HYDROGRAPH
HYDROGRAPH COMPONENTS
A hydrograph is a graph showing discharge ( i.e., stream flow at the concentration point) versus time. The
various components of a natural hydrograph are shown below. At the beginning, there is only base flow
(i.e., the ground water contribution to the stream) gradually depleting in an exponential form. After the storm
commences, the initial losses like interception and infiltration are met and then the surface flow begins.
The hydrograph gradually rises and reaches its peak value after a time tp (called lag time or basin lag)
measured from the centroid of the hyetograph of net rain. Thereafter it declines and there is a change of
slope at the inflection point, i.e., there has been, inflow of the rain up to this point and after this there is
gradual withdrawal of catchment storage. By this time the ground water table has been built up by the
infiltrating and percolating water, and now the ground water contributes more
into the stream flow than at the beginning of storm, but thereafter the GWT declines and the
hydrograph again goes on depleting in the exponential form called the ground water depletion
curve or the recession curve.
HYDROGRAPH SEPARATION
For the derivation of unit hydrograph, the base flow has to be separated from the total runoff hydrograph
(i.e., from the hydrograph of the gauged stream flow). Some of the well-known base flow separation
procedures are given below.
I. Simply by drawing a line AC tangential to both the limbs at their lower portion.
This method is very simple but is approximate and can be used only for preliminary estimates.
II. Extending the recession curve existing prior to the occurrence of the storm up to the
point D directly under the peak of the hydrograph and then drawing a straight line DE, where
E is a point on the hydrograph N days after the peak, and N (in days) is given by
N = 0.83A0.2 where A = area of the drainage basin, km 2 and the size of the areas of the drainage
basin as a guide for the values of N are given below:
III. Simply by drawing a straight line AE, from the point of rise to the point E, on the
hydrograph, N days after the peak.
Important points on base flow
Groundwater contribution to a stream
Relatively more important in larger basins
Often disregarded in urban hydrology
UNIT HYDROGRAPH (UH)
The unit hydrograph is defined as the hydrograph of storm runoff resulting from an isolated rainfall of some
unit duration occurring uniformly over the entire area of the catchment, produces a unit volume (i.e., 1 cm)
of runoff.
UH is also defined as the storm hydrograph that results from 1 unit (1”or 1 cm) of
rainfall excess (runoff) that occurs uniformly over a watershed during a duration
T.
Important points are:
A concept proposed by Sherman in 1932
Widely used in Hydrology
Many Runoff Models use this approach (e.g. HEC-HMS)
Inductive Models (derived from rainfall –runoff data collected)
Direct runoff hydrographs can be generated if UH are available.
Unit Hydrograph Assumptions
The runoff is assumed to be due to overland flow.
The runoff is uniformly distributed in time (runoff must be of short duration
The runoff is uniformly distributed in space (the area must not be too large).
The watershed response is linear (linear superposition may be used).
The watershed characteristics do not change with time.
The unit volume under the UH is equal to 1.0
Derivation of the UH
1. Separate the base flow to determine the storm hydrograph.
2. Determine the volume of the storm hydrograph in depth (inches) by dividing the total runoff by the
watershed area.
3. Convert total rainfall into rainfall excess such that excess rainfall = DRO and evaluate duration D of
the excess rainfall that caused DRO.
4. Divide the ordinates of the DRO hydrograph by the depth (Inches) of the DRO to get the ordinates
of the UH.
5. The duration of the UH is the duration of the rainfall excess hyetograph.
Example 1
The runoff data at a stream gauging station for a catchment are given below. The drainage area is 40 km2.
The duration of rainfall is 3 hours. Derive the 3-hour unit hydrograph for the basin and plot the same. State
the peak of the unit hydrograph you derive.
1-3-1970
Time(hr) 2 5 8 11 14 17 20 23
Discharge (cumec) 50 47 75 120 225 290 270 145
2-3-1970
Time(hr) 2 5 8 11 14 17 20 23
Discharge (cumec) 110 90 80 70 60 55 51 50
Solution;
1. Estimate base flow and separate it from the hydrograph given
2. Separate by subtracting base flow from given hydrograph
3. Determine the sum of the result
4. Divide the result by effective precipitation to obtain ordinate of the UH (ie DRO/P eff but Peff = ΣDRO/A)
Example 2
The ordinates of a six hour (6-hr) unit hydrograph are given. A storm had a three successive 6-hr interval of
rainfall magnitude of 3, 5, 4 respectively. Assuming a ϕ-index of 0.2 cm/hr and a base flow of 30m 3/s,
Determine hydrograph of flow.
Time(hr) 0 6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48 54 60 66
Ord 6-hr UH (m3/s) 0 250 600 800 700 600 450 320 200 100 50 0
Solution
The net storm rains are obtained by deducting the average storm loss as
0-6 hr: →→ = 3 – 0.2 × 6 = 1.8 cm
6-12 hr: →→ = 5 – 0.2 × 6 = 3.8 cm
12-18 hr: →→ = 4 – 0.2 × 6 = 2.8 cm
1 2 3 4 6 5 7 8
Time Ord 6-hr UH (3+4+5) Base
(hr) (m3/s) UH*1.8 UH*3.8 UH*2.8 DRH Flow Hydrograph
0 0 0 - - 0 30 30
6 250 450 0 - 450 30 480
12 600 1080 950 0 2030 30 2060
18 800 1440 2280 700 4420 30 4450
24 700 1260 3040 1680 5980 30 6010
30 600 1080 2660 2240 5980 30 6010
36 450 810 2280 1960 5050 30 5080
42 320 576 1710 1680 3966 30 3996
48 200 360 1216 1260 2836 30 2866
54 100 180 760 896 1836 30 1866
60 50 90 380 560 1030 30 1060
66 0 0 190 280 470 30 500
72 0 140 140 30 170
78 0 0 30 30
Different plots
7000
6000
5000
Flow (m3/s)
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Time (hr)
Ord 6-hr UH (m3/s) UH*1.8 UH*3.8
UH*2.8 HdrGrph
Example 3
Given below are observed flows from and a storm of a 6-hr duration on a stream with catchment area of
500 Km2. Taking base flow to be zero, derive the ordinates of the 6-hr unit hydrograph.
Time(hr) 0 6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48 54 60 66 72
Ord 6-hr UH (m3/s) 0 100 250 200 150 100 70 50 35 25 15 5 0
Solution:
1. Follow trapezoidal rule to obtain the area under DRH curve which gives the volume of runoff.
2. To obtain rainfall excess, divide the volume of runoff by the area of the catchment (take care of
units), then convert the answer to cm.
3. Divide discharge by rainfall excess to obtain the ordinates of UH
Example 4
The stream flows due to three successive storms of 2.9, 4.9 and 3.9 cm of 6 hours duration each on a
basin are given below. The area of the basin is 118.8 km 2. Assuming a constant base flow of 20 cumec,
derive a 6-hour unit hydrograph for the basin. An average storm loss of 0.15 cm/hr can be assumed.
Alteration of Unit Hydrograph Duration.
It becomes necessary, in computation of flood hydrographs, that the duration of the unit graph available
should be altered to suit the duration of the design storm (to be used for obtaining the flood hydrograph).
Two cases arise:
Case (i) Changing a Short Duration Unit Hydrograph to Longer Duration.
If the desired long duration of the unit graph is an even multiple of the short, say a 3-hour unit graph is
given and a 6-hour unit graph is required. Assume two consecutive unit storms, producing a net rain of 1
cm each. Draw the two unit hydrographs, the second unit graph being lagged by 3 hours. Draw now the
combined hydrograph by superposition. This combined hydrograph will now produce 2 cm in 6 hours. To
obtain the 6-hour unit graph divide the ordinates of the combined hydrograph by 2. It can be observed that
this 6-hour unit graph derived has a longer time base by 3 hours than the 3-hour unit graph, because of a
lower intensity storm for a longer time.
Example 5
The following are the ordinates of a 3-hour unit hydrograph. Derive the ordinates of a 6-hour unit
hydrograph and plot the same
Solution
Case (ii) Changing a Long Duration Unit Hydrograph to a Shorter Duration by S-curve Technique
S-curve or the summation curve is the hydrograph of direct surface discharge that would result from a
continuous succession of unit storms producing 1 cm in tr–hr. If the time base of the unit hydrograph is T
hr, it reaches constant outflow ( Qe) at T hr, since 1 cm of net rain on the catchment is being supplied and
removed every tr hour and only T/tr unit graphs are necessary to produce an S-curve and develop constant
outflow given by below
Given a tr-hour unit graph, to derive a tr′-hour unit graph (tr′ ≥ tr)—Shift the S-curve by the required
duration tr′ along the time axis. The graphical difference between the ordinates of the two S-curves,
represents the runoff due to tr′ hours rain at an intensity of 1/tr cm/hr, i.e., runoff of tr′/tr cm in tr′ hours. To
obtain a runoff of 1 cm in tr′ hours, multiply the ordinates of the S-curve difference by tr/t′r.
This technique may be used to alter the duration of the given unit hydrograph to a shorter or longer
duration. The longer duration need not necessarily be a multiple of short.
Example 6
Derive a 4h- UH from the data below: Using the same data derive an S-Curve
Time(hr) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Discharge (cumec) 0 100 250 200 100 50 0
S-Curve solution (the values in column 1 is in hr, the rest are in m 3/s)
Example 7
Given the 4h unit hydrograph listed in column 2 of the table below, derive the 3h-UH. All values except
those of column 1 are in m3/s.
Time(hr) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Discharge (cumec) 0 6 36 66 91 106 93 79 69 58
Time(hr) 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
Discharge (cumec) 49 41 34 27 23 17 13 6 3 1.5 0
Sample questions
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Tabulated below are data for a flood in Aswa catchment. The drainage area is 1,471 mi . Using
2
the empirical relationship, separate the groundwater flow and compute the direct runoff volume
over the drainage area. (20 marks)
Q5
Q6
The table below shows the measurements that were taken during and after a rainfall event in an
exercise aimed at estimating the Phi (Φ) infiltration index of a 10km experimental catchment.
2
Using the data, obtain the Φ index and the volume of water in (m ) that infiltrated into the
3
catchment. (20 marks)
Q7
Q8
A storm occurred within Busitema having an area of 14 mi 2 and produced 1.40 inches of rain that
later generated the following flows:
Assuming negligible base flow, derive a unit hydrograph from the above data and generate a six
hour unit hydrograph from the unit hydrograph
Q9
In a bid to maximize crop yield, the Karamoja Development Authority intends to irrigate a field
of alfalfa with a system capacity of 50.5 lps. There being no any other source of water save for
River Moroto, the client has no option but rely on the river. With the stream flow data collected
below, advise the client whether the river would be able to meet their irrigation needs or not.
Q10
Q11
A lake has an area of 10 km 2. During a specific month the lake evaporation was 90 mm. During
the same month the inflow to the lake from a river was on average 1.2 m 3/s and the outflow from
the lake via another river was on average 1.1 m3/s. Also, for the same month a water level
increase of 100 mm for the lake was observed. What was the precipitation in mm during that
month?
Determine the mean precipitation depth given the data below
Q12
Explain the following:
i. Rainfall return period
ii. Φ-index
iii. Transpiration
iv. Percolation
v. Water divide
A watershed of area 100 km2 has the following land uses:
40 % is residential area (average lot size 1/4 acre, 38% impervious) of which 30 % is soil
group A, 20 % is soil group B, 20 % is soil group C and the rest is group D.
20 % is parking lots.
The rest is industrial districts of soil group C.
With the rainfall hyetograph given, determine the volume of the direct runoff generated within
the watershed.
Time, hr 0-2 2-4 4-6
Rainfall intensity, in/hr 2 1.5 0.5
