Hydrology

HYDROLOGY

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Hydrology

Basic Important concepts of Hydrology

 Index of Wetness (IN):

Deficiency Category

30% to 45% Large Deficiency

45% to 60% Severe Deficiency

>60% Disastrous Deficiency

 Agricultural Draught:

Here,

PET = Potential Evapotranspiration = Amount of water consumed by plants for optimum

growth.

AET = Actual Evapotranspiration = Amount of water actually getting consumed by plants.

Aridity Index Range Drought Classification

0 Non-Arid and No-draught

0% to 25% Mild Arid

25% to 50% Moderately Arid

Greater than 50% Severe Arid

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Design of Rain Gauge Network

 Optimum number of Rain Gauge Stations (N):

Here,

E = Allowable percentage error

Cv = Coefficient of variation expressed as percentage of existing station

Here,

p' = Average precipitation

σ = Standard deviation

Here,

pi = Precipitation magnitude observed in ith station

n = Number of observations

IMD recommends that at least 10% of the total number of optimum rain gauge stations should be recording
type rain gauges.

Determination of missing Data

i. When average rainfall data of each year is within 10% of the average rainfall then missing data of station x
will be given by:

Here,

px = Rainfall data for the station x (station x is the station whose rainfall data was missing).

n = Number of rainfall station under observation

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p1, p2, p3… = Amount of precipitation occurred on the given station

pi = Amount of precipitation occurred at ith station.

ii. When average rainfall of any of the station differs by more than 10% of the average value of rainfall of the
stations under consideration then missing rainfall data of a given year for the station x will be given by:

Here,

Nx = Average rainfall of previous years at station x.

Ni = Average rainfall of previous years on ith station.

Rest of the notations have same meant as described in previous formula.

Determination of Mean Rainfall

i. Arithmetic Mean Method:

ii. Thiessen Polygon Method:

iii. Isohyetal Method:

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Depth Area Duration Curve (DAD curve)

Here,

p’ = Average depth of rainfall in cm over an area A km2.

po = Highest amount of rainfall in cm at storm centre.

k and n are constants depending on the catchment area.

Intensity Duration Frequency Curve (IDF):

Here,

p = Rainfall intensity in cm/hour.

T = Return Period or frequency of rainfall of given intensity in a year

tr = Duration of rain in hours.

A, B and n are constants for a given catchment area.

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Evaporation and Transpiration

Methods to Measure Evaporation
I. Field Methods:

a. Class-A Evaporation Pan: Diameter of pan = 1210 mm, depth of pan = 255 mm, made out of
Galvanised Iron Sheet, Depth of Water = 180 to 200 mm, pan is placed on wooden platform of 15
cm height above ground level.

b. Indian Standard Pan: Diameter of pan = 1210 mm, depth of pan = 255 mm, made of copper sheet
of 0.9 mm thickness and is covered with hexagonal wire lettings of galvanised iron.

II. Empirical Methods:

a. Meyer’s Formula:

Here,

E = Rate of evaporation with respect to time

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es = Saturation vapour pressure in mm of Hg

ea = Actual vapour pressure in mm of Hg

k = Constant depending on the units used for measurement

V9 = Velocity of air at 9 meters from ground level. Value of V9 can be calculated using 7th power
law for wind speed analysis which establishes a relationship between speed of wind at two
different elevations near the earth surface:

Here,

V1 and V2 is the speed of wind height at h1 and h2 above the ground level respectively.

b. Rohwer’s Formula:

Here,

Pa = Mean barometric reading in mm of Hg

Uo = Mean velocity on km/h at ground level (0.6 m above ground surface)

Rest of the notations have their as usual meaning.

III. Analytical Methods of finding evaporation:

a. Water Budget Equation: Simple but least reliable and is based on principle of conservation of
mass

Here,

P = Daily Precipitation

Vis = Daily Surface inflow

Vig = Daily underground inflow

Vos = Daily Surface outflow

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Vog = Daily underground outflow

Δs = Change in reservoir storage

E = Total Evaporation

b. Energy Balance Equation or Energy Budget Equation:

Here,

Hn = Net heat energy received by the body

Here,

Hc(1-r) = Incoming solar radiation

Hb = Reflected black body radiation

Ha = Heat transfer from water to air

He = Heat energy used in evaporation

Here,

ρ = Density of water

L = Latent Heat of vaporization

E = Total evaporation in mm

Hg = Heat flux in to ground

Hs = Heat stored in water body

Hi = Net heat conducted out of the system due to water flow

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Here,

β = Bowen’s Ratio

For smaller time period, Hs and Hi can be neglected.

Evapotranspiration
 Penman’s Equation:

Here,

A = Slope of saturation vapour pressure verses temperature curve at mean air temperature
(in mm of Hg).

Hn = Net radiation in mm of evaporable water per day.

Ea = Constant for parameters including wind velocity and saturation pressure

γ = 0.49 mm of Hg/°C

Infiltration and Run-off

Cumulative Infiltration Capacity
 It is defined as the total infiltration capacity and is denoted using ‘Fp’:

As per Horton’s Equation:

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Here,

Kh = Horton’s Constant

fo = Infiltration capacity at time t = 0

fc = Final steady state infiltration capacity or infiltration capacity at time t = T

fp = Infiltration capacity at a given time t

Infiltration Indices
 w-index: It represents the average infiltration rate over entire storm during total time period.

 ϕ-index: It represents the average infiltration rate during the period of excess rainfall.

ϕ-index will be greater in only the case where there is a rainfall excess all the time.

Stream Flow Measurement

 Area Velocity Method:
Calculation of Discharge:

Step 1: Area Analysis:

Step 2: Velocity Analysis: Find the velocity at the end of each segment at depth of 0.6y from the
surface which will be equal to mean velocity.

Step 3: Find depth y1, y2, y3 and up to yN-1 and also find the effective average width of each segment:

For first segment:

For intermediate sections:

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For last section:

Step 4: Discharge in each segment:

Here,

V’I = Effective velocity of flow in the concerned section

Step 5: Total Discharge = Σqi.

 Moving Boat Method:

Here,

Vb = Velocity of boat

Vf = Velocity of flow of River or Stream

VR = Resultant Velocity

If time of transit between two verticals for the boat is ‘t’ then the width of the segment between two
verticals will be given by:

Discharge through ith segment:

 Dilution Method: This method is also called chemical method.

Here,

Qo = Natural Flow of the stream

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Q1 = Flow rate of inserted chemical

Q2 = Flow rate of stream after mixing of chemical

Co = Concentration of chemical in the stream naturally

C1 = Concentration of chemical in the inserted liquid

C2 = Concentration of chemical in the stream after complete mixing

 Mixing length:

Here,

B = Average width of the stream

C = Chezy’s Constant

g = Acceleration due to gravity

y = Average depth of stream in meter

 Ultrasonic Wave Method:

Here,

t1 = Time taken by wave to reach from transducer A to transducer B

t2 = Time taken by wave to reach from transducer B to transducer A

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Slope Area Method

 By applying conservation of energy between section ① and section ②:

Here,

hfe = Combined friction and eddy head loss and eddy head loss in this case is given by he

Here,

Ke = 0 for uniform flow

= 0.3 for gradual expansion

= 0.1 for gradual contraction

= 0.8 for sudden expansion

= 0.6 for sudden contraction

Further, friction loss will be given by hf:

 Now by using Manning’s Equation,

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 Here, S = Energy Slope

 And K = Conveyance of the stream

 K should be taken as the geometric mean of all the conveyance of the channel:

Hydrographs

 Time of Concentration:
Kirpich’s Equation is used to determine time of concentration of runoff hydrograph:

Here,

tc = Time of concentration

L = Maximum length of travel of water in meter

S = Catchment Slope (= ΔH/L)

ΔH = Difference between the elevation of catchment outlet and the most remote point in the
catchment

Determination of Runoff
 Determination of Runoff using Runoff Coefficient:

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Here,

K = Runoff coefficient

P = Average rate of precipitation in cm/hour

 Determination of Runoff using Rational Formula:

Here,

QP = Peak Discharge

K = Coefficient of Runoff

Pc = Design rainfall intensity in cm/hour

A = Area of catchment in hectare

Flood and Flood Routing

Estimation of Peak Flood
 Empirical Methods

i. Dicken’s Formula:

Here,

QP = Peak Flood Discharge in m3/s

CD = Dicken’s Constant (lies between 6 and 30)

A = Area of catchment in km2

ii. Ryve’s Formula:

Here,

CR = Ryve’s Constant (lies between 6.8 and 10.2)

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Rest of the notations have same as described above.

Note: Ryve’s Formula is more suitable for Southern India; especially for Western Ghats.

iii. Inglis Formula:

 Flood peak estimation with the help of Flood Frequency Study

i. Statical Probability Method:

 Recurrence Interval/ Return Period (T): Probability of occurrence of a flood with a return
period of T years is given by:

 Probability of not occurrence of the given peak discharge up to ‘n’ successive years.

The above value is known as reliability or assurance of non-occurrence.

 Probability of occurrence at least ones in ‘n’ successive years (Risk).

 Safety Margin:

ii. Theoretical Probability Method:

Gumble’s method: This is a theoretical method based on the concepts of probability. This method is
suitable when interpolations are large.

Here,

P gives probability of occurrence of an event (X) equal to or larger than Xo.

y = a dimensionless variable given as follows:

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Here,

X’ = Mean Value

σx = Standard deviation of variate X

Usually instead of probability of any event X, it is the value of X which is required to be found
corresponding to any given probability hence when it is required to find the peak intensity of
rain which will occur with a probability ‘P’ in given time period ‘T’ will be given by XT (say), it will
be given by:

Here,

k = Frequency factor

yT = Reduced Variate

T = Recurrence Interval

y'n = Reduced Mean. It depends on sample size of given data. When sample size is very
large, y'n = 0.557.

iii. Sn = Reduced Standard deviation. It depends on sample size of given data and for very large sample
size, Sn = 1.2825.

Methods of Channel Routing

i. Muskingum Method: Using continuity equation for channel:

Here,

ΔS = Change in storage in time Δt, the observation time interval.

I’ = Average inflow rate over Δt = (I1+I2)/2

Q’ = Average outflow rate over time Δt = (Q1+Q2)/2

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Similarly, by using reservoir storage equation:

By using equation (1) and (2):

Here,

Guidelines to apply Muskingum Method:

For the best results, Δt (routing interval) should be such that,

ii. By using Synthetic Unit Hydrograph: Snyder’s Method of drawing Synthetic Unit Hydrograph Snyder
defined basin lag ‘tp’ which is similar to lag time of hydrograph.

Steps involved in preparing Synthetic Unit Hydrograph:

Step : 1 ‘tp’ is the time interval from which the midpoint of rainfall excess and peak of Unit Hydrograph
is defined and is given by following equation:

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Here,

L = Basin length (in km) measured along the water course from the basin to gauging
station (as shown in figure).

La = Distance along the main water course from the gauging station to point opposite to
the watershed centroid (in km).

Ct = Regional constant; depends on slope and storage of the catchment.

Step : 2 Using the value of tp, evaluate standard duration of effective rainfall:

Step : 3 Peak discharge of Unit Hydrograph of above standard duration of ‘tr’ hour is given by:

Here,

Cp = Regional constant which ranges from 0.3 to 0.92

A = Area of catchment (in km2)

tp is in hours.

Step : 4 If rainfall duration is given which is (say t R hours) different from standard value for the given
basin, the value of basin lag will be given as follows:

Step : 5 Hence, new peak discharge will become as follows:

Step : 6 Base period of synthetic Unit Hydrograph will now be given as follows:

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Qp is in m3/s and A is in km2

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