Chapter 5: Unit Hydrograph

1. The peak of a flood hydrograph due to a storm is 470 m3/s. The mean depth of rainfall is 8cm. Assume
an average infiltration loss of 0.25cm/h and a constant base flow of 15 m 3/s, estimate the peak
discharge of a 6hr- unit hydrograph for this catchment. (70 m3/s)
2. A 6hr- unit hydrograph for a catchment of area 1000km2 is approximated as a triangle with base of
69hr, calculate the peak discharge of this unit hydrograph. (80.5 m3/s)
3. Given below are the observed flows from a storm of 4hr duration on a stream with a catchment area
of 613 km2. Derive 4hr unit hydrograph. Make suitable assumptions regarding base flow.
Time (hr) 0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 44 48
Observed flow (m3/s) 10 110 225 180 130 100 70 60 50 35 25 15 10
(0, 50, 108, 85, 60, 45, 30, 25, 20, 13, 7.5, 2.5, 0 m 3/s. Assuming base flow = 10 m3/s)
4. The ordinates of a hydrograph of a surface runoff (DRH) resulting from 4.5cm of rainfall excess of
duration 8hr in a catchment are as follows:
Time (hr) 0 5 13 21 28 32 35 41 45 55 61 91 98 115 138
Discharge (m3/s) 0 40 210 400 600 820 1150 1440 1510 1420 1190 650 520 290 0
Derive the ordinates of 8hr-unit hydrograph.
(0, 8.9, 46.7, 88.9, 133.3, 182.2, 256, 320, 335.6, 316, 264.4, 144, 116, 64.44, 0 m3/s)
5. The ordinates of 5hr unit hydrograph are given below:
Time (hr) 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
UH ordinate (m3/s) 0 20 60 150 120 90 66 50 32 20 10 0
If a storm of 1.2cm effective rainfall with 5hr duration occurs in the catchment, calculate the resulting
hydrograph of flow. Assume base flow to be uniform at 10 m3/s.
(10, 34, 82, 190, 154, 118, 89.2, 70, 48.4, 34, 22, 10 m3/s)
6. The ordinate of a 4-h UH of a catchment of area 1000km2 are given below. Calculate flood
hydrograph resulting from two successive 4-h storms having rainfall of 1.5cm and 1cm. Assume uniform
base flow of 10 m3/s and φ-index equal to 0.10 cm/hr.
t(hr) 0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 44
4hr UH (m3/s) 0 20 60 150 120 90 66 50 32 20 10 0
(10, 32, 88, 211, 232, 181, 136.6, 104.6, 75.2, 51.2, 33, 16, 10 m3/s)
7. The ordinate of 6hour-unit hydrograph is given below.
Time (hr) 0 6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48 54 60 66
Ordinate of 6 h-UH 0 25 63 154 121 93 70 50 32 22 10 0
Derive the flood hydrograph due to a storm given below.
Time of beginning of storm(h) 0 6 12 18
Accumulated rainfall (cm) 0 3 5.6 9.2
The phi-index for the storm can be assumed to be 0.1 cm/h. Assume base flow to be 18m3/s constant
throughout.
(18, 78, 219.2, 588.6, 805.4, 945.2, 735, 557, 404.8, 284.8, 182, 104, 48, 18 m3/s)
8. The ordinates of 6hr unit hydrograph are given below:
Time (hr) 0 3 6 9 12 18 24 30 36 42 48 54 60 66
UH ordinate (m3/s) 0 150 250 450 600 800 700 600 450 320 200 100 50 0
A storm had 3 successive 6hr intervals of rainfall magnitude of 3, 5 and 4cm respectively. Assuming φ
index of 0.2cm/hr and a base flow of 30 m3/s, determine the resulting hydrograph of flow.
(30, 300, 480, 1410, 2060, 4450, 6010, 6010, 5080, 3996, 2866, 1866, 1060, 500, 170, 30 m3/s)
9. Given the following data about a catchment of area 1000 km2, determine the peak discharge
corresponding to a storm of 5cm in 1 hr.
Time (h) 0 1 2 3 4 5
Rainfall (cm) 0 2.5 0 0 0 0
Runoff (m3/s) 300 300 1200 450 300 300
(5848 m3/s + Base flow)
10. A 6hr unit hydrograph of a catchment is triangular in shape with a base width of 64hr and a peak
ordinate of 30 m3/s. Calculate the equilibrium discharge of an S-curve obtained by using this 6-hr unit
hydrograph. (160 m3/s)
11. Ordinates of an 1hr unit hydrograph at 1hr interval are 5, 8, 5, 3 and 1 m3/s. Calculate
a) Watershed area represented by this unit hydrograph (7.92 km2)
b) S-curve hydrograph derived from this unit hydrograph (0, 5, 13, 18, 21, 22 m3/s)
c) 2hr unit hydrograph for this catchment (0, 2.5, 6.5, 6.5, 4, 2, 0.5, 0 m3/s)
12. The following table gives the ordinates of a DRH resulting from two successive 3-hour durations of
rainfall excess value of 2 cm and 4 cm respectively.
t (hr) 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30
DRH (m3/s) 0 120 480 660 460 260 160 100 50 20 0
a. Derive the ordinates of 3-hr UH. (0, 60, 120, 90, 50, 30, 20, 10, 5, 0, 0 m3/s)
b. Using the 3-hr UH derived in a, calculate the flood hydrograph for 2 successive storms of 6.5 cm and
10.5 cm of 3 hours duration and φ-index of 0.2cm/hr. Assume base flow = 20 m3/s
(20, 374, 1322, 1739, 1206, 692, 435, 277, 148.5, 69.5, 20, 20 m3/s)
13. The ordinates of a 4 hour UH of a basin of area 25 km2 are given below.
t (hr) 0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 44 48 52
UH(m3/s) 0 30 55 90 130 170 180 160 110 60 35 20 8 0
Calculate the following.
a) 4-hr DRH for a rainfall of 3cm with φ-index of 0.25cm/hr. (0, 60, 110, 180, 260, 340, 360, 320, 220,
120, 70, 40, 16, 0 m3/s)
b) a 12-hr UH by using the method of superposition. (0, 10, 28.3, 58.3, 92, 130, 160, 170, 150, 110, 68,
38, 21, 9, 2.7, 0 m3/s)
c) a 12-hr UH by using the S-curve method. (0, 10, 28.3, 58.3, 92, 130, 160, 170, 150, 110, 68, 38, 21, 9,
2.7, 0 m3/s)
14. Given below is a 12-hr UH. Derive 6-hr UH.
t (hr) 0 12 24 36 48 60 72 84 96 108 120
UH(m3/s) 0 103 279 165 78 36 20 11 5 3 0
(0, 96, 110, 272, 286, 190, 140, 94, 62, 44, 28, 26, 14, 10, 6, 4, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 m3/s at 6hr interval from
t=0)
15. The ordinates of 4hr unit hydrograph are given below:
Time (hr) 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26
UH ordinate (m3/s) 0 50 150 350 600 900 850 500 350 250 150 60 10 0
A storm had 3 successive 2hr intervals of rainfall magnitude of 2, 4 and 3cm respectively. Assuming φ
index of 0.2cm/hr and a base flow of 15 m3/s, determine the resulting hydrograph of flow.
(15, 175, 695, 1795, 3455, 5595, 6755, 5675, 3495, 2455, 1675, 927, 347, 67, 15 m3/s)
16. A 1hr unit hydrograph of a small rural catchment is triangular with a peak value of 3.6 m3/s occurring
at 2hr from the start and a base time of 6hours. Following urbanization over a period of two decades,
the infiltration index φ has decreased from 0.7cm/h to 0.4cm/h. Also the 1hr unit hydrograph has now a
peak of 6 m3/s at 1hr from start and a time base of 4 hours. If a design storm has intensities of 4cm/h
and 3cm/h for two consecutive 1hr intervals, estimate the percentage increase in peak storm runoff and
in the volume of flood runoff, due to urbanization. (74.5%, 50112m3)
17. Unit hydrograph of 3h duration from a catchment area of 524.88ha has peak discharge value after 9
hours from the start of the storm. It has half of the peak discharge value at 3hours and 15 hours after
the start of the storm respectively. If time base (tb) is 30 hours, constitute the unit hydrograph and
calculate the flood hydrograph from the following rainfall data. Assume φ index as 0.333 cm/h and base
flow as 20 cumecs.
Time (hr) 0 6 9 12
Cumulative rainfall (cm) 0 12 12 23
(20, 25.401, 28.102, 36.203, 36.202, 36.202, 32.422, 28.641, 26.481, 24.321, 22.160, 21.080, 20 m3/s)