UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING SCIENCES

HYDRAULICS ENGINEERING 3B
Assignment - 1

1) (a) Discuss the factors affecting the precipitation of South Africa.

(b) Explain the precipitation formation mechanisms and types in South Africa. Give examples for
each type of precipitation common in South Africa.

2) At certain climatic station, air pressure is measured as 130 KPa, relative humidity is 75% and the
dew point of air is 6.4°C. The air is now lifted convectively through a height of 1800 m.
Determine:
(a) Temperature of the air (°C)?
(b) Saturated and actual vapour pressures
(c) Air density (kg/m3) and specific humidity
(d) Will it be likely that it will rain?

3) Given: Catchment area shown (Fig. 1) with the indicated point precipitation stations
. P1
120 km
Prec. Coordinates
. P2 Stations (cm) (km, km)
P1 10 (40, 140)
P2 40 (70, 100)
. P3 P3 30 (90, 70)
. P4 P4 20 (40, 60)
. P6 P5 70 (80, 40)
P6 50 (120, 60)
. P5

20 km Fig. 1 (Question 3)

0 km 20 km 40 100 120 km

Determine aerial precipitation for the catchment using:

a) Arithemetic mean method
b) Thiessen Polygon Method
c) Isohyetal Method
(Hint: Use mm paper with 1 square on mm paper corresponds to 1 km * 1 km = 1 km2)

4) Given the 5 year return period MAP for three regions as shown in table below.
Region Durban Pretoria Cape Town
MAP (mm/yr) 400 220 380

Produce a detailed graph of storm intensity vs duration for time intervals of 0.1 to 0.5 hr in 0.1 increments.

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5) Given: A Map coordinates (latitudes and longitudes) for five positions.
Points 1 2 3 4
Deg min sec Deg min sec Deg min sec Deg min sec
Latitude 23 45 10 26 14 35 27 15 45 25 08 45
Longitude 24 17 40 25 22 45 23 15 15 28 52 08

Determine the specific map ID for the indicated five points (in terms of 1:50 000 and 1: 10 000 scales). Also indicate the
local name for the indicated points. Also show the location of each five points on map with coordinates.

6) Given: Nwanedi Dam Site (Fig. 2). The contour intervals on the map are at 20 m, with the contours at every
100 m in bold.

Determine:
a) The scale of the map if the linear distance between the small peninsula/island to the Phandangoma
hill is 6.2 km.
b) The height difference between the dam walls of the Nwanedi Dam and Tsaande village.
c) Area of the catchment (use triangulation)
d) The longest watercourse
e) Slope using: (i) equal area method, (ii) 1085 method
f) design precipitation (point and aerial) and precipitation intensity

Submission due: 17 Aug. 2023 before 16:00

Submit both hardcopy and soft copy. The Softcopy will be submitted on BB.

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Fig. 2 (Question 6)