UNIT HYDROGRAPH

ANALYIS
Abubakar Haruna
Department of civil engineering, UDU Sokoto

June 20th, 2023

Time of concentration
Time of concentration
Time of concentration
2. Calculate the time of concentration
For a catchment with A = 500km2
Average slope = 2%, Length of main
channel = 1200m
Hydrological modeling
How can we mimic the natural hydrological response of a catchment?
For flood forecast? There is a forecast of 50 mm rainfall tomorrow in Sokoto?
How can we guess the response of the river at a particular location in Sokoto?
Will the dams overtop? Will the river banks get flooded? How log after the rainfall will
the peak flow occur?
If flood occurs in Sokoto, will there be flood in a town 20 kms downstream? How long
before the flood reach the town? What will be the magnitude of the flood?
Hydrological modeling
If it rains, what part will be lost ? And what part will reach the river? PRODUCTION
FUNCTION, e.g. Infiltration equation

What will the hydrograph look like at the outlet of the catchment? TRANSFER function
e.g. Unit Hydrograph

What will the hydrograph look like 20 km downstream of the catchment? ROUTING
FUNCTION eg Muskingum method
Hydrological modeling

If we use mathematical equations to represent the hydrological behavior of a

catchment, what we have is called a hydrological Model.

These models are used by relevant government agencies to give predictions and
warnings of where and when flooding will occur, who will be affected and to what
extent
We will learn about Unit Hydrograph
(Transfer function)

and
Next time,

A routing function
Unit Hydrograph
The Unit Hydrograph (UH) of a watershed is defined as the direct runoff hydrograph
resulting from a unit volume of excess rainfall of constant intensity and uniformly
distributed over the drainage area.
Derivation of Unit Hydrograph
Derivation of Unit Hydrograph
The following are essential steps in deriving a unit hydrograph from a single storm:
• Select from the records isolated (single-peaked) intense storms, which occurring
uniformly over the catchment
• Select the flood hydrograph, which has resulted from the storm chosen
• Separate the baseflow and obtain the direct runoff hydrograph (DRH).
• Compute the total volume of direct runoff and convert this volume into equivalent
depth of effective rainfall (in centimeters or in inches) over the entire basin.
• Normalize the direct runoff hydrograph by dividing each ordinate by the equivalent
volume (in or cm) of direct runoff (or effective rainfall).
Derivation of Unit Hydrograph
Derive the UNIT hydrograph
The runoff data at a stream gauging station
for a flood are given below. The drainage area
is 40 km2. The duration of rainfall is 3 hours.
Derive the 3-hour unit hydrograph
for the basin and plot the same.
Application of Unit Hydrograph
We have an estimate of the Unit Hydrograph (UH) for Goronyo catchment, based on the
observation of a number of past rainfall-runoff events. Thus, we know that for an effective
rainfall of 1 mm in 10 minutes, the hydrograph at the outlet of the basin is as in the
following table.
t (minutes) 0 10 20 30 40
Q (l/s) 0 100 66.67 33.33 0

1.0 Nigerian meteorological agency (NIMET) has given predictions that 20 mm in 10

minutes of effective rainfall is expected tomorrow. As a water engineer, use the UH to
predict the flood hydrograph. Give the peak flow that is expected.

2. If the hyetograph of the storm that is expected is 5mm/10mins, 10mm/10mins and

2mm/10mins, What will be the flood hydrograph ? Highlight its basic components (time of
rise, peak time, peak flow, time base)