Lecturer: Dr. Saad Shauket Sammen Highway and Airport Eng. Dep.

/ 3rd Class
Engineering Hydrology

Chapter One

Introduction
The word hydrology means science of water which deals with the spatial and temporal
characteristics of the earth’s water. Also, hydrology can be defined as the science dealing with
the earth’s water in all aspects such as occurrence, distribution, and circulation on and below
the earth surface and in the atmosphere.
Engineering hydrology deals with all hydrology aspects which are related to planning, design,
and operation of water resources projects for the control and use of the available water.
Therefore, the main purpose of the hydrological studies is to estimate the magnitude of the peak
flood discharge in order to determine the reservoir capacity, spillway discharge and design of
hydraulic structures.

The purpose of hydrological study

 Design of hydraulic structures, Runoff generation: Dam capacity, Drainage system.

 Evapotranspiration: helps to estimate water requirements for plantations, the amount of
runoff that will evaporate.
 Rainfall: to determine the successfulness of rain-fed agriculture.
 Determine the replenishment to groundwater and thus we can estimate how much water
we can pump out.
 Determine the length of dry periods and drought cycle.

Hydrology Cycle (water cycle):

The water cycle describes the existence and movement of water on, in, and above the earth.
Earth's water is always in movement and is always changing states, from liquid to vapor to ice

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Lecturer: Dr. Saad Shauket Sammen Highway and Airport Eng. Dep. / 3rd Class
Engineering Hydrology

and back again. The water cycle has been working for billions of years and all life on earth
depends on it continuing to work.
The hydrologic cycle Except for the deep ground water, the total water supply of earth is in
constant circulation from earth to atmosphere, and back to earth. The earth’s circulatory
system is known as the hydrologic cycle. Hydrologic cycle is the process of transfer of moisture
from the atmosphere to the earth in the form of precipitation, conveyance of the precipitated
water by streams and rivers to oceans and lakes, and evaporation of water back to the
atmosphere. Figure 1.1 present the general form of the hydrological cycle. Hydrologic Cycle
describes the continuous movement of water on, above, and below the surface of the Earth.

Figure 1.1 present the general form of the hydrological cycle

Engineering applications at the hydrologic cycle are found in the design and operation of
projects dealing with water supply, irrigation and drainage, water power and flood control. In
the all of these projects hydrological investigations for the proper assessment of the following
factors are done:

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 Lecturer: Dr. Saad Shauket Sammen Highway and Airport Eng. Dep. / 3rd Class
Engineering Hydrology

1. The capacity of storage structures such as reservoirs.

2. The magnitude of flood flows to enable safe disposal excess flow.
3. The min. flow and quantity of flow available at various seasons.

Elements of hydrological cycle

The hydrologic cycle consists of the following elements or processes:

1- Precipitation (P)
Precipitation could be defined as the fall of moisture from the atmosphere to the earth surface in
any form. Precipitation may be in two forms:
i) Liquid precipitation as rainfall,
ii) Frozen precipitation as snow, hail, sleet, and freezing rain.

2- Evapotranspiration (Es)
Evapotranspiration include evaporation and transpiration. Evaporation can be defined as the
water evaporate from the surfaces of ocean, rivers, and lakes and from the moist soil
evaporates. The vapors are carried over the land by air in the form of clouds. While the
transpiration is the process of water being lost from the leaves of the plants. Generally, the
evapotranspiration consists of
i) Surface evaporation,
ii) Water surface evaporation from river surface and oceans,
iii) Evaporation from plants and leaves (transpiration), and
iv) Atmospheric evaporation.

3- Infiltration (F)
A part of the precipitation falling on the earth’s surface seeps into the soil by gravitation,
capillary and molecular forces. This is called infiltration. Infiltration is the process by which
water seeps into the ground through the earth surface. The spatial variation of infiltration rate
over an area is influenced by many factors including the properties of soil and vegetation cover.

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 Lecturer: Dr. Saad Shauket Sammen Highway and Airport Eng. Dep. / 3rd Class
Engineering Hydrology

Water surface runoff occurs only if the rainfall rate for a given time is higher than the
infiltration rate.

4- Runoff (R)
Runoff is that portion of precipitation that is not evaporated. When moisture falls to the earth’s
surface as precipitation, a part of it is evaporated from the water surface, soil and vegetation
and through transpiration by plant, another part of precipitation seeps into the soil as
infiltration, and the remainder precipitation is available as runoff which ultimately runs to the
ocean through surface and subsurface streams. Thus runoff may be classified as follows:
i) Surface flow (runoff): Water flows over the land to reach the streams and rivers, which
ultimately discharge the water to the sea.
ii) Subsurface flow (runoff): A portion of precipitation infiltrates into surface soil and
depending upon the geology of the basins runs as subsurface flow and reaches the streams and
rivers.

Water Budget (Balance) Equation

A water budget is comprised of the components of the hydrologic cycle where it is an
accounting of the inflow, outflow and storage of water in a designated hydrologic system. For a
special time period, we can apply the continuity equation by balancing the gains and losses of
water in a region with the quantities of water stored in the region. Inflows are denoted as
positive quantities and outflow as negative quantities.

Mathematical Description of the Water Budget Equation is:

Input - Output = Change in Water storage. I - O = ΔS

I + P + Rg - E - O - Og - ΔS - R1 + R2 =0

Where:
I = Surface inflow.
P = Precipitation.
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Lecturer: Dr. Saad Shauket Sammen Highway and Airport Eng. Dep. / 3rd Class
Engineering Hydrology

Rg = Pumpage.
E = Evaporation.
O = Surface outflow.
Og = Subsurface seepage.
ΔS = Change of storage.
R1 & R2 = Runoff.
Notes:
I = Precipitation, Rainfall and any other Inflow.
O=Evaporation (E), Transpiration (T), Infiltration, Consumption, Losses to ground water or
storage and any other outflow.
ΔS = (-) dropped or decrease in water level and (+) rise or increase in water level.
Units You Need
 1 Donem = 2500 m2
 1 Hectare = 104 m2
 1 acre = 0.4047 hectare.
 1 acre = 4000 m2.
 1 acre = 43560 ft2.
 1 ft = 0.3048 cm.
 1 ft = 12 inches.
 1 m = 3.28 ft.
 1 ft3= 23 * 10-6 acre-ft.
 1 acre-ft = 1233 m3.