FACULTY OF ENGINEERING, TECHNOLOGY APPLIED

DESIGN AND FINE ART

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

HYDRAULICS AND HYDROLOGY

LECTURE 5: SURFACE RUNOFF

5.1 INTRODUCTION

Runoff can be defined as the portion of the precipitation that makes its way towards rivers or
oceans etc, as surface or subsurface flow. It is the portion which is not absorbed by the deep strata.
Runoff occurs only when the rate of precipitation exceeds the rate at which water may infiltrate
into the soil.

5.2 TYPES OF RUNOFF

• Surface runoff – Portion of rainfall (after all losses such as interception, infiltration, depression
storage etc. are met) that enters streams immediately after occurring rainfall – After laps of few
time, overland flow joins streams – Sometime termed prompt runoff (as very quickly enters
streams)
• Subsurface runoff – Amount of rainfall first enter into soil and then flows laterally towards
stream without joining water table – Also take little time to reach stream
• Base flow
– Delayed flow
– Water that meets the groundwater table and join the stream or ocean
– Very slow movement and take months or years to reach streams

5.3 FACTORS AFFECTING RUNOFF

• Climatic factors
– Type of precipitation
• Rain and snow fall
– Rainfall intensity
• High intensity rainfall causes more rainfall
– Duration of rainfall
• When duration increases, infiltration capacity decreases resulting more runoff
– Rainfall distribution
• Distribution of rainfall in a catchment may vary and runoff also vary
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• More rainfalls closer to the outlet, peak flow occurs quickly
• Direction of prevailing wind
– If the wind direction is towards the flow direction, peak flow will occur quickly
• Other climatic factors
– Temperature, wind velocity, relative humidity, annual rainfall etc. affect initial loss of
precipitation and thereby affecting runoff
• Physiographic factors
– Physiographic characteristics of watershed and channel both
– Size of watershed
• Larger the watershed, longer time needed to deliver runoff to the outlet
• Small watersheds dominated by overland flow and larger watersheds by runoff
– Shape of watershed
• Fan shaped, fan shaped (elongated) and broad shaped

• Fan shaped – runoff from the nearest tributaries drained out before the floods of farthest
tributaries. Peak runoff is less
• Broad shaped – all tributaries contribute runoff almost at the same time so that peak flow is
more
– Orientation of watershed
• Windward side of mountains get more rainfall than leeward side
– Landuse
• Forest – thick layer of organic matter and undercover
– huge amounts absorbed to soil
– less runoff and high resistance to flow
• Barren lands
– high runoff
– Soil moisture
• Runoff generated depend on soil moisture
– more moisture means less infiltration and more runoff
• Dry soil
– more water absorbed to soil and less runoff
– Soil type
• Light soil (sandy)
– large pores and more infiltration

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• Heavy textured soils
– less infiltration and more runoff
– Topographic characteristics
• Higher the slope, faster the runoff
• Channel characters such as length, shape, slope, roughness, storage, density of channel
influence runoff
- Drainage density

𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑙 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ

Drainage density =
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑑

• The more the drainage density, the more the runoff yield

5.4 RUNOFF COMPUTATION

Accurate computation of runoff amount from a watershed is difficult, as it depends on several

factors concerned with the atmosphere and watershed characteristics, to evaluate which effect on
runoff is not so easy.

On the basis of field experiences and observations, the following methods are frequently used in
the field of soil and water conservation for estimating the maximum or peak runoff rate of a
particular watershed to design the soil and water conservation structures.

5.4.1 Rational Method:

This is a most common method used to compute the peak runoff rate from the small watershed.
The peak runoff is defined as the maximum runoff to be used as capacity for design of a given
structure that must carry the runoff.

Rational method involves following formula for computing the design runoff

Where,
Qpeak = peak runoff rate, m3/s
C = runoff coefficient
I = rainfall intensity (mm/h) for the duration equal to time of concentration of watershed
and for a given recurrence interval
A = watershed area, hectare

5.4.1.1 Assumptions of Rational Method:

The Rational formula involves following assumptions:

i) Rainfall occurs with a uniform intensity for the duration at least equal to the time of
concentration of watershed; and
ii) Rainfall occurs at a uniform intensity throughout the watershed area.

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If all these assumptions are satisfied to a given rainfall, then the relationship between rainfall and
runoff for the watershed is being most accurate. Graphically, the relationship between rainfall and
runoff is shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1. Indicates that if a specific rainfall of uniform intensity occurs for the duration greater than
the time of concentration, then peak runoff remains same. On the other hand, a rain that takes
place for the duration less than the time of concentration, the runoff rate will be less than peak
value, because the entire watershed area would not be able to yield the discharge, simultaneously
to the outlet.

Figure 1: relationship between rainfall and runoff

a. Runoff Coefficient (C):

Runoff coefficient is the fraction of rainfall converting into surface runoff. It is defined as the ratio
of the runoff and rainfall. It is a dimensionless factor. Its value depends on the land use and soil
types (Table 1)

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Table 1: Values of 'C' for use in Rational formula

The C values vary from close to zero to 1.0. A low C value indicates that, most of the rain water is
soaking into the ground or very little formation of runoff, whereas a high C value denotes that,
most of the rain water is retained on the ground surface which gets converted into runoff. The
sandy or tilled areas have low C values. The paved surfaces or other impermeable surfaces have a
high C value. Also, the steep soil surface involves greater value of C, as there less water is retained
or soaked into the soil.

If a watershed has different features regarding its land use and soil types, then weighted value of
runoff coefficient is calculated. A sample example for computing the weighted runoff coefficient is
shown as under – Let, a watershed has been divided into five sub parts on the basis of its soil types
and land use, having the area a1, a2, a3, a4 and a5, with the values of runoff coefficient c1, c2, c3, c4
and c5, respectively.

The value of weighted runoff coefficient ‘C’ is given by:

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In which, A is the total area of watershed.

b. Rainfall Intensity:

It is defined as the rate of fall of rainfall, expressed as depth per unit time, i.e., mm/hour. It is also
expressed as the ratio of total amount of rainfall to its duration.
It is given by-

I = P/T …..(2.8)

In which, I is the rainfall intensity, P is the amount of rainfall and T is the duration of rainfall. In
rational method to compute peak runoff rate, the rainfall duration should at least be equal to the
time of concentration (i.e., time required to move the surface flow from remotest point of the
watershed to the outlet) for producing peak runoff from watershed.

Rainfall intensity is classified into following three categories:

1) Light Intensity — 2.5 mm/h

2) Moderate Intensity — 2.5 to 7.5 mm/h
3) Heavy Intensity — more than 7.5 mm/h

c. Time of Concentration (Tc):

The time required to move the surface runoff from remotest point of the watershed to its outlet is
known as time of concentration. When duration of rainfall becomes equal to the time of
concentration, then all parts of the watershed become able to generate the discharge to the outlet,
simultaneously; and the cumulative discharge at the outlet takes the form of maximum runoff
which is referred as peak runoff.

d. Computation of Time of Concentration:

There have been developed several empirical relations for computing the time of concentration.
Kirpich (1940) developed following equation for computing the Tc on the basis of channel length
and its average slope, is very common.

The equation is given as:

Where,
Tc = time of concentration, minutes
L = Length of channel reach, m.
S = average slope of the channel reach, m/m.

Haan et al. (1982) mentioned that, the above relationship does not give accurate value of time of
concentration for the watersheds less than 5 sq. km area. He justified that the small watersheds are
dominated by overland flow rather than channel flow.
To account this effect, he modified the above equation, considering the effect of overland flow on
Tc, given as:
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Where,
L0 = length of overland flow, m
n = Manning’s roughness coefficients (Table 2.2)
S0 = slope of the flow path, m/m.

In above equation (i.e., eq. 2.10) the second term accounts the overland flow. It has been reported
from several field and laboratory studies, that the overland flow has a maximum travel time and
can be maintained up to a distance of 100 to 150 meters in the watershed. Thus, the value of
second term can be a maximum regardless of watershed size.

However, the channel length increases with increase in the size of watershed, which indicates that
as the size of watershed increases, the time of concentration also increases, which will affect the
overall value of surface runoff. The effect of all these points on runoff has been incorporated in
equation 2.10. In this way the eq. 2.10 is valid for all size of the watersheds for computing T c.

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In above equation, it was assumed that the time of concentration is approximately equal to the lag
time of the peak flow.

e. One Hour Rainfall:

The intensity of severest rainfall during a given recurrence interval of a particular region, for the
time interval of one hour is called one-hour rainfall for that return period/frequency. In the Rational
method for computing the peak runoff, the intensity of rainfall should be for the time equal to the
time of concentration. In this case one-hour rainfall intensity is converted accordingly with Tc value.

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For this purpose, Fig. 2.3 may be used.

5.4.1.2 Limitations of Rational Method:

The following limitations are observed in use of rational method:

i) Rational method assumes that the intensity of rainfall is uniformly distributed throughout
the watershed, but it never happens.
ii) This method does not care the initial losses such as depression storage, initial infiltration,
channel storage etc.
iii) The runoff co-efficient value is related as the function of watershed characteristics such as
land use, topography soil types etc., do not provide correct value. The runoff coefficient also
depends on the atmospheric characteristics like, season and rainfall etc.

5.4.2 Cook’s Method

This method consists of evaluating the four watershed characteristics, i.e., relief, infiltration rate,
vegetal cover and surface storage to determine the runoff rate. For these individual characteristics,
numerical values are assigned. Numerical values are mainly given on the basis of observation and
comparison of their features with the similar conditions of the watershed. The numerical values of
above four characteristics based on their relative conditions are given in the Figure 2.

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 Figure 2: Numeric values (W) of different characteristics of watershed for Cook's Method

For computation of runoff the next-step is to obtain the sum of numerical values assigned for all
four characteristics (ΣW) and then computing uncorrected runoff by using the runoff curve, shown
in Fig. 2.5, against the sum of the numerical value. The runoff determined so is valid for 10 years
recurrence interval. Again, this value of runoff is modified for geographic location of the given
watershed and for the desired recurrent interval.

This is done by using the following formula:

Q = PRFS

Where,
Q = peak runoff rate for a specified geographic location and desired recurrence interval.
P = uncorrelated value of runoff, i.e., obtained from the runoff-curve.
R = geographic rainfall factor.
F = recurrence interval factor.
S = shape factor of the watershed.

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5.4.3 Curve Number Method:

It computes the direct runoff (depth) or rainfall excess, storm-wise. This method is based on the
potential retention capacity (S) of the water-shed., which is determined based on the wetness of
the watershed, i.e. the antecedent moisture condition and physical characteristics of the
watershed.

Let ‘Ia’ is the initial loss of rain water by interception, infiltration through the soil, depression
storage etc. The initial losses are satisfied by the rainfall before starting of the runoff. This method
assumes that the ratio of direct runoff (surface runoff) (Q) to the rainfall depth minus the initial
losses (P—Ia) is equal to the ratio of actual retention of rainfall to the S, i.e.

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In which, CN is the curve number. Its value varies from minimum zero for the most permeable
surface to the maximum 100 for impervious (concrete) surface. The values of curve number for
different land use conditions and hydrologic soil groups are given in Table 2.5.

These values are applied to the antecedent moisture condition II only, i.e., for average condition. To
get the CN values for other AMCs (i.e., I and III), the correction factors are applied. The values of
correction factors for other antecedent moisture conditions are given in Table 2.6. The equation
(2.16) estimates the value of runoff (Q) in depth unit.

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5.4.3.1 Antecedent Moisture Content (AMC)

It is used as the wetness index of soil.

There are three levels of AMC, given as under:

AMC I. This includes the lowest runoff potential, because the soils are dry enough for satisfactory
cultivation to take place.

AMC II. In includes average condition of the soil regarding runoff generating potential.

AMC III. This includes the features favourable to develop highest runoff potential of the soil, when
areas of watershed are saturated from antecedent rains.

The AMC is determined on the basis of 5-days antecedent rainfall amounts.

5.5 CLASSIFICATION OF STREAMS

Based on flow duration, streams are classified into:

i) Perennial
- Streams carry flow throughout the year
- Appreciable groundwater contribution throughout the year

ii) Intermittent
- Limited groundwater contribution
- In rainy season, groundwater table rises above stream bed
- Dry season stream gets dried

iii) Ephemeral
- In arid areas
- Flow due to rainwater only
- No base flow contribution

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 Figure 3: Classification of streams

5.6 FLOW DURATION CURVE

Gives the variability of stream flow in a year

- Arrange stream flow data in descending order

- Assign rank number
- Calculate plotting position (Probability)

𝑚
P=( )100
𝑛+1

- Plot plotting position and discharge

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 Figure 4: Flow duration curve

Characteristics of flow duration curve

- Steep slope – highly variable flow

- Flat slope – little variation in the flow
- Flat portion at top of curve – stream has large flood plain
- Flat portion at lower end – considerable baseflow

Uses of flow duration curve

- Discharge for any probability can be known

- Variation of flow within a year can be known
- Plan water resources projects
- Design of drainage structures
- Decide on flood control structures to be used
- Evaluate hydropower potential
- Determine sediment load carried by stream

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