16.

Hydrological Analysis

16.1 Time of concentration

Time of concentration (Tc) is the time it takes for runoff to travel from the hydraulically most distant point of the
watershed to the outlet. It is a function of the topography, geology, and land use within the watershed. Tc
influences the peak discharge and is a measure of how fast the water runs off the land. For the same size
watershed, the shorter the Tc, the larger the peak discharge. This means that the peak discharge has an inverse
relationship with Tc..
Calculate time of concentration

Our time of concentration calculation uses the FAA and Kirpich equations. The FAA (U.S. Federal Aviation Administration)
equation is the most commonly used of the two because it uses the widely recognized Rational Coefficient to describe
watershed ground cover. The ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) recommends its use. The Kirpich equation,
developed in 1940, is the oldest of the three equations and is probably the most widely recognized, but no longer the most
commonly used.

Equations for Time of Concentration

The following equations are used for the calculation. All of the equations shown below use the English units indicated in the
Variables section. Of course, our calculation uses a variety of units with all of the unit conversions handled internally by the
program. The equations can be found in Chin (2000), Chow et al. (1988), Corbitt (1999), and Singh (1992).
FAA equation: t = G (1.1 - c) L0.5 / (100 S)1/3
Kirpich equation: t = G k (L 0.77/ S0.5)

A Recommendation
The FAA method was developed from data obtained from airport runoff but has been successfully applied to overland flow in
urban areas. The Kirpich equation was developed from data obtained in seven rural watersheds in Tennessee (USA). The
watersheds had well-defined channels and steep slopes of 0.03 to 0.1 ft/ft (3 to 10%) and areas of 1 to 112 acres. It is used
widely in urban areas for both overland flow and channel flow; and it is used for agricultural watersheds up to 200 acres (80
hectares).
Kirpich Time of Concentration Calculator Watershed Hydrology Equations Formulas

Tc = 0.0078[L 0.77]
[S 0.385]
L = flow length in ft
S =slope
Steps
Calculate the length of the longest flow path you find in the previous exercise by feet.
Calculate time of concentration based on the above formula and longest flow path in feet (look the following example )

Kirpich Time Of Concentration Calculator Watershed Hydrology Equations Formulas

L = flow length in ft
S =slope
L = 19187.55 m * 3.2808 = 62950.51404 ft
2016 – 1354 = 662
S = 662 / 19187.55 = 0.0345
Tc = 0.0078 (62950.51404 0.77 / 0.0345 0.385)
TC = 0.0078 (4957.1202 / 0.2736)
TC = 0.0078 (18118.4284
TC = 141.3237

Tc = 0.0078[L 0.77]
[S 0.385]
 You can get the longest flow path from ArcSWAT
 If you can’t manage the length you can split in to many first marge all together
 Create a Tin
 Select where to split the merge lines
 Start editor
 Select the flow path and select the split tool from editor to click where to be splitted
 Recalculate the length of the line
 Add the dem data
 go to 3D analysis  Functional Surface  add surface information  Select Z min and Z max
 add field s and substract the zmin from z max
 add field TC use field calculator to calculate Tc 0.0078 ( pow L, 0.77)/(pow (s, 0.335)

16.2 Calculation for Runoff Curve Number

High curve numbers correspond to high overland flow often associated with developed soils, while low curve numbers
represent well-drained soils from Hydrologic Group A or B and correspond to low rates of surface runoff.

 Hydrologic groupings of soils

Soils are classified in four hydrologic groups according to infiltration and transmission rates:
o A—These soils have a high infiltration rate. They are chiefly deep, well-drained sand or gravel. The
runoff potential is low.
o B—These soils have a moderate infiltration rate when thoroughly wet. They are chiefly moderately
deep, well-drained soils of moderately fine to moderately coarse texture.
o C—These soils have a slow infiltration rate when wet. These moderately fine to fine texture soils
have a layer that impedes downward movement of water.
 o D—These soils have a very slow infiltration rate. They are chiefly clay soils that have a high swelling
potential, soils with a permanent high water table, soils witha claypan at or near the surface, and
shallow soils over nearly impervious material. The runoff potential is high.

Steps
 Runoff coefficient is based on the watershed parameters of Landuse, slope, soil infiltrations /soil group
 Add Soil data DEM and Land Use land cover of Amhara Region
 Extract all with the extent of your AOI
 Calculate slope of your AOI in present from masked DEM
 Classify your Slope based on the following range
 Less than 2
 2-6 and
 Greater than 6
 Convert the reclassifies slope in to vector – polygon
 You may have a lot of polygons but fixed range. Therefore, dissolve the polygon based on gridcode
 Add field to the vector slope data and write the percentage range of each class as indicated in above range
 Make sure your land use land cover is based on the above table classification ( if not rearrange )
 Intersect the three datasets (Soil, Land use and slope )
 Dissolve the intersection result based on the soil type, slope class and LULC
 Export (copy and pest) the tables of the dissolved one in to Microsoft excel.
 Evaluate each row and determine their curve number based on the following table

Rational Method Runoff Coefficient Table

Example
No. Slope Texture LUC Soil_Class C Area_ha C*Area

1 < 2 % CLAY Bareland C 0.68 23.00 15.64

5 < 2 % CLAY LOAM Bareland C 0.68 13.57 9.23
82 - 6 % CLAY Bareland C 0.7 201.85 141.29
132 - 6 % CLAY LOAM Bareland C 0.7 97.90 68.53
16 > 6 % CLAY Bareland C 0.72 922.39 664.12
21 > 6 % CLAY LOAM Bareland C 0.72 416.66 300.00
2 < 2 % CLAY Cultivation C 0.2 50.85 10.17
6 < 2 % CLAY LOAM Cultivation C 0.2 9.72 1.94
92 - 6 % CLAY Cultivation C 0.25 542.78 135.70
142 - 6 % CLAY LOAM Cultivation C 0.25 88.12 22.03
17 > 6 % CLAY Cultivation C 0.34 2096.85 712.93
22 > 6 % CLAY LOAM Cultivation C 0.34 355.92 121.01
3 < 2 % CLAY Grassland C 0.3 0.95 0.29
102 - 6 % CLAY Grassland C 0.42 31.50 13.23
18 > 6 % CLAY Grassland C 0.52 59.81 31.10
23 > 6 % CLAY LOAM Grassland C 0.52 19.73 10.26
4 < 2 % CLAY Shrubland C 0.12 29.72 3.57
7 < 2 % CLAY LOAM Shrubland C 0.12 5.36 0.64
112 - 6 % CLAY Shrubland C 0.16 196.67 31.47
152 - 6 % CLAY LOAM Shrubland C 0.16 46.69 7.47
19 > 6 % CLAY Shrubland C 0.2 4568.08 913.62
24 > 6 % CLAY LOAM Shrubland C 0.2 319.95 63.99
122 - 6 % CLAY Woodland C 0.16 0.48 0.08
20 > 6 % CLAY Woodland C 0.2 15.52 3.10

To calculate the runoff curve number of a watershed:

 Based on the previous exercise with Multiply the curve number with their respective area
 sum up both the area and product
 Divide the result by total area and find the weighted curve number
Look the following example

No. Slope Texture LUC Soil_Class C Area_ha C*Area

1 < 2 % CLAY Bareland C 0.68 23.00 15.64

5 < 2 % CLAY LOAM Bareland C 0.68 13.57 9.23
82 - 6 % CLAY Bareland C 0.7 201.85 141.29
132 - 6 % CLAY LOAM Bareland C 0.7 97.90 68.53
16 > 6 % CLAY Bareland C 0.72 922.39 664.12
21 > 6 % CLAY LOAM Bareland C 0.72 416.66 300.00
2 < 2 % CLAY Cultivation C 0.2 50.85 10.17
6 < 2 % CLAY LOAM Cultivation C 0.2 9.72 1.94
92 - 6 % CLAY Cultivation C 0.25 542.78 135.70
142 - 6 % CLAY LOAM Cultivation C 0.25 88.12 22.03
17 > 6 % CLAY Cultivation C 0.34 2096.85 712.93
22 > 6 % CLAY LOAM Cultivation C 0.34 355.92 121.01
3 < 2 % CLAY Grassland C 0.3 0.95 0.29
102 - 6 % CLAY Grassland C 0.42 31.50 13.23
18 > 6 % CLAY Grassland C 0.52 59.81 31.10
23 > 6 % CLAY LOAM Grassland C 0.52 19.73 10.26
4 < 2 % CLAY Shrubland C 0.12 29.72 3.57
7 < 2 % CLAY LOAM Shrubland C 0.12 5.36 0.64
112 - 6 % CLAY Shrubland C 0.16 196.67 31.47
152 - 6 % CLAY LOAM Shrubland C 0.16 46.69 7.47
19 > 6 % CLAY Shrubland C 0.2 4568.08 913.62
24 > 6 % CLAY LOAM Shrubland C 0.2 319.95 63.99
122 - 6 % CLAY Woodland C 0.16 0.48 0.08
20 > 6 % CLAY Woodland C 0.2 15.52 3.10
Total 10114.09 3281.41
Weighted Runoff coefficient 0.32

Weighted CN = the sum of area times CN / total area

 17. Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE)
RUSLE computes average annual erosion from field slopes in tons/acre/year (Renard, 1997)

A = R*K*(LS)*C*P

A = Computed Average Annual Soil Loss

R = Rainfall-Runoff Erosivity factor
K = Soil Erodibility Factor
L = Slope Length Factor
S = Slope Steepness Factor
C = Land Cover-Management Factor
P = Conservation Practice

RUSLE – R Factor :- The R-Factor is the rainfall and runoff factor spatially distributed by geographic location, The
greater the intensity and duration of the rain storm, the higher the erosion potential. An empirical equation to
determine R factor developed by Kurt Cooper (2011).

ainfall stations in your progect area ◦

Use thiessen polygon methods to convert it to point rainfall to areal rainfall; if you use thiessen polygon convert it to
raster, the raster areal rainfall will be your input data ◦ Goto Spatial analysits tools – map algebra – raster calculator ◦
In the raster calculate use the following equation to compute R-factor ◦ 0.1523* Power(“RF_raster”, 1.36)
36.11523.0 PR ∗ =

RUSLE – K Factor:- The K-Factor is the average soil loss in tons/acre per unit area for a particular soil in cultivated,
continuous fallow with an arbitrarily selected slope length of 22.1 m and slope steepness of 9%. Texture is the
principal factor affecting K, but structure, organic matter and permeability also contribute.

where

• fcsand is a factor that gives a low soil erodibility value for soils with high coarse-sand contents and high
values with less sand,
• fci–si is a factor that gives a low soil erodibility value for soils with high clay to silt ratios,
• forgc is a factor that reduces the soil erodibility for soils with high organic carbon content, and
• fhisand is a factor that reduces the soil erodibility for soils with extremely high sand contents. Williams (1995)
adopted by Berhanu etal. (2013) hisandorgcsiclcsandUSLE ffffK *** −=

RUSLE – K Factor in ArcGIS


Input data ET_SWAT_soil
 
Extract the soil data with your project/target area


Convert the polygon to raster with USEL_K as conversion value

Keep the converted raster as you input for RUSEL computation

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RUSLE – LS Factor :- The LS-Factor represents a ratio of soil loss under given conditions to that at a site with
the "standard" slope steepness of 9% and slope length of 22.1 m.

Procedure:-


Calculate Flow Direction from clipped Watershed DEM layer Using Flow Direction Tool

Calculate Flow Accumulation with Flow Accumulation Tool

Calculate slope of watershed in degrees using Slope Tool

Compute the LS-factor using the formula below with Raster Calculator:

Power(flowacc*[cellresolution]/22.1,0.4)*Power(Sin(sloperasterdeg *0.01745)/0.09, 1.4)*1.4
RUSLE – C Factor:- The C-Factor is used to determine the relative effectiveness of soil and crop
management systems in terms of preventing soil loss.

It is a ratio comparing the soil loss from land under a specific crop and management system.

Important Note: The C factor resulting from this calculation is a generalized C factor value for a specific crop that
does not account for crop rotations.

RUSLE – C Factor in ArcGIS:- Extract project/target area land use/cover from the available data set.

Assign C-values for the different land use/cover for the project area using raster calculator

go to Spatial Analysist tools – Map algebra-raster calculator

In raster calculator use the following conditional equation : Con(("Land_Lcover" == 1),0.001,Con(("Lnad_Lcover"

== 2) | ("Land_Lcover" == 3) | ("Land_Lcover" == 5) | ("Land_Lcover" == 6) ,0.01,Con(("Land_Lcover" ==
7),0.4,Con(("Land_Lcover" == 8),0.05,0))))

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Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) RUSLE computes average annual erosion from field slopes in
tons/acre/year (Renard, 1997)

ial Analysist tools – Map algebra-raster calculator

In raster calculator use the following multiplication equation

Rfactor*Kfactor*Lsfactor*Cfactor*1 Save the raster as annual soil loss

18. Model Builder

Creating a New Toolbox:- Creating your own Toolbox is not just for organizational purposes. It allows you to share your
models with others.

Default location for a New Toolbox created inside ArcToolbox is: C:\Documents and Settings\<user
profile>\Application Data\ESRI\ArcToolbox\My Toolboxes.

Create a new Toolbox by right clicking in ArcCatalog and selecting New Toolbox.

How Model Builder Works

  
Drag layers you want to participate into the model
  
Drag tools you want to use into the model
  
Output layers, tables, objects shown in green
  
Connect the features using arrows
  
Order matters to certain tools (Clip)
 
Multiple workflows in one Model

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