Engineering Hydrology

(Prepared by Abebe Gebregiorgis

(CEE 4420) TTU Civil Engineering

1. Basic Hydrology Concept

1.1. Introduction

Water is vital for all living organisms on Earth. For centuries, people have been investigating where water comes from and where it goes, why some of it is salty and some is fresh, why sometimes there is not enough and sometimes too much. All questions and answers related to water have been grouped together into a discipline. The name of the discipline is hydrology and is formed by two Greek words: "hydro" and "logos" meaning "water" and "science".

What is Hydrology?
It is a science of water. It is the science that deals with the occurrence, circulation and distribution of water of the earth and earths atmosphere.

A good understanding of the hydrologic processes is important for the assessment of the water resources, their management and conservation on global and regional scales.

In general sense engineering hydrology deals with

Estimation of water resources The study of processes such as precipitation, evapotranspiration, runoff and their interaction The study of problems such as floods and droughts and strategies to combat them

1.2 Hydrologic Cycle

Water exists on the earth in all its three states, viz. liquid, solid, gaseous and in various degrees of motion.

Hydrologic cycle.

Water, irrespective of different states, involves dynamic aspect in nature. The dynamic nature of water, the existence of water in various state with different hydrological process result in a very important natural phenomenon
called

Hydrologic cycle.

Hydrologic cycle.

Evaporation of water from water bodies, such as oceans and lakes, formation and movement of clouds, rain and snowfall, stream flow and ground water movement are some examples of the dynamic aspects of water.

Hydrologic cycle.

Evaporation from water bodies Water vapour moves upwards Cloud formation Condensation Precipitate Interception Transpiration Infiltration Runoffstreamflow Deep percolation Ground water flow

Hydrologic cycle.

The hydrologic cycle has importance influence in a variety of fields agriculture, forestry, geography, economics, sociology, and political scene. Engineering application of the knowledge are found in the design and operation of the projects dealing with water supply, hydropower, irrigation & drainage, flood control, navigation, coastal work, various hydraulic structure works, salinity control and recreational use of water.

1.3 Water Budget Equation

Catchment area

The area of land draining in to a stream or a water course at a given location is called catchment area / drainage area / drainage basin / watershed. A catchment area is separated from its neighbouring areas by a ridge called divide / watershed.

1.3 Water Budget Equation

Catchment area.

A watershed is a geographical unit in which the hydrological cycle and its components can be analysed. The equation is applied in the form of water-balance equation to a geographical region, in order to establish the basic hydrologic characteristics of the region. Usually a watershed is defined as the area that appears, on the basis of topography, to contribute all the water that passes through a given cross section of a stream.

Watershed and watershed divide

Watershed/ catchment

Watershed/ catchment

Catchment area. If a permeable soil covers an impermeable substrate, the topographical division of watershed will not always correspond to the line that is effectively delimiting the groundwater.

Watershed characteristics

Water Budget Equation

For a given catchment, in an interval of time t, the continuity equation for water in its various phases can be given as:
Mass inflow Mass outflow = change in mass storage

If the density of the inflow, outflow and storage volumes are the same:

i o
Vi -

Inflow volume in to the catchment, Vo - Outflow volume from the catchment and S - change in the water volume

Water Budget Equation

Therefore, the water budget of a catchment for a time interval t is written as: P R G E T = S

P = Precipitation, R = Surface runoff, G = net ground water flow out of the catchment, E = Evaporation, T = Transpiration, and S = change in storage

The above equation is called the water budget equation for a catchment

NOTE: All the terms in the equation have the dimension of

volume and these terms can be expressed as depth over the catchment area.

Components of hydrologic cycle

Evapo transpiration

Precipitation
Stream flow (Runoff)

Inter flow

Infiltration
Base flow Groundwater flow

1.3 World Water Budget

Total quantity of water in the world is estimated as 1386 M km3

1337.5 M km3 of water is contained in oceans as saline water The rest 48.5 M km3 is land water
13.8

M km3 is again saline 34.7 M km3 is fresh water

10.6 M km3 is both liquid and fresh 24.1 M km3 is a frozen ice and glaciers in the polar regions and mountain tops

Estimated World Water Quantitites

96%

2% 1%

1%

Ocean-saline Land - saline Fresh - Liquid Fresh - Frozen

Global annual water balance

SN

1 2 3 4

Item Area (km2) Precipitation (km3/year) (mm/year) Evaporation (km3/year) (mm/year) Runoff to ocean
Rivers (km3/year) Groundwater (km3/year)

Ocean 361.3 458,000 1270 505,000 1400

Land 148.8 119,000 800 72,000 484

44,700 2,200

Total Runoff (km3/year) (mm/year)

47,000 316

Water Balance of Continents

Area (M km^2) 50 40 30 20 10 0 Africa Asia Australia Europe N.Am erica S.Am erica 8.7 9.8 30.3 20.7 17.8 45

Precipitation (mm/yr) 2000 1648 1500 1000 500 0 Africa Asia Australia Europe N.Am erica S.Am erica 686 736 734 670

726

Water Balance .
Precipitation (mm/yr) 2000 1648 1500 1000 500 0 Africa Asia Australia Europe N.Am erica S.Am erica 686 736 734 670

726

Evaporation (mm/yr) 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 Africa Asia Australia Europe N.Am erica S.Am erica 547 433 510 415 383

1065

Drop of water .. Matter..

Total Runoff (mm/yr) 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 Africa Asia Australia Europe N.Am erica S.Am erica 139 293 319 226 287 583

Water Balance of Oceans

1600 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 Atlantic Arctic Indian Pacific 107 12 240 120 75 167 780 1040 1010 1380 1210 1140 Area M km^2 Precp (mm/yr) Evap. (mm/yr)

Water flow in Ocean

400 200 200 0 -200 -400 Atlantic -60 Arctic Indian Pacific 230 70 130 60 350

Continental Inflow (mm/yr) water exch. with ocean(mm/yr)

-300

1.4 Application in Engineering

Hydrology finds its greatest application in the design and operation of water resources engineering projects
The capacity of storage structures such as reservoir The magnitude of flood flows to enable safe disposal of the excess flow The minimum flow and quantity of flow available at various seasons The interaction of the flood wave and hydraulic structures, such as levees, reservoirs, barrages and bridges

THE END