Presentation

Development of stage discharge relationship

for an open channel and its extension
 Presented To
Engr: Liaqat Ali Shah

Group Members
Altaf Hussain 17BNCIV0950
Fida Hussain 17BNCIV0951
Khawar Shah 17BNCIV0952
 Contents
1 Introduction
2 Brief literature review
3 Stage-discharge relationships
4 Uses
5 References
 1 Introduction
• The empirical, or also theoretical, relationship existing
between the water-surface stage (i.e. the water level)
and the simultaneous flow discharge in an open channel
is known as stage-discharge relation or rating curve, or
also just rating. These expressions are synonymous and
they can be used interchangeably.
 1 Introduction
• The rating curve is a very important tool in surface
hydrology because the reliability of discharge data values
is highly dependent on a satisfactory stage-discharge
relationship at the gauging station. Although the
preparation of rating curves seems to be an essentially
empiric task, a wide theoretical background is needed to
create a reliable tool to switch from measured water
height to discharge.
 1 Introduction
• The rating curve has been and is currently a extensively
used tool in hydrology to estimate discharge in natural
and/or artificial open channel. Since the early XIX
century it is a common practice to measure the discharge
of streams at suitable times, usually by a current meter
or other methods (Rantz et al. 1982a; ISO 1100-1, 1998;
SIMN 1998). Meanwhile, the corresponding stage is also
measured; a curve of discharge against stage can then be
built by fitting these data with a power or polynomial
curve, looking like the one in Figure 1.
 1 Introduction
• The traditional and simple way to gather information on
current discharge is then to measure the water level with
gauges and to use the stage-discharge relationship to
estimate the flow discharge. It is well known, in fact, that
direct measurements of discharge in open channels is
costly, time consuming, and sometimes impractical
during floods.
 1 Introduction

Figure 1. Example of a stage-discharge relation

 1 Introduction
• Several methods have been proposed to improve data
fitting, but generally they have not adequately assessed
the fundamentals of stage-discharge ratings based on
fluid mechanics. As a consequence, several difficulties
with stage-discharge ratings have been recognized. For
example, in some cases, the relation between stage and
discharge is not unique. The water surface slope, in fact,
produces different discharges for the same stage. The
present report does not describe all the methods for
determining rating curves in detail, but it refers to the
existing large body of technical literature for full
descriptions.
 1 Introduction
• Obviously, dealing with a hydraulics subject, we widely
use hydraulics concepts as, for example, uniform or
normal flow, steady and unsteady flow, sediment
transport and so on. Therefore we assume the reader is
aware of this matter. Anyway we refer to Chow (1959) for
a more detailed explanation of basic hydraulics, which
are considered as understood in this report.
 2 Brief literature review
• In this chapter we report a brief review of existing
technical and scientific literature, in order to describe the
state-of-the-art about understanding, establishing, and
applying stage-discharge ratings. The subject might look
outdated and of low interest, but it maintains a great
practical importance and a high degree of interest,
particularly from the viewpoint of improving the
estimation of discharge from the stage. For instance, as
all evaluations of discharge are strongly dependent from
stage-discharge relationships, an improvement on
discharge estimates would obviously make hydrological
models more reliable.
 2 Brief literature review
Three main subjects on the topic of rating curves can be
outlined:
1. the first and more deeply investigated theme is how to
improve empirically the discharge records from gauging
stations for different conditions, and how to extrapolate
the data beyond the measurement range; 2. the second
one and less examined issue, is related to the
understanding of the physical phenomena that these
ratings are attempting to describe;
3. the third point includes studies on the uncertainty of
stage-discharge relations.
 2 Brief literature review
• The current practice of defining and applying stage-
discharge ratings can be traced back to the early XX
century. At beginning of past century, for example, Jones
(1916) already proposed a method to correct stage-
discharge relations taking into account the surface water
slope. In the same period (1914) the “Ufficio Idrografico
del Magistrato alle Acque di Venezia” (Venice Water
Authority) provided instructions to define the stage
discharge relations for a watercourse.
 2 Brief literature review
• A great portion of the modern practices used worldwide
were developed by the United States Geological Survey
(USGS). The methods that are currently in use are widely
described in USGS publications of Corbett et al. (1943),
Dawdy (1961), Bailey and Ray (1966), Kennedy (1984),
Rantz (1963), Rantz et al. (1982a, 1982b), as well as in
the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
Publication n. 519, Operational Hydrology Report n.13
(1980), and in the International Organization for
Standardization (ISO) Regulation n. 1100-2 1998 (ISO,
1998).
 3 Stage-discharge relationships
• As repeatedly said before, continuous records of
discharge at gauging stations are computed by applying a
discharge rating to stage data. The discharge rating curve
transforms the continuous stage data to a continuous
record of stream discharge, but it is also used to
transform model forecasted flow hydrographs into stage
hydrographs. This is needed, for instance, to estimated
the inundated areas during a flood. Discharge rating
curves may be simple or complex depending on the river
reach and flow regime.
 3 Stage-discharge relationships
• These relations are typically developed empirically from
periodic measurements of stage anddischarge. These
data are plotted versus the concurrent stage to define
the rating curve for the stream. For new gauging stations,
many discharge measurements are needed to develop
the stage discharge relation throughout the entire range
of stream flow data. Generally, periodic measurements
are needed to validate the underlying stage-discharge
relationship and to track changes or shifts in the rating
curve. The ISO regulation 1100-2 (ISO, 1998)
recommends at least 12-15 discharge measurements
during the period of analysis.
 3 Stage-discharge relationships
3.1 Hydraulics governing stage-discharge
relationships
• The stage-discharge relation for open-channel flow at a
gauging station is governed by channel conditions
downstream from the gauge. Knowledge of the channel
features that control the stagedischarge relation is
therefore a crucial component in developing rating
curves. Three types of controls can be recognized,
depending on the channel and flow conditions:
 3 Stage-discharge relationships
• low flows are usually influenced by a section control;

Figure 2.Example of a section control.

 3 Stage-discharge relationships
• high flows are usually influenced by a channel control;
• medium flows can be influenced by both type of
controls. At some stages, in fact, a combination of
section and channel control can occur.
 3 Stage-discharge relationships
• A section control is a specific cross-section of a stream
channel, located downstream from a waterlevel gauge,
that controls the relation between gauge height and
discharge at the gauge. A section control can be a natural
feature such as a rock ledge, a sand bar, a severe
constriction in the channel, or an accumulation of debris.
Likewise, a section control can be a man-made feature
such as a small dam, a weir, a flume, or an overflow
spillway. Section controls can frequently be visually
identified in the field by observing a riffle, i.e.
pronounced drop in the water surface, as the flow passes
over the control (Figure 2).
 3 Stage-discharge relationships
• A channel control consists of a combination of features
throughout a reach downstream from a gauge. These features
include channel size, shape, curvature, slope, and roughness.
The length of channel reach that controls a stage-discharge
relation can be extremely variable. The stagedischarge relation
for relatively steep channels may be controlled by a relatively
short channel reach, whereas the relation for a relatively flat
channel may be controlled by a much longer channel reach. In
addition, the length of a channel control will vary depending
on the magnitude of flow. The definition of the length of a
channel-control reach is usually very difficult and it could be
done, for example, by numerical methods.
 3 Stage-discharge relationships

Figure 3. Schematic representation of controls range

in rating curve.
 3 Stage-discharge relationships
3.2 Rating curves from steady uniform flow
• The most commonly used stage-discharge ratings treats the
discharge as a unique function of the stage. These ratings
typically follow a power curve of the form given by Equation 2
(Herschy, 1995; ISO 1998; Kennedy, 1984;

• Where Q is the discharge, h is the stage and C, a, α are calibration

coefficients. C is the discharge when the effective depth of flow
(h-a) is equal to 1; a is the gauge height of zero flow; α is the
slope of the rating curve (on logarithmic paper); (h-a) is the
effective depth of water on the control. When the exponent α
approaches to 3/2 rating is also known as a Guglielmini rating
curve (Ufficio Idrografico del Magistrato di Venezia, 1914).
 3 Stage-discharge relationships
• It is easy to see that Equation 2 is based on the Manning
equation, which frequently is used as the governing
equation for steady uniform flow problems:

• where n is the Manning’s roughness coefficient, S0 is the

bottom slope, A is the area and R is the hydraulic radius.
However, Equation 2 is a simplification of the Manning
equation, as it assumes that the conveyance function
AR2/3 can be described by a simple power function of
the water height as is the case, for example, of a wide
rectangular cross section, where the following is valid:
 3 Stage-discharge relationships
• For most stations, nevertheless, Equation 2 is an over-
simplification. In general, the rating will be a compound curve
consisting of different segments for different flow ranges. Each
of these segments may follow the form of Equation 2, but have
unique values of C, a, and α. The segments are typically
connected by short transition curves. Statistical methods have
been developed to fit curves in the form of Equation 2 or
polynomial curves to measured stages and discharges (Herschy,
1995). However, for most natural streams, graphical fitting of a
curve to the measured data is the preferred method (ISO,
1998).
3 Stage-discharge relationships

Figure 4. Example of a typical simple rating curve

 3 Stage-discharge relationships
3.3 Difficulties in defining stage-discharge relationships
• Two conceptual approaches have been followed to justify the
definition of a unique relation between the stage and discharge
for an open channel:
• – treating the discharge as open-channel flow with a constant
slope for a given stage namely uniform (or normal) flow. Anyway,
it is known that this occurs only theoretically in a prismatic
channel. In the case of fixed-bed channels the term AR is constant
for a given stage.
• – treating the discharge as flow over a weir (where critical flow
conditions occur, with a single value relation between stage and
discharge).
 4 Uses
• The stage–discharge relationship is based upon
the relationship between stream water depth (stage)
and discharge at a cross section. The applied method at
the cross section to estimate discharge over a wide range
of value of discharge (low flow to peak flow) is known as
area–velocity method.
 5 References
• Aronica G. T., Candela A., Viola F., Cannarozzo M., 2006,
Influenza dell’incertezza relativa alla scala delle portate
sulla modellazione afflussi-deflussi a scala giornaliera,
Convegno di Idraulica e Costruzioni Idrauliche – IDRA.
• ARPA del Veneto, 2006, Considerazioni sulla scala di
deflussoBrentaBarziza,
http://www.arpa.veneto.it/acqua/docs//internet.
• Barbetta S., Melone F., Moramarco T., 2003, An Efficient
Method for Rating Curve Estimation from Remote
Discharge, Proc. Applied Simulation and Modelling ASM
2003- Marbella, Spain International Conference on
Applied Simulationa and Modelling