Civil Engineering Department

Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee

CEN-531: Advanced Hydrology

Tutorial 05: Hydrograph Analysis, Channel Networks, and Unit Hydrograph

Max Marks: 100, 10 marks for each question Dated: 07-Nov-2022

Due: 15-Nov-2022

Q5.1: A) List four factors that impact the hydrograph shape and magnitude in a catchment, along
with the role of each of them. B) Define the following hydrograph time characteristics: Time to
Peak or Time of Rise, and Lag Time or Basin Lag. Also draw diagrams to explain them.

Q5.2 A) Write a brief critical appraisal of the concept of Time of Concentration? B) The length of
the main river from basin outlet to watershed divide in a catchment of area 3150 sq. km is 329 km
and the slope between maximum and minimum elevations in (meters per meter) is 0.002.
Compute the time of concentration (TC) of the catchment ? What will be TC if the slope is 0.001?
Comment on the results ?

Q5.3 Briefly explain the development of hydrograph for a natural catchment. Why the slope of the
rising limb of hydrograph is typically steeper than that of the falling limb ?

Q5.4: a) Describe using diagrams, the mechanisms behind the infiltration excess or Hortonian
flow and saturation excess flow.

Q5.5: a) What is baseflow and what are the factors on which it depends? B) Let the flow in a river
in lean season be as given below. Compute baseflow for 10 days by using a two parameter filter.
Assume value of parameter a between 0.4 to 0.6 and BFImax = 0.5. Plot the computed baseflows.

Day 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Riverflow (m3/s) 2350 1582.2 1140.5 960.1 965 919.4 914.9 750 697 666.6

Q5.6: a) What do you understand by the term morphology and geomorphology? Explain the role
of sediment size/load and river flow/slope in morphology and catchment evolution.

Q5.6: b) Write a short note on river stream ordering and drainage network laws.

Q5.7: Use drainage network laws to determine bifurcation ratio, stream length ratio, and drainage
area ratio for a 950-ha fourth-order watershed. The drainage network characteristics are
summarized in the Table below. Comment on the results.

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CEN-531 – Tut 05
Table: Drainage network characteristics for example problem

Stream Number of Streams Nn Average Stream Average Drainage

Order n Length Ln (m) Area An, (ha)
1 83 380 4
2 12 1200 35
3 5 3400 120
4 1 6500 1200

Q5.8: Define unit hydrograph (UH) and describe the key assumptions in UH theory.

Q5.9: A uniform rainfall of 2cm depth and 1hr duration over a basin of 750 sq. km, produced
following hydrograph at the outlet.

Time (hr) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Q(cumecs) 20 150 300 800 700 500 320 140 60 20 20

Determine the following:

i. DSRO depth
ii. Excess rainfall depth
iii. One-hour UH of 1 cm depth
iv. 2h UH by using the S-curve method.
Q5.10a): The topographic features of a catchment are: L = 50 km, Lc = 30 km, and Area = 700
km2. Construct a 1-hour UH by using the Snyder method. Assume Ct = 1.2 and cp = 0.6.
Q5.10b): Define and explain GIUH. Following data for a third-order catchment are given: L3 = 31
km, RA = 4.5, RB = 4.1, RL = 2.6. Assuming v = 1.8 m/s, determine the relevant parameters of
GIUH for the catchment?

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CEN-531 – Tut 05