The Snyder Method

 Developed by Snyder (1938)

 Snyder defined a Standard unit hydrograph

and related its characteristics to the basin
characteristics

 The standard unit hydrograph corresponds to

the effective rainfall of duration tr , in hours,
and is related to the basin lag, tp
 The Snyder Method
tp
tr  (1)
5.5
 The Basin Lag tp is defined as

the time of lag to peak in hours taken as

the time from the centre of mass of the
effective rainfall of unit duration to the
peak of the UH, or, simply, the watershed
lag
 Snyder’s Synthetic UH
Watershed Lag
Qp

tp

W75

W50

Effective tr
rainfall duration

tb

Time, h
 Snyder’s Synthetic UH
 According to the Snyder method

t p  Ct(LLca ) 0 .3
( 2)
L = length of the main stream from the outlet to divide, km
Lca = the distance from the outlet to a point on the stream
nearest the centre of area of the watershed, km
Ct = a constant (Range 0.3 – 6)

 The quantity LLca is a measure of the size

and shape of the watershed
 It is thus seen that watershed slopes are not
considered here

 Due to this ER, the peak discharge, Qp of the

resulting UH was given by

2.78 c p A
Qp  (3)
tp
Qp = peak discharge m3/s
Cp = a constant (0.56 – 0.69) derived from gauged basins in the same
region
 Snyder’s Synthetic UH

 The peak discharge intensity, qp of the resulting

UH was given by

Qp 2.78 c p
qp   (4)
A tp

qp = discharge per unit area of the drainage basin, cumec/km2

Snyder’s Synthetic UH
 In case ct and cp are known for a region, a
standard unit hydrograph can be
developed using Equations (1) – (3)
 However, if the synthetic unit hydrograph is
needed for duration tR, which is different
from tr, then the standard basin lag is
modified using the following relationship
t R  t r 21 tR
t  tp 
'
p  tp  (5)
4 22 4
Snyder’s Synthetic UH
 In case ct and cp are not known for a region,
these can be estimated using the measured
values of L and Lca from basin map, and
values of effective duration, basin lag and the
peak discharge rate from a derived
(observed) unit hydrograph of the basin
 The time base of UH, tb (in days) is given by
tp'
tb  3  (6)
8
Snyder’s Synthetic UH
 To facilitate the smooth plot of the derived
synthetic unit hydrograph, U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers (1959) suggested following
additional relationships
5.87
W50  (7 )
q1p.08

W50
W75  (8)
1.75
Snyder’s Synthetic UH
 where, W50 and W75 are width of the
hydrograph at 50% and 75% of peak

 Usually, one-third of the W50 and W75 is kept

on the left of the peak and two-third on
the right