Construction and Analysis of Hydrographs

Hydrograph
A plot of discharge over a period of time.
- can be annual, monthly, seasonal, or flood
hydrograph (stream flow due to a heavy storm);
Annual hydrograph classifies the channel as
perennial, intermittent and ephemeral.

Dr. M Alauddin CED, DUET

 Design flood Discharge (design flow)
- peak flow rate governing the design of relevant
hydraulic structures.
Design flood Hydrograph
- time-flow history of a design flood.

Why
Construct & Analyse Hydrographs?
To find out discharge patterns of a particular
drainage basin;

Help predicting flood events,

therefore influence implementation
of flood prevention measures.
Dr. M Alauddin CED, DUET
 Rainfall shown
3 in mm, as a
bar graph
Discharge (m3/s)

2
mm
4

1 3

0 12 24 36 48 30 72
Hours from start of rain storm

Dr. M Alauddin CED, DUET

 Peak flow
The rising flood Maximum discharge in
Basin lag time
water in the Peak flow the river. It occurs

Discharge (m3/s)
river. The rising when all parts of basins
3
limb rises slowly contribute at the outlet
in the early simultaneously at the
stage of the maximum rate.
flood but more 2
Base flow
rapidly toward mm
the end portion. 4 Normal discharge
1 3 of the river
2
Base flow

Falling flood water in the river, represents the withdrawal of

water from the storage. It extends from the point of
inflection (the condition of maximum storage) at the end of
the crest to the beginning of the natural groundwater flow.
Dr. M Alauddin CED, DUET
 Basin lag time (1)
Time difference Basin lag time (2)
between the peak Basin lag time
of the storm and Peak flow Time between the
the peak flow of3 center of mass of
the river the effective
rainfall
hyetograph and
Discharge (m3/s)

2 the center of
mm mass of the
4 direct runoff
1 3 hydrograph.
2

0 12 24 36 48 30 72
Hours from start of rain storm

Dr. M Alauddin CED, DUET

 Overland flow
Flow of water over Surface flow
the surface after Basin lag time
Peak flow +
initial loss
3 Through flow
Through
flow
Discharge (m3/s) =
Flow of Surface
2 runoff Storm Flow
water
reaching the mm or Direct
river through 4 Through flow runoff
the soil and 1 3
underlying 2
rock layers Base flow

0 12 24 36 48 30 72
Hours from start of rain storm

Dr. M Alauddin CED, DUET

Time to Peak, tp: Time from the beginning of the
rising limb to the occurrence of the peak discharge.

Time Base, tb: Duration of the direct runoff

hydrograph.

Time of Concentration, tc: Time required for water

to travel from the most hydraulically remote point in
the basin to the basin outlet.
 Analysis

Factors influencing Storm Hydrographs

• Area • Land Use
• Shape • Drainage Density
• Slope • Precipitation / Temp
• Rock Type • Tidal Conditions
• Soil
 Baseflow Separation
Method 1
Baseflow is constant and is N days
found by drawing a line equal Pi
to the lowest discharge
before storm, i.e. line AD.
Method 2 (Line ABC)
Extend the baseflow recession (iii) (iv)
to a point under the peak, (ii)
(i)
then to the point of end of
direct runoff (N days).
Method 3 (Line AC) Method 4: Base flow recession
curve (d/s) is extended
backwards till it intersects the
vertical from the inflection
point and it is connected with
A by a smooth curve.
Dr. M Alauddin CED, DUET
 Recession Constants
* Basin storages are:
(i) surface storage, (ii) interflow storage,
and (iii) groundwater storage. Thus, recession
components are: surface recession, interflow
recession and base flow recession.
* Exponential recession equation (Barnes,
1940) is 𝒕−𝒕
𝑸𝒕 = 𝑸𝟎 𝑲𝒓 𝟎
where Q0 and Qt are the flows at times t0 and t,
and Kr is a recession constant.

* Another form is 𝑸𝒕 = 𝑸𝟎 𝒆−𝒂 𝒕−𝒕𝟎

where a=-lnKr

Dr. M Alauddin CED, DUET

 * Recession constant Kr has three components:
(i) Krs = recession constant for surface storage
(0.05 to 0.20),
(ii) Kri = recession constant for interflow (0.50 to
0.85) and
(iii) Krb = recession constant for base flow (0.85 to
0.99).
Kr = Krs Kri Krb

* The eqn. plots as a straight line on a semi-

log paper with Q on the log-scale. The storage
St at any time t is obtained as,
∝ ∝ −𝒂 𝒕−𝒕𝟎
−𝒂 𝒕−𝒕𝟎 𝑸𝟎 𝒆 𝑸𝒕
𝑺𝒕 = 𝑸𝒕 𝒅𝒕 = 𝑸𝟎 𝒆 𝒅𝒕 = =
𝒕 𝒕 𝒂 𝒂
𝑸𝒕
=
− 𝐥𝐧 𝑲𝒓

See Example 11.1 & 11.2 (Ref. Reddy)

Dr. M Alauddin CED, DUET
Dr. M Alauddin CED, DUET
Dr. M Alauddin CED, DUET
Dr. M Alauddin CED, DUET
 Unit Hydrograph
(Sherman, 1932)

➢ Direct runoff hydrograph resulting from

a unit depth of excess rainfall occurring
uniformly on a watershed at a constant
rate for a specified duration.
➢ Can be used to derive runoff from any
excess rainfall on the watershed.

Check examples 6.7, 6.8 (Subramanya)

Dr. M Alauddin CED, DUET

 Unit Hydrograph Assumptions
➢ Excess rainfall has constant intensity for a
specified duration
➢ Excess rainfall is uniformly distributed on the
watershed
➢ Base time of runoff is constant
➢ Ordinates of unit hydrograph are proportional to
total runoff (linearity)
➢ Unit hydrograph represents all characteristics
of watershed (lumped parameter) and is time
invariant (stationarity)

Dr. M Alauddin CED, DUET

 0.8
Duration of UH (T-hr UH)
0.7
= Duration of excess
0.6 precipitation (shown below)
Precipitation (inches)

0.5

Uniform loss rate of

0.4 0.2 inches per hour

0.3

0.2 1

0.9
0.1
Derived unit hydrograph is the
0.8
result of approximately 6
0 hours of excess precipitation.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10111213141516171819 0.7

Excess Prec. (inches)

Time (hrs) 0.6
Small amounts of
excess precipitation at
beginning and end may
0.5 be omitted.

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
Time (hrs.)
Example (finding a storm hydrograph) : Given a triangular 1-h UH as
follows (hourly),

Develop a storm hydrograph for hourly rainfall excess of P: [0.1, 0.5,

1.2]

Dr. M Alauddin CED, DUET

 Solution:

Check examples 6.2, 6.3, 6.5, 6.6 (Subramanya)

Dr. M Alauddin CED, DUET
Example: Given the unit hydrograph of 4 hour duration (column
1,2,3,4), calculate the ordinates of total runoff hydrograph of same
duration from an excess precipitation of 10 cm. Assume constant Base
Flow of 14 m3/sec.

36
48
60
72
84
Dr. M Alauddin CED, DUET
 Steps in Deriving a Unit Hydrograph
➢ Separate the base flow and obtain the direct runoff
hydrograph (DRH).

➢ Compute the total volume of direct runoff and

convert this volume into equivalent depth of effective
rainfall.

➢ Normalize the direct runoff hydrograph by dividing

each ordinate by the depth of effective rainfall.

➢ Determine the effective duration of excess rainfall.

This is generally accomplished by plotting hyetograph
and drawing a horizontal line (-index, uniform
infiltration rate) such that the precipitation above this
line is equal to the depth of excess precipitation.
Dr. M Alauddin CED, DUET
 Steps in the figure:
25000
Storm hydrograph

Direct runof f hydrograph

20000

15000
Flow (cfs)

unit hydrograph

10000

basef low

5000

0
7
0

105

119

133
112

126
21

35

49

63

77

91
14

28

42

56

70

84

98
Time (hrs.)
Dr. M Alauddin CED, DUET
Example: Given are the hydrograph data in table below. Derive a 6
hour unit hydrograph if this data is obtained from a storm of 6 (six)
hours and the catchment area is 3200 sq.km.
Date Time (day) Discharge (m³/s) Base Flow (m³/s)
11-Jan 1st 21 21
12-Jan 2nd 21 21
13-Jan 3rd 21 21
14-Jan 4th 20 20
15-Jan 5th 20 20
16-Jan 6th 20 20
17-Jan 7th 20 20
18-Jan 8th 20 20
19-Jan 9th 521 11
20-Jan 10th 160 21
21-Jan 11th 82 29
22-Jan 12th 63 35
23-Jan 13th 59 47
24-Jan 14th 53 53
25-Jan 15th 47 47
26-Jan 16th 45 45
27-Jan 17th 38 38
 Multiplyi
ng DRO
by sec
of 1 day

Total=64.11x10^6
 Changing the Duration
Very often, it will be necessary to change the duration
of unit hydrograph; if unit hydrographs are to be
averaged, then they must be of the same duration.
There are two methods: (i) Method of superposition,
(ii) S-curve Method.
(i) If a D-h unit hydrograph is available, then nD-h UH
(n is an integer = 2,3,4, etc.) is obtained by
superposing n UHs separated by D hour.
(ii) Another common method of altering the duration
(like mD-h, here m is a fraction) of a unit hydrograph
is by the S-curve method. An S-curve involves
continually lagging a unit hydrograph by its duration and
adding the ordinates.
Dr. M Alauddin CED, DUET
 (i) Method of superposition
➢ This is done by displacing the unit
hydrograph
Prob: A 2-hr Unit Hydrograph is given as
follows and a 4-hr Unit Hydrograph is
needed.
Given
Time (hr) Q Time (hr) UHO Displaced UH Sum 4-hr UHO
0 0 (lagged by 2hr) =(2)+(3) =(4)/2
0 0 0 0
1 2
1 2 2 1
2 4 2 4 0 4 2
3 6 3 6 2 8 4
4 10 4 10 4 14 7
5 6 5 6 6 12 6
6 4 6 4 10 14 7
7 3 6 9 4.5
7 3
8 2 4 6 3
8 2 9 1 3 4 2
9 1 10 0 2 2 1
10 0 11 1 1 0.5
 (ii) The S-curve
For example, the 6-h unit hydrograph is continually
lagged by 6 hours and the ordinates are added.
D D D D D D D D D D
60000

50000

40000
S-curve
Flow (cfs)

30000

20000

10000

114
12
18

30
36
42
48

60
66
72
78

90
96
24

54

84

102

120
108
6
0

Time (hrs.)
Dr. M Alauddin CED, DUET
Finding S-curve:
Problem: 6-hr UH ordinates are given (first two columns). Derive S-
curve ordinates.
Solution:

=u1
=u2 =u1
. =u2
. .
.
 Alternative method of deriving S-curve

D D D D D D D D D D
60000

50000

Ordinate, S1 = u1
40000
S 2 = u2 + u 1
Flow (cfs)

30000 S3 = u3 + u2 + u1 = u3 + S2
……. S2
20000
Si = ui + Si-1
10000

114
12
18

30
36
42
48

60
66
72
78

90
96
24

54

84

102

120
108
6
0

Time (hrs.)

Dr. M Alauddin CED, DUET

 S-curve method for changing duration of UH

To derive a D’-h UH from D-h UH, S-curve is lagged

by D’ hours and the difference between two S-curves
is a DRH of rainfall excess (1/D)xD’. Then the
ordinates of DRH is to be divided by D’/D)
Check examples 6.12 (Subramanya)
Dr. M Alauddin CED, DUET
S-curve …
Example: Given is unit hydrograph of 2 hours duration
(column 1 & 2). Find 6 hours unit hydrograph using S-curve.
2-hour
Lagged S- 6 Hour UH
Time UH S-Curve Difference
Curve Ordinates
Ordinate
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)=(3)-(4) =(5)x2/6
0 0 0 0 0
2 95 95 95 32
4 164 259 259 86
6 121 380 0 380 127
8 91 471 95 376 125
10 54 525 259 266 89
12 18 543 380 163 54
14 0 543 471 72 24
16 543 525 18 6
18 543 543 0 0
Dr. M Alauddin CED, DUET
Finding 3-hr UH ordinates from 6-hr UH using S-curve:

0
5
5
15
15
50
50
120
120
201
201
Topic: Synthetic Unit Hydrographs (SUH)
Learning objectives: You’ll be able to
- derive UH, where rainfall-discharge records
are not available;
- learn
i. Snyder’s method
ii. SCS UH (SCS – US Soil Conservation
Services)
 Synthetic Unit Hydrographs
◼All the methods of deriving a UH discussed
previously require rainfall and runoff records.
However, for some drainage basins rainfall–runoff
data may not be available. For those basins, some
kind of techniques is needed to generate UH. The
UH so derived is called synthetic UH.

◼ The synthetic UHs:

✓ relate hydrograph characteristics (peak
discharge, time base, time-to-peak, etc.) to
basin characteristics;
✓ are based on dimensionless UH.
Dr. M Alauddin CED, DUET
 Snyder’s Method
Snyder’s method allows the computations of
(a) Lag time (tp);
(b) UH duration (tr);
(c) UH peak (specific) discharge (qp);
(d) Hydrograph time width at 50% and 75% (W50,
W75) of peak flow

Dr. M Alauddin CED, DUET

 1. Lag time (tp): time from the center of rainfall –
excess to the UH peak
tp = C1Ct (LLc)0.3
where tp = lag 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 channel
[mi, km]; Lc = length along the main channel to the
point nearest to the watershed centroid.

Dr. M Alauddin CED, DUET

 2. UH Duration (tr):
tr = tp / 5.5
where tr and tp are in [hrs]. If the required duration
of UH (tR) is other than calculated tr, then the lag time
(calculated before) needs to be adjusted as
tpR = tp + 0.25 (tR - tr)
where tpR = adjusted lag time; tR = desired UH duration.
C C
C C 2 p
3. UH Peak Discharge (qp): q = 2 p or q =
p t
p t pR
p

where C2 = 2.75 for SI unit; 640 for English unit; Cp =

coefficient accounting for flood wave and storage
condition, 0.4 ~ 0.8; qp = specific discharge, [m3/s/km2]
or [ft3/s/mi2]
To compute total discharge, Qp = Aqp
Dr. M Alauddin CED, DUET
 4. Time Base (tb):
Assuming triangular UH, tb = C3 / qp
Also, tb = (72+3 tpR ) hrs (for large basin, by Snyder) or
5(tpR + tR/2) hrs (for small basins, Taylor and Schwartz)
where tb in hrs; C3 = 5.56 for SI unit, 1290 for English
unit.
C C
w,75 w,50
5. UH Widths: W = and W =
75 1.08 50
q q1.08
p 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 should be very
close to 1 cm or 1 inch.
Dr. M Alauddin CED, DUET
Example:
Snyder’s
Method
Check example 6.14 (subramanya)
Snyder’s Method Example 2
Example 2 cont …
 SCS UH
(SCS – US Soil Conservation Services)
A typical dimensionless unit hydrograph developed by
US Soil Conservation Services (SCS) consists of
37.5% of the total runoff volume before the peak
discharge and remaining volume after the peak
discharge.

The SCS triangular unit hydrograph is a popular method

used in watershed development activities, especially in
small watersheds.
To use the SCS UH, one needs to determine only two
things:
i. Time to peak, Tp (hr); ii. Peak discharge, Qp (m3/s)
 SCS Dimensionless UH

* Parameters (Tp, qp) from

triangular UH (solved before)
are used to derive this UH.