CHAPTER 3

Quantita
tive
Hydrolog

BASIN RECHARGE &

RUNOFF

Basin Recharge / Infiltration Basin is

used to manage storm water runoff,
prevent flooding and downstream erosion,
and improve water quality in an adjacent
river, stream, lake or bay.
Runof is precipitation that did not get
(infiltrated) absorbed into the soil, or did
not evaporate, and therefore made its way
from the ground surface into places that
water collect.

 COMPONENTS OF RUNOFF
Total Runof
Direct Runof

Surface runof
Ground water
(Overland Flow)
runof

Baseflow

Prompt sub-surface
runof (interflow)

Delayed subsurface runof

 Direct runof is made up of overland flow

or surface runoff and that parts of
infiltration which flows laterally though the
unsaturated zone of soil mass and join the
stream flow.
Base flow is made up of groundwater
contribution and that portion of infiltration
which moves laterally but joins the stream
flow quite late after the precipitation has
stopped.
Rainfall excess is the total rainfall which

 Total rainfall = Rainfall excess +

losses
Where: losses includes interception,
infiltration, evaporation, depression
storage etc.
Efective rainfall = Rainfall excess + x
Where x is that portion of rainfall which
appears in the stream as prompt
subsurface runoff.
Direct runof = Surface runof
Efective rainfall = Rainfall excess

Estimating Volume of Runoff

R = P L G
R is direct runoff
P is precipitation Values of the runof coefficient
k for various surfaces
L is basin recharge
Value of k
Surface
G is ground water
Urban residential
0.20
Single houses
Runof Coefficients
0.30
Garden Apartments
Commercial and industrial 0.90
R = kP
0.050.30
Parks
0.85-1.0
Asphalt of concrete
pavement
k = coefficient k

Hydrograph Analysis
Hydrograph is a graph showing the
rate of flow (discharge) versus time
past a specific point in a river, or
other channel or conduit carrying
flow.
The typical hydrograph resulting
from a single storm consist a rising
limb, peak, and recession

Discharge (m3/s)

Peak

Rising Limb
N days
Recession

A Direct Runof
BGround Water

Time

 The figure shows typical flood

hydrograph showing method of
separating direct and ground water
0.2
runoff.
d
N= A
A guided to the selection of N (in days)
is where A is the drainage area in
square miles. With A in square
kilometers, computed values of N
should be reduce by about 20
percent.

 Infiltration is the movement of

water through the soil surface and
into the soil.
Infiltration capacity of a soil of
anytime is the maximum rate at
which water will enter the soil.
Infiltration rate is the rate at which
water actually enters the soil during
a storm; and it must equal the
infiltration capacity or rainfall rate,
which ever is less.

 Infiltration indices
Estimates of runoff volume from
large areas are sometimes made by
use of infiltration indices
Average infiltration rate (loss
rate or W index)
W =P RtR
t is the duration of rainfall in hours
R
index is the rate of rainfall above
which the rainfall volume equals the
runoff volume.

HYDROGRAPHS OF
CATCHMENT OUTFLOW

The Rational Method

Mulvaneys Equation:
Qp = iAd

Qp is the peak rate of runoff in acre-inches

per hour

i is the intensity of rainfall in inches per

hour for a duration equal to time
concentration
Ad is the catchment area in acres

 te =

41bL01/3
i2/3

te is the time concentration

L0 is the length of overland flow in feet.
0.0007i + cr

b=

S01/3

Cr = is a retardance coefficient

D = duration of excess rain

Look at hyetograph, here 2 hours

Unit Hydrograph
Hydrograph usually consists of a fairly
regular lower portion that changes slowly
throughout the year and a rapidly
fluctuating component that represents the
immediate response to rainfall.
The lower, slowly changing portion is
termed base flow. The rapidly fluctuating
component is called direct runof.

UNIT HYDROGRAPH
The amount of run-off resulting from
1 unit (1cm, 1mm, 1ft, etc.) of
rainfall excess.
is essentially a tool for determining
the direct runoff response to rainfall.
Once you know the watersheds
response to one storm, you can
predict what its response for another
will look like.

Basic Assumptions of UH
1. The effective rainfall is uniformly distributed within
its duration
2. The effective rainfall is uniformly distributed over
the whole
drainage basin
3. The base duration of direct runoff hydrograph due
to an effective rainfall of unit duration is constant.
4.For a given basin, the runoff hydrograph due to a
given period of rainfall reflects all the combined
physical characteristics of basin (time-invariant)

UH

How to get a unit

hydrograph, UH
Remove the base flow amount from the
hydrograph.
Calculate the net rainfall by removing
the infiltration and retention storage from
the hyetograph.
Scale the new hydrograph units to yield
a unit hydrograph for, say, 1 inch for one
hour, or 1/2 in/hr for 2 hours, or 1/3 in/hr
for 3 hr, etc.

net hyetograph

A Unit Hydrograph
has 1.0 inches of
Direct Runoff for the
storm duration.
net
hydrograph

Here we start with 2 inches for 2 hours net rainfall. That is, 1
inch per hour for 2 hours. To get a 2-hour UH, we want 1/2
inches/hour for two hours. So we have to divide the hydrograph
ordinates by 2.

Define ordinate
Notice hydrograph is not as tall

Tb is the time base

We divided each hydrograph ordinate by two, resulting in a 2hour Unit Hydrograph, i.e. One inch of direct runof total from the 2 hour storm make a
1 hour UH.

EXAMPLE

Convert the direct runoff

hydrograph below to a 2-HR UH.
In the hyetograph = 0.5 in/hr
In the hydrograph, base flow = 100 cfs

Draw the Net Hyetograph, and calculate the total direct runoff,
in inches, over the watershed.

Original Hyetograph

Net Hyetograph

1 in/hr x 2 hours = 2 inches, so 2 inches for a 2 hour storm. This is twice too big. We want 1 inch total for the storm, so we must divide each NET
hydrograph ordinate by 2

We removed the base flow from the gross hydrograph,

then divided each ordinate by two, to get a unit
hydrograph for a 2-hour storm. We have characterized
our watershed; now we know how it will behave in a
storm.

Synthetic Unit Hydrograph

Synthetic hydrographs are derived by
Relating hydrograph characteristics such
as peak flow, base time etc. with
watershed characteristics such as area
and time of concentration.
Using dimensionless unit hydrograph
Based on watershed storage

Need for synthetic UH

UH is applicable only for gauged
watershed and for the point on the
stream where data are measured
For other locations on the stream in
the same watershed or for nearby
(ungauged) watersheds, synthetic
procedures are used.

Snyders Method
Snyders method allows the
computations of
(a)lag time (tL);
(b)UH duration (tr);
(c)UH peak discharge (qp);
(d) Hydrograph time width at 50% and
75% (W50, W75) of peak flow
UH

Snyders Method
1.Lag time (tL): time from the center of
rainfall excess to the UH peak

tL = C1Ct (LLc)0.3
where tL = Time [hrs]; C1 = 0.75 for SI
unit; 1.0 for English unit; Ct = Coefficient
which is a function of watershed slope
and shape, 1.8~2.2 (for steeper slope, Ct
is smaller); L = length of the main
UH km]; L
channel [mi,
= length along the
c

Snyders Method
2.UH Duration (tr):

tr = tL / 5.5
where tr and tL are in [hrs]. If the duration of UH is other than t r,
then the lag time needs to be adjusted as

tpL = tL + 0.25 (tR - tr)

where tLR = adjusted lag time; tR = desired UH duration.
3. UH Peak Discharge (qp):

or

C C
2 p
q
p
t
p

C C
2 p
q
p
t
pR

where C2 = 2.75 for SI unit; 640 for English unit; C p = coefficient

accounting for flood wave and storage condition, 0.4 ~ 0.8;
qp = specific discharge, [m3/s/km2] or [ft3/s/mi2]
To compute actual discharge, Qp = Aqp
UH

Snyders Method
4.Time Base (tb):
Assuming triangular UH,
tb = C3 / qp
where tb [hrs]; C3 = 5.56 for SI unit, 1290 for English
unit.
C
C
w,75
w,50
W

75
50
1.08
q1.08
q
p or
5. UH Widths:
p
where
CW, 75 = 1.22 for SI unit; 440 for English unit;
CW, 50 = 2.14 for SI unit; 770 for English unit;.
W50, W75 are in hours; Usually, 1/3 of the width is
distributed before UH peak and 2/3 after the peak
Remember to check that the volume of UH is close to 1
cm or 1 inch
UH

EXAMPLE:

Use Snyders method to develop a UH

for the area of 100mi2 described below.
Sketch the appropriate shape. What
duration rainfall does this correspond to?
Ct = 1.8, L= 18mi, Cp = 0.6, Lc= 10mi

SOLUTION

Calculate tp
tp = tl= Ct(LLC)^0.3
= 1.8(1810) 0.3 hr,
= 8.6
Calculate Qp
Qp= 640(cp)(A)/tp
= 640(0.6)(100)/8.6
= 4465 cfs
since this is a small
watershed,
Tb 4tp = 4(8.6)
= 34.4 hr

Duration of rainfall
D= tp/5.5 hr
= 8.6/5.5 hr
= 1.6 hr