Engineering Hydrology

Name of the Module : Engineering Hydrology

Module Code : CE 506
Semester : 5th
Credit Value : 4 [P=0, T=1, L=3]
Course Instructor : Dr. M. Berlin
Assistant Professor,
Department of Civil Engineering,
NIT Arunachal Pradesh
 Routine
9 – 10 10 – 11 11 – 12 12– 13 14 – 15 15– 16 16– 17

Mon
Tues CE-506
Wed CE-506

Thurs CE-506
Fri CE-506
 Subject content
Unit I
 Introduction to Hydrologic cycle, water budget equation,
Precipitation: Weather system for precipitation,
Characteristics of precipitation, Raining Gauge Network,
Evaporation, preparation of Data, Depth-Area duration
relationship, rainfall data in India

Unit II
 Stream flow measurement: measurement of stage,
measurement of velocity, area-velocity method, Stage
discharge relationship, extrapolation of rating, hydrometry
stations, Runoff: Hydrograph. Runoff characteristics of
streams, flow-duration curve, flow-mass curve, Droughts
 Subject content
Unit III
 Factors affecting flood hydrograph, Components of a
hydrograph, Base Flow separation, effective rainfall, unit
hydrograph, derivation of unit hydrograph, unit hydrograph of
different durations, use and limitations of different hydrograph,
Distribution graph

Unit IV
 Flood routing: Basic Equations, hydrologic storage routing,
attenuations, hydrologic channel routing, hydraulic method of
flood routing, flood control, Nash conceptual model
 Groundwater: Forms of subsurface water, Aquifer properties
Geologic formation as Aquifer, equation of motions, wells,
steady flow in a well, open wells, confined and unconfined
aquifer, well loss, specific capacity, recharge
 Books
 Title : Applied Hydrology
 Author : Chow V T
 Publisher : Tata Mc Graw Hill Pub

 Title : Enginnering Hydrology,

 Author: : K Subramanya
 Publisher : Tata McGraw Hill Publishing Company

 Title : Engineering hydrology

 Author : Ojha
 Publisher : Oxford

 Title : Ground Water Hydrology

 Author : Raghunath H.M.
 Publisher : New Age International (P) Limited
Hydrological cycle
 Watershed
 Area of land draining
into a stream/river at
a given location is
Watershed/Catchme
nt area/Drainage
area/Drainage basin

 The ridge/boundary
is called divide
 Water budget (mass balance)

System /
Input output
watershed

 ds/dt = Input - output

Precipitation
 Precipitation?
 What is precipitation?
 It denotes all forms of water that reach the
earth from the atmosphere

 Rainfall being the predominant form of

precipitation
 Conditions for precipitation
 The atmosphere must have moisture

 There must be sufficient nuclei (usually salt particles

or dust from combustion) present to aid condensation

 Weather conditions must be good for condensation

(wind speed facilitates the movement of clouds)

 The product of condensation must reach the earth

What are the forms of precipitation?
What are the forms of precipitation?
What are the forms of precipitation?
 Forms of Precipitation
 1. Rain - liquid deposits (droplets) falling from the
atmosphere to the surface
- with a diameter > 0.5 mm
- max. size: about 5 - 7 mm

- beyond this size, can break up into smaller

size.

Intensity
1. light rain – upto 2.5 mm/hr
2. moderate – 2.5 to 7.5
3. heavy - >7.5
 Forms of Precipitation
 2. Snow
 consist of ice crystals
 Avg density 0.1 g/cm3
 In India snow occurs in Himalayan regions
 Forms of Precipitation
 3. Drizzle
 Fine sprinkle of numerous droplets (0.5 mm size)
 Intensity less than 1 mm/hr
 They may float in the air also
 Forms of Precipitation
 4. Glaze/Freezing rain
 Rain/drizzle come in contact with cold ground at 0º C
 Forms of Precipitation
 5. Sleet / ice pellets
 Frozen raindrops
 transparent spheres of frozen water
 with a diameter > 5 mm
- develop first as raindrops in relatively warm
atmosphere (Temp: > freezing),
- then raindrops descend into a colder layer of the
atmosphere (Temp:<0oC)
- causing the freezing into ice pellets while reaching
the ground surface
 Forms of Precipitation
 5. Hail
- a frozen form of precipitation with a diameter > 8 mm
- hailstones: concentric shells of ice with alternating
white cloudy appearance & those that are clear
- Strong currents in thunderstorm clouds provide the
mechanism for forming hail
 Types of Precipitation
 1. Front
 Front is the interface between two distinct air masses

 Under certain favorable condition, warm and cold air

mass meet, warm air is lifted over the colder air

 The warmer air cools adiabatically with the

consequent formation of clouds and precipitation
 Types of Precipitation
 2. Orographic Precipitation

 when warm moist air moving across the ocean is

forced to rise by large mountains

 As the air rises, it cools. Why?

 A higher elevation results in cooler temperatures

 As air cools, the water vapour in the air condenses

and water droplets form.
 Types of Precipitation
 3. Convectional Precipitation

 Convectional precipitation results from the heating of

the earth's surface.
 The warm ground heats the air over it. As the air
warms, the air molecules begin to move further apart.
With increased distance between molecules, the
molecules are less densely packed.
 Thus, the air becomes “lighter” and rises rapidly into
the atmosphere. As the air rises, it cools.
 Water vapour in the air condenses into clouds and
precipitation.
 Types of Precipitation
 4. Cyclone

 Cyclone is a large low-pressure region with circular

wind motion

 During summer months tropical cyclone originate in

the ocean at around 5-10º latitude and move at
speed of 10-30 km/h.

 It derives their energy from latent heat of ocean

water.

 When it moves on land, the energy is cut off and the

cyclone dissipates
 How rainfall can be
represented?
 DailyRF
 Monthly RF
 Annual RF

 Average Annual rainfall for India

• 1183 mm
 Average Annual rainfall in Arunachal
Pradesh
• 3000 mm
 Rain-gauges
1) Non-recording : Symon’s gauge

2) Recording
Tipping-bucket type
Weighing-bucket type
Natural-syphon type
 Non-recording : Symon’s gauge
 An ordinary rain gauge is a simple
device consisting of a collector
and a funnel.
 A standard rain gauge consists of
a circular collector funnel with a
brass metal rim and the rainfall
collection area of either 200 cm2
(diameter 159.5 mm) or 100 cm2
(diameter 112.8 mm).
 The funnel leads to a base unit,
partly embedded in the ground
and containing, a polythene or
glass collector bottle.
 The gauge is read once (usually)
or twice daily and any rain
gathered in the collector is poured
into a measuring graduated
measuring glass cylinder to
determine rainfall depth in
millimetres.
 Water enters the receiver and goes into the glass
bottle through the funnel.

 To measure precipitation, the funnel is removed

and the precipitation measured with a measuring
glass.
 Recording – Tipping bucket
 These buckets are
so balanced that
when 0.25mm of
rain falls into one
bucket, it tips
bringing the other
bucket in position
 Recording – Weighing bucket
 The weight of rainfall is
measured on the scale
and transmitted to a
Lab's rotating shaft
through an electric wire.

 There is a calibration to
get the amount of
precipitation.

 The increasing weight of

the bucket and its
contents is recorded on a
chart.
 Recording – Natural Syphon
(Float Type)

 The rainfall collected in the funnel shaped collector

is led into a float chamber, causing the float to rise.

 As the float rises, a pen attached to the float through

a lever system records the rainfall on a rotating drum
driven by a clockwork mechanism.

 A syphon arrangement empties the float chamber

when the float has reached a preset maximum level.