The unit hydrograph concept allows that each watershed has a unique response to a storm.
Because it is not always tenable to develop unique unit hydrographs for every watershed, which
would require simultaneous streamflow and rainfall measurements over a prolonged period,
synthetic unit hydrographs have been developed by, the Soil Conservation Service (SCS –
currently the Natural Resources Conservation Service or NRCS) using compiled data from
multiple watersheds. One of these is the triangular unit hydrograph we have used earlier in this
class, which can be used to develop a synthetic unit hydrograph with a tp determined by Eq. C.0
(i.e., tp = ∆D/2+0.6tc where ∆D << tc) and the volume of runoff equal to 1-mm over the
watershed area (the recession time, tr, is still 1.67tp). Using the tp and qp from a synthetic
triangular unit hydrograph, you can create a more curvy synthetic unit hydrograph by
multiplying these values by the appropriate ordinates of the dimensionless synthetic hydrograph
given on an attached sheet (i.e., by multiplying the y-axes by qp and the x-axis by tp). In many
design cases engineers use the SCS synthetic unit hydrograph, largely because it is embedded in
commonly used watershed design software.
BEE 473 Watershed Engineering Fall 2004

Unit Hydrograph Application to Storms with Longer Duration than tc (the NRCS approach)
Recall, tc is a static, physical characteristic of a watershed. If a storm is the less-than or same
duration as a catchment’s tc, a design storm hydrograph can be calculated rather simply using the
SCS triangular hydrograph directly (previously discussed – use Eq. C.0 for tp). If a storm event
is longer than the tc, a synthetic unit hydrograph is a better approach.

The basic steps are:

1. Determine tc for your watershed calculate ∆D (≈0.133 tc)
2. determine tp (= ∆D/2+0.6tc) and tr (= 1.67tp)
3. Determine qp for your watershed for a runoff volume from a runoff of 1 unit (mm, cm,
inch, etc.) – eg., Qu = 1 mm x watershed area (convert to m3); qp = 2Qu/(tp+tr)
4. Knowing tp, tr, and qp you can construct a unit hydrograph function, U, (either triangular or
via the smoother dimensionless synthetic hydrograph included in this packet), finding
runoff rates for the unit hydrograph for every ∆D interval.
5. Divide your long storm into units of ∆D (for a 24 hr storm in most of the US, you’d use the
type II precipitation function discussed earlier) and determine the depth of rain for each
interval (∆P).
6. Calculate the total runoff amount (∆Q) for each pulse of rain, ∆P, using the CN equation –
note: assume no runoff is generated until the cumulative rainfall is ~Ia (i.e., 0.2S) and
calculate subsequent runoff amounts with ∆Q = ∆P2/(∆P+S) (i.e., take the Ia term out of the
usual CN equation).
7. For each discrete runoff amount, ∆Q, determine the resulting hydrograph by multiplying
each point in U (determined in step 4) by ∆Q (to make units work, you are actually
multiplying by ∆Q/1-mm).
8. Superimpose all the resulting hydrographs to create a composite hydrograph for the long
storm.