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Hydrograph Part 4 (S-Curve)

By Er. R.K Yadav
AG GATE 21/22 || Hydrograph || Hydrology
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Case (ii): Unit hydrograph of duration mD from unit hydrograph of duration D. Where m is not an
integer.
• The simple procedure of converting the unit hydrograph of short duration into unit hydrograph
of longer duration, explained in the previous section, cannot be adopted if the duration of the
required unit hydrograph is either less than, or not an integral multiple of the duration of the
given unit hydrograph.
In such situations the U.H. of any duration can be obtained from the U.H. of given duration using
the S-curve technique.

S-curve hydrograph may be defined as the hydrograph of direct runoff resulting from a
continuous effective rainfall of uniform intensity 1/D cm/h.
As shown below, the S-curve is constructed by adding together a series of D h unit hydrographs,
each lagged by D h with respect to the previous one.
The S-curve hydrograph attains a constant ordinate, called the equilibrium discharge denoted
by Q, approximately at the end of the base period TB of the unit hydrograph.

𝑇𝐵
Thus the number of unit hydrographs needed to produce the S-curve is
𝐷
AG GATE 21/22 || Hydrograph || Hydrology
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AG GATE 21/22 || Hydrograph || Hydrology
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AG GATE 21/22 || Hydrograph || Hydrology
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• Since the rainfall rate is equal to the runoff rate at the equilibrium state, it follows that
𝟏 𝒄𝒎 𝑨
𝑸𝒆 = 𝑨 × 𝒌𝒎 − 𝒉 = 𝟐. 𝟕𝟕𝟖 𝒎𝟑/𝒔
𝟐
𝑫 𝑫

where A is the area of the basin in km2 and D is the duration of unit hydrograph in hours which is
used in the construction of the S-curve.

Consider two D-h S-curves A and B displaced by T h. If the ordinates of B are subtracted from that
of A ; the resulting curve is a DRH produced by a rainfall excess of duration T h and magnitude
T/D cm. Hence if the ordinate difference of A and B, i.e. (SA - SB) are divided by T/D, the resulting
ordinates denote a hydrograph due to an ER of 1 cm and of duration T. i.e. a T-h unit hydrograph.
AG GATE 21/22 || Hydrograph || Hydrology
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AG GATE 21/22 || Hydrograph || Hydrology
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Prob. The ordinates of a 4-hour unit hydrograph for a particular basin are given below. Derive the
ordinates of the S-curve hydrograph.

Sol.
Thus the approx.
number of unit
hydrographs
needed to
produce the
S-curve is
𝑇𝐵
= 28/4= 7
𝐷
AG GATE 21/22 || Hydrograph || Hydrology
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AG GATE 21/22 || Hydrograph || Hydrology
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Prob. The ordinates of a 4-hour unit hydrograph for a particular basin are given below. Derive the
ordinates of 8-hour unit hydrograph

Sol.
Method 1:
By using
S-Curve
Method
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Method 2:
By using
Short cut S-Curve Method

S(t) = u(t)+S(t - D)

Where ;
S(t) : Ordinate of S-Curve at
time t
S(t-D) : Ordinate of S-Curve at
time (t – D)
U(t) : S(t) : Ordinate of D hr UH
D : Hrs. of given unit hydrograph
AG GATE 21/22 || Hydrograph || Hydrology
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Method 3 :
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Prob. The ordinates of a 4-hour unit hydrograph for a particular basin are given below. Determine
the ordinates of the S-curve hydrograph and therefrom the ordinates of the 6-hour unit
hydrograph:
Sol.
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In actual construction of
an S-Curve , it is found that
the curve oscillates in the
top portion at around the
equilibrium value due to
magnification and
accumulation of small
errors in hydrograph .
When it occurs , an
average smooth curve is
drawn such that it reaches
such that it reaches a
value Qmax at the time
base of the unit
hydrograph.
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Limitations of Unit Hydrograph

1. Unit hydrograph can not be used for catchment area greater than 5000 km2 because similar
rainfall distribution from storm to storm over a large area is rare.

2. Unit hydrograph can not be used for catchment < 200 km2.

3. Precipitation must be from rainfall only. Snow-melt runoff cannot be satisfactorily represented
by unit hydrograph.

4. The catchment should not have unusually large storage in terms of tanks, ponds, large flood-
bank storage, etc. which affect the linear relationship between storage and discharge.

5. If the precipitation is decidedly nonuniform, unit hydrographs cannot be expected to give

good results.
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Instantaneous unit hydrograph

A unit hydrograph of infinitesimal duration is called instantaneous unit hydrograph. IUH is
independent of rainfall characteristics. It is indicative of catchment storage characteristics.

Instantaneous unit hydrograph is obtained from S-curve.

Ordinate of instantaneous hydrograph is given by

𝑑𝑆
u(t) = 𝑖 𝑑𝑡

i = intensity of rainfall

S = ordinate of S-curve

Thus ordinate of instantaneous unit hydrograph is the slope of S-curve of intensity I cm/hr
(i.e. S-curve derived from a unit hydrograph of 1 hr duration).
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SCS Triangular Unit Hydrograph

𝑄𝑃 = 𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑚3 /𝑠
𝑡𝑟 = 𝑑𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑙 (ℎ)
𝑡𝑟
𝑇𝑝 = 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒(ℎ) = 𝑡𝑖𝑝𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑘 = + 𝑡𝑝
2
𝑡𝑝 = 𝑙𝑎𝑔 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒(ℎ)
𝑡𝑏 = 𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒(ℎ)
𝑆𝐶𝑆 𝑠𝑢𝑔𝑔𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛
𝑇𝑏 − 𝑇𝑝 = 1.67 𝑇𝑝
𝑇𝑏 = 2.67 𝑇𝑝
Since the area under the unit hydrograph is
equal to 1 cm
If A = area of the catchment in km2
1 1
𝑄𝑝 × 2.67𝑇𝑝 × 3600 = × 𝐴 × 106
2 100
𝐴
𝑄𝑝 = 2.08
𝑇𝑝
For large number of small rural watershed ,
SCS found that 𝑡𝑝 = 0.6 𝑡𝑐
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Prob. Develop a 30-minute SCS triangular unit hydrograph for a watershed of area 550 ha and
time of concentration of 50 minutes.
Sol.
𝐴 = 550 ℎ𝑎 = 5.5 𝑘𝑚2
50
𝑡𝑝 = 0.6 𝑡𝑐 = 0.6 × = 0.5 ℎ
60
𝑡𝑟 = 30 min = 0.5 ℎ
𝑡𝑟
𝑇𝑝 = + 𝑡𝑝 = 0.25 + 0.5 = 0.75 ℎ
2
𝑇𝑏 = 2.67 𝑇𝑝 = 2.67 × 0.75 = 2 ℎ
𝐴 5.5
𝑄𝑝 = 2.08 = 2.08 × = 15.25 𝑚3 /𝑠
𝑇𝑝 0.75