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Example Problem: Unit Hydrograph

1) A unit hydrograph was obtained for a 315 km2 basin using stream flow and rainfall data. 2) The direct runoff hydrograph was separated from the observed stream flow hydrograph. 3) The volume of direct runoff was used to normalize the direct runoff hydrograph into a unit hydrograph with units of m3/s/cm. 4) The duration of the effective rainfall and unit hydrograph was determined to be 2 hours based on the rainfall and losses volumes.

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1K views

Example Problem: Unit Hydrograph

1) A unit hydrograph was obtained for a 315 km2 basin using stream flow and rainfall data. 2) The direct runoff hydrograph was separated from the observed stream flow hydrograph. 3) The volume of direct runoff was used to normalize the direct runoff hydrograph into a unit hydrograph with units of m3/s/cm. 4) The duration of the effective rainfall and unit hydrograph was determined to be 2 hours based on the rainfall and losses volumes.

Uploaded by

Maitrabarun Karjee
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Unit hydrograph

Example Problem

Obtain a Unit Hydrograph for a basin of 315 km2 of area using the rainfall and
stream flow data tabulated below.

Stream flow data Rainfall data


Time (hr) Observed hydrograph(m3/s)
0 100
Time Gross PPT
1 100
(hr) (GRH) (cm/h)
2 300 0-1 0.5
3 700 1-2 2.5
4 1000
5 800
2-3 2.5
6 600 3-4 0.5
7 400
8 300
9 200
10 100

11 100

Module 3
Unit hydrograph

Example Problem Contd…

• Empirical unit hydrograph derivation separates the base flow from the observed
stream flow hydrograph in order to obtain the direct runoff hydrograph (DRH). For
this example, use the horizontal line method to separate the base flow. From
observation of the hydrograph data, the stream flow at the start of the rising limb
of the hydrograph is 100 m3/s
• Compute the volume of direct runoff. This volume must be equal to the volume of
the effective rainfall hyetograph (ERH)

VDRH = (200+600+900+700+500+300+200+100) m3/s (3600) s = 12'600,000 m3

• Express VDRH in equivalent units of depth:

VDRH in equivalent units of depth = VDRH/Abasin = 12'600,000 m3/(315000000


m2) = 0.04 m = 4 cm

Module 3
Obtain a Unit Hydrograph by normalizing the DRH. Normalizing implies dividing the
ordinates of the DRH by the VDRH in equivalent units of depth
Time (hr) Observed Direct Runoff Unit Hydrograph
hydrograph(m3/s) Hydrograph (m3/s/cm)
(DRH) (m3/s)

0 100 0 0
1 100 0 0
2 300 200 50
3 700 600 150
4 1000 900 225
5 800 700 175
6 600 500 125
7 400 300 75
8 300 200 50
9 200 100 25
10 100 0 0
11 100 0 0
Module 3
Unit hydrograph

Example Problem Contd…

1200

Observed hydrograph
1000

DRH
800
Q (m3/s)

600

Unit hydrograph
400

200

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12

Time (hr)

Module 3
Unit hydrograph

Example Problem Contd…

• Determine the duration D of the ERH associated with the UH obtained in 4.


In order to do this:

1. Determine the volume of losses, VLosses which is equal to the difference


between the volume of gross rainfall, VGRH, and the volume of the
direct runoff hydrograph, VDRH .
VLosses = VGRH - VDRH = (0.5 + 2.5 + 2.5 +0.5) cm/h 1 h - 4 cm = 2 cm

2. Compute the f-index equal to the ratio of the volume of losses to the
rainfall duration, tr. Thus,
ø-index = VLosses/tr = 2 cm / 4 h = 0.5 cm/h

3. Determine the ERH by subtracting the infiltration (e.g., ø-index) from


the GRH:

Module 3
Unit hydrograph

Example Problem Contd…

Time (hr) Effective


precipitation (ERH)
(cm/hr)
0-1 0
1-2 2
2-3 2
3-4 0

As observed in the table, the duration of the effective rainfall hyetograph is 2 hours.
Thus, D = 2 hours, and the Unit Hydrograph obtained above is a 2-hour Unit
Hydrograph.

Module 3

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