CE 244: FUNDAMENTALS OF HYDROLOGY

LECTURE 6: INTRODUCTION TO HYDROGRAPH AND UNIT

HYDROGRAPH

INSTRUCTOR: MR. BONIPHACE HIBWA

HYDROGRAPHS
 A Hydrograph is a graph of stage or discharge versus
time.
 Different methods of plotting are used, depending on
the purpose of the chart.
 For detailed analysis, discharge hydrographs are
plotted by computing instantaneous flow values from
the water-stage recorder chart.
 The visual shape of the hydrograph is determined by
scales used.
 It is good practice to use the same scales for all floods
on a given basin.
Hydrograph Theory
Storm Hydrograph (4 inches)

400

350

300

250
Flow

200

150

100

50

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Time
VARIATIONS ON THE SHAPE OF
HYDROGRAPH

 Duration of rain
 Time-intensity Pattern

 Areal distribution of runoff

 Amount of runoff
Duration of rain
 The ideal unit hydrograph has a duration
approaching zero (Instantaneous unit Hydrograph)
 Unit hydrograph has been derived for a finite
duration.
 A unit hydrograph may be developed for a short
duration (say 1hr) and all storms treated by
dividing the rainfall excess into similar intervals
 Where a computer solution is used a short-duration
unit hydrograph is preferable.
Time-Intensity Pattern
 Unit hydrographs can be based only on an assumption of
uniform intensity of runoff.
 Large variations in rain intensity during a storm are reflected

in the shape of the resulting hydrograph.

 The time scale of intensity variations that are critical depends

mainly on basin size.

 Rainfall bursts lasting only a few minutes may cause clearly

defined peaks in the hydrograph from a basin of small area.

 Intensity changes lasting for hours are required to cause

appreciable effects on the hydrographs from basins of several

hundred square kilometers.
Areal Distribution
 The areal pattern of runoff can cause variations in
hydrograph shape.
 If the area of high runoff is near the basin outlet, a
rapid rise and sharp peak usually results.
 Higher runoff in the upstream portion of the basin
produces a slow rise and a lower, broader peak.
 A better solution is to apply the unit hydrograph
method only to basins small enough to ensure that
the usual areal variations will not be great enough
to cause major changes in hydrograph shape.
Amount of Runoff
 The ordinates of flow are proportional to volume of
runoff for all storms of a given duration and that
the time bases of all such hydrographs are equal.
 Peaks of unit hydrographs derived from very small
events are commonly lower than those derived
from large storms, hence small events contain less
surface runoff
Runoff Hydrograph Components
 Runoff 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 of runoff

is termed base flow.

Runoff Hydrograph Components
 The rapidly fluctuating component is called direct
runoff.
 Hydrograph components include rising limb,
recession limb, peak, direct runoff, and base flow.
 This distinction is made because the unit hydrograph
is essentially a tool for determining the direct runoff
response to rainfall.
Graphical Representation

Duration of
excess
precipitation.

Lag time

Time of
concentration

Base flow
Graphical Representation
Recession Curve-Recession limb
 After the inflection point D, there is no inflow to the
stream due to surface runoff.
 The recession limb extends from the inflection point
D to the point E, which represents the
recommencement of the natural base flow (or ground
water flow).
 The recession limb represents the withdrawal of water
from the storage already built up in the catchment
during the earlier phases of the hydrograph when
surface runoff was occurring.
Recession limb
This storage exists in the catchment in the following
forms:
 Surface storage due to surface detention and channel storage,
 Interflow storage, and
 Ground water storage.
 The point of inflection D represents the condition of the
maximum storage which gradually depletes after the
cessation of the surface runoff.
 The shape of the recession curve depends entirely on the
characteristics of the catchment and is independent of
the storm characteristics.
Recession Curve
 As discussed above, the recession curve DE in
Fig. above occurs after the second inflection
point D.
 Barnes showed that the recession curve (also

called depletion curve) can be expressed by

the characteristic equation;
Recession Curve
 Where Q0 is the discharge at the start of the
recession, Qt is the discharge after a time
interval of t, and Kr is a constant called the
recession constant, whose value is less than
unity.
 The time interval t is usually taken as one day,

but for small catchments, it may be a shorter

period.
RECESSION CURVE EQUATION

 Where; Qo is the discharge at the start of the recession

 The recession constant Kr is expressed as;
Kr = Ks * Ki * Kb
 Where; Ks, Ki and Kb are respectively the recession
constants for surface storage, interflow storage and ground
water storage.
 The average values of Ks, Ki and Kb are as follows : Ks =
0.05 to 0.20, Ki = 0.5 to 0.85, Kb = 0.85 to 0.99.
Base-Flow Separation
 The total runoff is usually divided into two
components,
(i) direct runoff, and
(ii) base flow.
 The direct runoff consists of the surface runoff

and the interflow.

Base-Flow Separation
 For the derivation of unit hydrograph from a
hydrograph (also called storm or flood hydrograph),
the base flow is required to be separated from the
direct runoff.
 Base-flow separation is also required to obtain a
relationship between the direct runoff and the
effective rainfall.
 The following four methods are commonly used in
practice for the separation of the base flow..
Rainfall Excess and Effective Rainfall
What is the Unit Hydrograph?
The concept of the unit hydrograph (UH)
 - developed in 1932 by Sherman;

 - representation of the direct runoff hydrograph (DRH) from the

effective rainfall hyetograph (ERH) at a specific location! (for

example, at the outlet of a watershed).
 - maximum watershed size for the method (5000 km 2)

Definition:
 The Unit Hydrograph (UH) represents the DRH resulting from one

unit (1 in or 1 cm) of effective rainfall (ER) occurring uniformly

over the watershed, at a uniform rate during a unit of time.
Graphical representation of the hypothesis
Three important hypothesis:

1. The effective rainfall is uniformly distributed

within its duration and throughout the basin

2. The duration of the runoff is constant for all

uniform-intensity storms of the same length,
regardless of the difference in total volume of
the surface runoff

3. There is direct proportionality between

effective rainfall and surface runoff. An
effective rainfall of two units of T duration
would produce twice the runoff of one unit
rainfall of the same duration.

4. For a given watershed, the hydrograph

resulting from a given excess rainfall reflects
the unchanging characteristics of the
watershed
Unit Hydrograph Theory
 The unit hydrograph can be defined as the hydrograph
of one centimeter or millimeter of direct runoff from a
storm of specified duration.

 What is Unit Hydrograph Theory

 Given two evenly distributed rainfall events over an entire
watershed
 The response hydrographs of the watershed will have
similar characteristics
 The only difference will be in the magnitude of the flows
Unit Hydrograph Theory
Important Definitions
 The unit hydrograph is the direct runoff hydrograph
produced by a storm of given duration such that the
total volume of excess rainfall is 1 mm.
 The total volume of direct runoff is also 1
mm.
 The ordinates of UH indicate the direct runoff flow
produced by the watershed for every millimeter of
excess rainfall.
 The units are m3/sec/mm.
Important Definitions-Continue
 A volume of 1 mm is the amount of water in a 1-mm
layer uniformly distributed over the entire watershed
area.
 This volume is equal to the area under the UH.
 Storms of different durations produce different UHs
even if the excess rainfall volume is always 1mm.
 Longer storms will likely produce smaller peaks and
longer duration in the UH.
 The duration associated with the UH is that of
originating storm and not the base duration of the UH.
Assumptions-in Theory of UH
 Unit hydrograph theory assumes that watersheds
behave as linear systems.
 The following are the fundamental assumptions of
UH theory.
 The duration of direct runoff is always the same for
uniform-intensity storms of the same duration,
regardless of the intensity.
 This means that the time base of the hydrograph does not
change and that the intensity only affects the discharge.
Assumptions-in Theory of UH
 The direct runoff volumes produced by two
different excess rainfall distributions are in the
same proportion as the excess rainfall volume.
 This means that the ordinates of the UH are directly
proportional to the storm intensity.
 If storm A produces a given hydrograph and Storm B is
equal to storm A multiplied by a factor, then the
hydrograph produced by storm B will be equal to the
hydrograph produced by storm A multiplied by the
same factor.
Assumptions-in Theory of UH
 The time distribution of the direct runoff is
independent of concurrent runoff from antecedent
storm events.
 This implies that direct runoff responses can be
superposed. If storm C is the result of adding storms A
and B, the hydrograph produced by storm C will be
equal to the sum of the hydrographs produced by storm
A and B.
Assumptions-in Theory of UH
 Hydrologic systems are usually nonlinear due to
factor such as storm origin and patterns and stream
channel hydraulic properties.
 In other words, if the peak flow produced by a storm of
a certain intensity is known, the peak corresponding to
another storm (of the same duration) with twice the
intensity is not necessarily equal to twice the original
peak.
Assumptions-in Theory of UH
 Despite this nonlinear behavior, the unit
hydrograph concept is commonly used because,
although it assumes linearity, it is a convenient tool
to calculate hydrographs and it gives results within
acceptable levels of accuracy.
 The alternative to UH theory is kinematic wave
theory and distributed hydrologic models.
Limitations of the Unit Hydrograph theory

1. Space invariance of effective rainfall (ER)

 ER seldom occurs uniformly over a drainage basin (watershed)

 Storm movement involves variability of precipitation

 Can be minimized by dividing the drainage basin into sub-

watersheds

2. Time invariance of effective rainfall (ER)

 ER does not occurs uniformly, even for a 5 minutes duration…

 However, the effect of rainfall variability diminishes for small

watersheds
 Infiltration varies as well over the surface of the watershed
Limitations of the Unit Hydrograph theory

3. Validity of the linearity hypothesis

 The principles of proportionality and superposition
assume linearity of the watershed, which is not physically
true
 All watershed are non-linear in nature: some more non-
linear, some less
 The resulting hydrograph is only an approximation, which
is satisfactory for many practical applications
Summary of Key Points in Unit Hydrograph

 The hydrograph that results from 1-inch of excess

precipitation (or runoff) spread uniformly in space and
time over a watershed for a given duration.

 The key points :

 1-inch of EXCESS precipitation
 Spread uniformly over space - evenly over the watershed
 Uniformly in time - the excess rate is constant over the
time interval
 There is a given duration
Methods of Developing UHG’s
 From Stream flow Data
 Synthetically
 Snyder
 SCS
 Time-Area (Clark, 1945)
 “Fitted” Distributions
 Geomorphologic
Unit Hydrograph Derivation
 A unit hydrograph is derived from historical rainfall
and runoff data.

 The volume of water produced by the storm (area

under the hydrograph curve) divided by the area of the
watershed equals depth of excess precipitation.

 The ordinates of the storm hydrograph are divided by

this depth to obtain the unit hydrograph.

 Timing must be taken into consideration

Derivation of the unit
hydrograph
(i) Separate the base flow from the streamflow hydrograph.

(ii) Compute the Direct Runoff steamflow volume (area under Direct Runoff
hydrograph) and divide it by the catchment’s area to determine the
effective rainfall depth d

(iii)Normalize the Direct Runoff hydrograph by dividing its ordinates by the

effective rainfall depth d. The result is a tr-Unit Hydrograph.
Excess Precipitation
Derived Unit Hydrograph
Rules of Thumb :
 The storm should be fairly uniform in nature and the excess
precipitation should be equally as uniform throughout the
basin. This may require the initial conditions throughout
the basin to be spatially similar.
 Second, the storm should be relatively constant in time,
meaning that there should be no breaks or periods of no
precipitation.
 Finally, the storm should produce at least an inch of excess
precipitation (the area under the hydrograph after
correcting for baseflow).
Derivation of a Unit Hydrograph from an isolated
Storm hydrograph
Derived Unit Hydrograph

700.0000

600.0000

500.0000
Surface
Response

400.0000

300.0000
Baseflow

200.0000

100.0000

0.0000
Derived Unit Hydrograph
700.0000

600.0000 Total
Hydrograph

500.0000

Surface
400.0000 Response

300.0000

Baseflow
200.0000

100.0000

0.0000
0.0000 0.5000 1.0000 1.5000 2.0000 2.5000 3.0000 3.5000 4.0000
Significance of Unit Hydrograph
 Watersheds response to a given amount of excess
precipitation is just a multiplier of the unit
hydrograph.
 Use unit hydrograph as a basis to determine the
storm hydrograph from any given rainfall
distribution.
What if there is no Historical Data?!?!

 Synthetic Unit Hydrograph

 Snyder (1938)
 Clark Instantaneous Unit Hydrograph (1945)
 SCS Dimensionless Unit Hydrograph (1957)

 Each method uses the principles of Unit

Hydrograph theory
Synthetic Unit Hydrographs
 Time to Peak
 Lag Time
 centroid of excess precip to peak of hydrograph
 Time of Concentration
 end of excess precip to inflection point on recession
limb
 Time to Base
 Watershed Area
Synthetic Unit Hydrographs
 Use watershed characteristics to compute various
parameters;

 Time to peak = f(slope, LHL, Lca CN, etc.)

 Peak flow = (Constant * Area)/Time
 Time to base
Application of Unit Hydrographs
 Design storm hydrographs for selected recurrence
interval storms (e.g., 50 yr) can be developed through
adding and lagging procedures.
 Effects of land use-land cover changes, channel
modifications, storage additions, and other variables
can be evaluated to determine changes in the unit
hydrograph.
 Effects of the spatial variation in precipitation can be
evaluated.
 Hydrographs of watersheds consisting of several sub-
basins can be produced.
 Use of Unitary Hydrograph
1. Analysis of the watershed response to a given rainfall event
 Application in flood forecasting and warning
 Flood peak and its occurrence can be identified

2. Determination of the effect of flood protection works on watershed

response
 By comparing the UH prior and after the completion of protection works

3. Determining the soil erosion from upland watersheds

 If sediment concentration is given, the unit sediment graph for a specified
duration can be constructed. Thus, the erosion for a certain rainfall can be
calculated.
Unit Hydrograph Applications - Conclusions
Problem 1

Given below are the observed flows from a 3-h duration storm on a
stream with a drainage area 2231 km2.

Derive the unit hydrograph.

Assume constant base flow = 600 m3/s (Flow units in m3/s).

Hour Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Hour Day 1 Day 2 Day 3

3 A.M 600 4600 1700 3 P.M 8000 2700 900

6 A.M 550 4000 1500 6 P.M 7000 2400 800

9 A.M 6000 3500 1300 9 P.M 6100 2100 700

Noon 9500 3100 1100 Midnight 5300 1900 600

 Baseflow
Hr Flow (m3/s) (m3/s) DR (m3/s) DR depth (m) UH (m3/s) Time
DAY 1 3:00 AM 600 600 0 29.79560735 0 0
  6:00 AM 550 600 -50   0 0
  9:00 AM 6000 600 5400   181.235 3
  NOON 9500 600 8900   298.702 6
  3:00 PM 8000 600 7400   248.359 9
  6:00 PM 7000 600 6400   214.797 12
  9:00 PM 6100 600 5500   184.591 15

  MIDNIGHT 5300 600 4700   157.741 18

DAY 2 3:00 AM 4600 600 4000   134.248 21
  6:00 AM 4000 600 3400   114.111 24
  9:00 AM 3500 600 2900   97.3298 27
  NOON 3100 600 2500   83.905 30
  3:00 PM 2700 600 2100   70.4802 33
  6:00 PM 2400 600 1800   60.4116 36
  9:00 PM 2100 600 1500   50.343 39

  MIDNIGHT 1900 600 1300   43.6306 42

DAY 3 3:00 AM 1700 600 1100   36.9182 45
  6:00 AM 1500 600 900   30.2058 48
  9:00 AM 1300 600 700   23.4934 51
  NOON 1100 600 500   16.781 54
  3:00 PM 900 600 300   10.0686 57
  6:00 PM 800 600 200   6.7124 60
  9:00 PM 700 600 100   3.3562 63

  MIDNIGHT 600 600 0   0 66

61550 Sum UH ORD. 1.00081235 cm
Direct Runoff = Total Runoff - Base flow
Direct Runoff Depth = Total Direct Runoff / Catchment Area
Unit Hdrograph ordinates = Direct Runoff / Direct Runoff depth
UNIT HYDROGRAPH

3.5E+02

3.0E+02

2.5E+02

2.0E+02

1.5E+02

1.0E+02

5.0E+01

0.0E+00
0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30 33 36 39 42 45 48 51 54 57 60 63 66 69

Time (hrs)