Engineering Hydrology

Abstraction From Precipitation

Reporter

JOHN MICHAEL SALAS

2019
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 LOSSES FROM PRECIPITATION

- Evaporation and transpiration are transferred to the atmosp

here as water vapor.

- In engineering hydrology, runoff is the prime subject of stud

y and evaporation and transpiration phases are treated as "lo
sses".

- Before the rainfall reaches the outlet of a basin as runoff, ce

rtain demands of the catchment such as interception, d
epression storage and infiltration have to be met.

- The precipitation not available for surface runoff is defined a

s "losses"
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 Evaporation PROCESS

Is the process in which a liquid changes to the ga

seous state at the free surface below the boiling
point through the transfer of heat energy.

When some molecules possess sufficient kinetic

energy, they may cross over the water surface.
The net escape of water molecules from the liq
uid state to the gaseous state constitutes evapo
ration

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 Influencing Factors
1-Vapour pressures at the water surface and air above: the r
ate of evaporation is proportional to the difference bet
ween the saturation vapour pressure at the water surfa
ce (Dalton’s law)

Where
EL = C (ew – ea)

EL : rate of evaporation (mm/day)

C : a coefficient depend on wind velocity, atmospheric press
ure and other factors
ew : the saturation vapour pressure at the water surface (m
m of mercury)
-4 ea : the actual vapour pressure of air (mm of mercury)
 Influencing Factors
2. Air and water temperature: the rate of evaporation increas
es with an increase in the water temperature.

3. Wind : the rate of evaporation increases with the wind spee

d up to critical speed beyond which any further increase i
n the wind speed has no influence on the evaporation rat
e

4. Atmosphere pressure: a decrease in the barometric pressur

e ( as in high altitudes), increases evaporation.

5. Quality of water: under identical condition evaporation fro

m sea water is about 2-3% less that from fresh water.

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6. Size of water body
More Explanations of Factors
 Evaporation Measurement
1. EVAPORIMETER

CLASS A Evaporation Pan

- The most widely used method of findi

ng or monitoring the water body evap
oration.
- The standard National Weather Bure
au Class A pan ( 1.21 m diameter, 25
.5 cm depth, it is placed on a wooden
structure of 15 cm height).

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 Pan Coefficient Cp

The actual evaporation from a nearby lake is less than th

at of pan evaporation

Why ?

- The sides of the pan is exposed to the sun

- The temperature over the pan is higher that over the l
ake

Lake evaporation = Cp x pan evaporation

Cp = pan coefficient and equal 0.7 for Class A land Pan.

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 Evaporation Estimations
Empirical Evaporation Equation

Most of empirical formulae are based on the Dalton-type equation:

EL = Kf(u) (ew - ea)

EL = lake evaporation in mm / day,

ew = saturated vapour pressure at the water-surface temperature in mm of
mercury,
ea = actual vapour pressure of overlying air at a specified height in mm of m
ercury,
f(u) = wind-speed correction function and

K = a coefficient.

The term ea is measured at the same height at which wind speed in measure
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d.
 Evaporation Estimations
Meyer's Formula (1915):

EL = KM (ew - ea) ( I + u9/16 )

u9 = monthly mean wind velocity about 9 m above ground

KM = coefficient of 0.36 for large deep waters and 0.50 for small, shallow wat
ers

The limitations of the formula that at best be expected

to give an approximate magnitude of the evaporatio
n.

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 Evaporation Estimation

Analytical methods

The analytical methods for the determination of lake evapo

ration can be broadly classified into three categories as :

I. Water-budget method,
2. energy-balance method, and
3. mass-transfer method

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 I. Water-budget method,

It involves writing the hydrological continuity equation for the lak

e and
determining the evaporation from a knowledge or estimation of
other
variables.
Thus considering the daily average values for a lake, the continuit
y equation is written as:
EL = P + (Vis- Vos) + (Vig- Vog) – TL – Δ S
All quantities are in units of volume (m3) or depth (mm) over a re
ference
Area. p,. Vis, Vos and Δ S can be measured. However, it is not poss
ible
to measure Vig, Vog and TL and therefore these quantities can onl
y be
estimated.
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 EVAPOTRANSPIRATION

TRANSPIRATION

Transpiration is the process by which water leaves the body o

f a living plant and and reaches the atmosphere as water vapo
ur. The water is taken up by the plant-root system and escape
s through the leaves.

The important factors affecting transpiration is

- atmospheric vapour pressure,
- temperature,
- wind, light intensity and
- characteristics of the plant, such as the root and leaf systems

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 EVAPOTRANSPIRATION

Evapotranspiration takes place, the land area in which plants

stand also lose moisture by the evaporation of water from soil
and water bodies.

In hydrology and irrigation practice, it is found that evaporati

on and transpiration processes can be considered advantageo
usly under one head as Evapotranspiration.

The term consumptive use is also used to denote this loss by e

vapotranspiration.

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 EVAPOTRANSPIRATION Equations

Penman’s Equation
Is based on sound theoretical reasoning and is obtained by a c
ombination of energy-balance and mass-transfer approach.

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Interception

It is the segment of precipitation that is pre

vented to reach the ground by vegetation
and subsequently evaporates

rainfall

Interception = Rainfall – stemflow – throughfall

throughfall

-24 stemflow
 Route of interception
1. Interception loss : rain water retained by the
vegetation as surface storage >>>> evaporat
e

2. Througfall : rain water can drip off the plant l

eaves to join the ground surface or the surfa
ce flow
3. Stem flow: the rain water may run along the l
eaves and braches and down the stem to rea
ch the ground surface
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 Influencing Factors

Interception loss as
100
Beech trees

% Rainfall
80

60
40

20

5 10 15 20 30

Rainfall (mm)

 Estimation of interception can be significant i

n annual or long-term models

 For heavy rainfalls during individual storm ev

ents interception is neglected

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 Estimation of Interception

Most interception loss develops during the initial storm

period and the rate of interception rapidly approac
h to zero. Horton:
Li = 0.015+ 0.23 P (ash trees)
Li = 0.03+ 0.22 P (oak trees)
Ii = Si + KEt

Ii = interception loss in (mm)

SI = the interception storage whose values varies fro
m 0.25 to 1.5 depending on the nature of vegetatio
n
Ki = ration of vegetal surface area to its projected are
a
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E = Evaporation rate in (mm/h) during the precipitati
 Depression Storage

When the precipitation of a storm reaches the g

round, it must fill up all depressions before it
can flow over the surface

The volume of water trapped in these depressi

ons called depression storage

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 Influencing Factors

1. Type of soil : 0.50 cm for sand, 0.25 cm f

or clay
2. The condition of the surface : amount a
nd nature of depression
3. The slope of Catchment
4. The soil moisture

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 Infiltration
Is the process by which precipitation moves down thro
ugh the surface of the earth and replenishes soil moi
sture recharge aquifers, and ultimately support runo
ff quantities.

Soil water zone – max depth fr

Unsaturated zone
om which water can be ret
urned to surface through c
apillary action or ET.
Transmission zone, un
Gravitational water – flow d iform moisture c
irection is vertical due t ontent, not satur
o gravity. (unsaturated ated
zone or zone of aeratio
n)

Capillary zone, less th

an atmospheric p
ressure Wetting Front

Groundwater, saturation at atmosphe

ric pressure
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 Measurement of Infiltration
There are two kinds of infiltrometers :
1. Flooding-type infiltrometer, and
This is, a simple instrument consisting essentially o
f a metal cylinder, 30 cm diameter and 60 cm long,
open at both ends. This cylinder is driven into the
ground to a depth. Water is poured into the top p
art to a depth of 5 cm and a pointer is set to mark
the water level.

As infiltration proceeds, the volume is made u

p by adding water from from a burette to keep the
water level at the tip of the pointer.

Knowing the volume of water added at different

time intervals, the plot of the infiltration capaci
ty vs time is obtained
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Example 3
Example 1