History of UH

❑ Mulvany (1850) developed rational method to relate

storm runoff peak with rainfall intensity.
❑ Imbeau (1892) developed ‘event’ model to relate storm
runoff peak with rainfall intensity.
❑ False (1929) first studied the relationship between
rainfall and runoff of a given storm. He also presented
the concept of base flow separation.
❑ Boston Society of Civil Engineers (1930) reported that
base of the flood hydrograph is generally constant for
different floods while peak flow directly varies with the
volume of runoff generated by flood.
 History of UH

❑ Sherman – 1932(first to propose the concept of ‘Unit

Hydrograph’)
❑ Horton(1933) developed a theory of infiltration to
calculate excess rainfall and modified hydrograph
separation techniques.
❑ Wisler & Brater (1949) stated that “the hydrograph of
surface runoff resulting from a relatively short, intense
rain, called a unit storm.”
❑ Black (1990) stated that the runoff hydrograph may be
“made up” of runoff that is generated as flow through the
soil.
 Hydrograph
Discharge (m3/s) 3

0 12 24 36 48 30 72
Hours from start of rain storm
 Rainfall shown in
mm, as a bar graph
Discharge (m3/s) 3

2
mm
4

1 3

0 12 24 36 48 30 72
Hours from start of rain storm
 Discharge in m3/s,
as a line graph
Discharge (m3/s) 3

2
mm
4

1 3

0 12 24 36 48 30 72
Hours from start of rain storm
 The rising flood water
in the river
Discharge (m3/s) 3

2
mm
4

1 3

0 12 24 36 48 30 72
Hours from start of rain storm
 Peak flow

Peak flow Maximum discharge in

the river
Discharge (m3/s) 3

2
mm
4

1 3

0 12 24 36 48 30 72
Hours from start of rain storm
 Peak flow Falling flood water in
the river
Discharge (m3/s) 3

2
mm
4

1 3

0 12 24 36 48 30 72
Hours from start of rain storm
 Basin lag time
Basin lag time
Peak flow Time difference
between the peak of the
3 rain storm and the peak
flow of the river
Discharge (m3/s)

2
mm
4

1 3

0 12 24 36 48 30 72
Hours from start of rain storm
 Base flow
Basin lag time
Peak flow Normal discharge of
the river
Discharge (m3/s) 3

2
mm
4

1 3

2
Base flow

0 12 24 36 48 30 72
Hours from start of rain storm
 Overland flow
Basin lag time
Peak flow
+
Inter flow
3 +
GW (BF)
=
Discharge (m3/s)

Overland
2 flow Stream Flow
mm Or
4 Inter flow Total Runoff
1 3

2
Base flow

0 12 24 36 48 30 72
Hours from start of rain storm

Source: “Hydrograph Analysis” by Dr. Saleh AlHassoun (http://slideplayer.com/slide/7887266/)

Factors influencing Storm Hydrographs

• Area
• Shape
• Slope
• Rock Type
• Soil
• Land Use
• Drainage Density
Area
Large basins receive more precipitation than small therefore have larger runoff
Larger size means longer lag time as water has a longer distance to travel to reach
the outlet of river.

Shape
Elongated basin will produce a lower peak flow and longer lag time than a circular
one of the same size

Source: “Hydrograph Analysis” by Dr. Saleh AlHassoun (http://slideplayer.com/slide/7887266/)

Slope
Channel flow can be faster down a steep slope therefore steeper rising limb and
shorter lag time

Drainage Density
A higher density will allow rapid overland flow

14
Source: “Hydrograph Analysis” by Dr. Saleh AlHassoun (http://slideplayer.com/slide/7887266/)
Land Use

Urbanisation - concrete form impermeable surface, creating a steep rising limb and
shortening the time lag

Rock Type
Permeable rocks mean rapid infiltration and little overland flow therefore shallow
rising limb

15
Source: “Hydrograph Analysis” by Dr. Saleh AlHassoun (http://slideplayer.com/slide/7887266/)
 Unit Hydrograph
• It is a Direct Runoff Hydrograph (DRH) resulting from one
unit depth of effective rainfall occurring uniformly over the
basin and at a uniform rate for a specified duration.
•

Source: “Engineering Hydrology” by K. Subramanya (2005)

 Assumption of UH
Two basic assumptions constitute the foundations for
the unit-hydrograph theory:
(i) the time invariance and
(ii) the linear response.

Time Invariance

This first basic assumption is that the

direct-runoff response to a given
effective rainfall in a catchment is
time-invariant. This implies that the
DRH for a given ER in a catchment
is always the same irrespective of
when it occurs
17
 Linear Response
The direct-runoff response to the rainfall excess is assumed to be
linear. This is the most important assumption of the unit-hydrograph
theory.
Linear response means that if an input xI (t) causes an output yI (t) and
an input x2 (t) causes an output y2 (t), then an input xl (t) +x2 (t) gives
an output y1 (t) + y2 (t) .
Consequently, if x2 (t) = r XI (t), then y2 (t) = r yI (t).
Thus if the rainfall excess in a duration D is r times the unit depth, the
resulting DRH will have ordinates bearing ratio r to those of the
corresponding D-h unit hydrograph.

18
 Assumption of UH
3. ER is uniformly distributed over the whole basin.

4. ER is distributed at uniform rate over the specified duration.

5. Time base or duration of DRH is independent of intensity of ER but

dependent on duration of ER.

19
Source: ”Derivation of Unit Hydrograph” by SERC Carleton (http://serc.carleton.edu/hydromodules/steps/derivation_unit.html)
Methods of Developing UH’s

• From Streamflow Data

• Synthetically
– Snyder
– SCS
– Time-Area (Clark, 1945)
• “Fitted” Distributions

20
 Unit Hydrograph Derivation
i) Tabulate the total hydrograph with time distribution.

ii) Tabulate the baseflow if given or separate with method of our choice.

iii) Find the Direct Runoff Hydrograph(DRH) by subtracting the baseflow

from the total hydrograph.
DRH = Q – BF

iv) Find the volume of water under the DRH

Vol. = Σ Q * Δt
 Unit Hydrograph Derivation
v) Divide the volume of water(step iv) by the drainage
area(A) to get effective rainfall(e) (runoff) per unit area.
e = vol. / A

vi) Divide the ordinates of the DRH by the e of effective

rainfall(step v).

The result is a unit hydrograph(UH) for the duration of

storm.
 Final UH
25000
Storm #1 hydrograph

Storm#1 direct runoff

20000 hydrograph

15000
Flow (cfs)

Storm # 1 unit
hydrograph

10000

Storm #1
baseflow
5000

0
0
7
14
21
28
35
42
49
56
63
70
77
84
91
98
105
112
119
126
133
Time (hrs.)
23
Source: “Hydrograph Analysis” by Dr. Saleh AlHassoun (http://slideplayer.com/slide/7887266/)
Source: NPTEL
DRH/4
 Determine Duration of UH
• The duration of the derived unit hydrograph is found by examining
the precipitation for the event and determining that precipitation
which is in excess.

• This is generally accomplished by plotting the precipitation in

hyetograph form and drawing a horizontal line such that the
precipitation above this line is equal to the depth of excess
precipitation as previously determined.

• This horizontal line is generally referred to as the F-index and is

based on the assumption of a constant or uniform infiltration rate.
• Generally if we don’t have enough rainfall data, then we can
calculate D as equal to 1/5th to 1/3rd of basin lag.

30
 Estimating Excess
Precipitation
0.8

0.7

0.6
Precipitation (inches)

0.5

Uniform loss rate of

0.4 0.2 inches per hour.

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
Time (hrs.)

31
Source: “Hydrograph Analysis” by Dr. Saleh AlHassoun (http://slideplayer.com/slide/7887266/)
 Excess Precipitation
1

0.9

Derived unit hydrograph is the

0.8
result of approximately 6
hours of excess precipitation.
0.7
Excess Prec. (inches)

Small amounts of
0.6
excess precipitation at
beginning and end may
0.5 be omitted.

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
Time (hrs.)
32
Source: “Hydrograph Analysis” by Dr. Saleh AlHassoun (http://slideplayer.com/slide/7887266/)
 Limitations of UH
➢ The storm should be of short duration, intense and
nearly constant excess rainfall rate so that it can yield
well defined single peaked DRH of short time base.
➢ UH is not applicable when the drainage area is larger
than 5000 km^2 . In that case, the basin has to be
divided into sub-basins for storms covering each sub-
basin.
➢ UH is also not applicable when the basin area is less
than 200 ha
➢ Time base of DRH is dependent of methods of base
flow separation thus may change. It is short if only
surface runoff but long if sub-surface runoff is also
considered.
➢ During derivation of UH only rainfall is taken into
consideration. Snowfall is not considered in UH
 Limitations of UH
➢ For the property of invariance, it is considered that
channel and basin conditions are unchanged which
may not be true.
➢ If there is large storage in the basin, the linear system
approach of UH theory (i.e. linear relationship between
storage and discharge) is not valid. So, for basin with
large storage, UH theory is not applicable.
 Application of UH
➢Development of Direct Runoff Hydrograph
(DRH).

➢ Development of UH of different durations.

➢ Development of flood forecasting and

warning systems based on rainfall in the
basin.
Source: “Engineering Hydrology” by Dr. Manish Kumar Goyal (2016)
Source: “Engineering Hydrology” by Dr. Manish Kumar Goyal (2016)
 40
Source: “Applied Hydrology” by Chow et al. (1988)