Unit Hydrograph Concepts and Applications
Unit Hydrograph Concepts and Applications
Unit Hydrograph
Different options
Unit hydrograph (most popular)
Lumped (global) model
Hydrological response at the basin
outlet from an effective rainfall, 1 mm,
duration D minutes, uniformly
distributed all over the basin
UH Hipothesis
Linear response
Time invariant (rain event)
Q 1 mm effective rainfall
Effective rainfall
d
Tiempo
Tb t
Problems in the application
Sherman - 1932
Horton - 1933
Wisler & Brater - 1949 - “the hydrograph of
surface runoff resulting from a relatively short,
intense rain, called a unit storm”
Standardly used in most professional codes for
rural basins
Unit Hydrograph “Lingo”
Duration
Lag Time
Time of Concentration
Rising Limb
Recession Limb (falling
limb)
Peak Flow
Time to Peak (rise time)
Recession Curve
Separation
Base flow
Graphical Representation
Duration
Lag Time Duration of
excess precip.
Time of
Concentration
Rising Limb
Recession Limb Lag time
(falling limb)
Time of
Peak Flow
concentration
Time to Peak (rise
time)
Base flow
Recession Curve
Separation
Base flow
How to get the UH
Puntos capitales:
1-inch 1-mm of effective rainfall
Graphical process
Hyetograph defined
with time steps “d”
Use the unit
hydrograph for
duration “d”
Addition of different
sub-hydrographs
How to use the UH
Rules of Thumb :
… the storm should be fairly uniform in nature and the excess
precipitation should be equally as uniform throughout the basin.
This may require the initial conditions throughout the basin to
be spatially similar.
… Second, the storm should be relatively constant in time,
meaning that there should be no breaks or periods of no
precipitation.
… Finally, the storm should produce at least an inch (1 mm)
of excess precipitation (the area under the hydrograph after
correcting for baseflow).
Deriving a UHG from a
Storm
25000 0.8
0.7
20000
0.6
Precipitation (inches)
0.5
15000
Flow (cfs)
0.4
10000
0.3
0.2
5000
0.1
0 0
4
2
0
8
0
8
16
24
32
40
48
56
64
72
80
88
96
10
11
12
12
Time (hrs.)
Derived Unit Hydrograph
700.0000
600.0000 Total
Hydrograph
500.0000
Surface
400.0000 Response
300.0000
Baseflow
200.0000
100.0000
0.0000
0.0000 0.5000 1.0000 1.5000 2.0000 2.5000 3.0000 3.5000 4.0000
UH obtention
groundwater 500.0000
Surface
Response
response 400.0000
300.0000
Baseflow
We want just
200.0000
the surface
100.0000
response
0.0000
0. 0
00
0. 0
00
0. 0
00
1. 0
1. 0
00
1. 0
00
1. 0
00
2. 0
00
2. 0
2. 0
00
3. 0
00
3. 0
00
3. 0
00
0
0
00
16
32
48
64
80
96
12
28
44
60
76
92
08
24
40
56
72
88
04
20
36
52
68
0.
0.
0.
0.
1.
1.
2.
2.
2.
3.
3.
Separation of Baseflow
Groundwater
Recession side of hydrograph
response, 10000 becomes linear at approximately hour
64.
exponential 1000
Flow (cfs)
Use log paper
100
to determine the
separation point 10
4
9
4
9
4
9
4
29
34
39
44
49
54
59
64
69
74
79
84
89
94
99
10
10
11
11
12
12
13
Time (hrs.)
Hydrograph & Baseflow
25000
20000
15000
Flow (cfs)
10000
5000
0
0
7
14
21
28
35
42
49
56
63
70
77
84
91
98
105
112
119
126
133
Time (hrs.)
Separate Baseflow
25000
20000
15000
Flow (cfs)
10000
5000
5
2
9
6
3
0
7
14
21
28
35
42
49
56
63
70
77
84
91
98
10
11
11
12
13
Time (hrs.)
Separation of Baseflow
Matrix approach
I1 0 0 0 Q1
I2 I1 0 0 u1 Q 2
I3 I 2 I1 0 u2 Q3
0 I 3 I 2 I1 u3 Q4
0 0 I3 I2 u4 Q5
Q6
0 0 0 I3
PU Q
UH from field data
Considering a matrix algebra, we can obtain
the vector U, from vectos Q and matrix P
PU Q
PU Q
P T PU P T Q
U P P T
1 T
P Q
UH of D’ from D minutes UH
Consider a 50000.00
mm/h 0.00
0
6
12
18
24
30
36
42
48
54
60
66
72
78
84
90
96
102
108
114
120
Hydrological Time (hrs.)
response?
S curve
UH of D’ from D minutes UH
SCS
Clark (Time-area method)
SCS SUH
SCS proposal
Simple SCS Dimensionless UHG Features
1
shapes
0.6
Single peak
Q/Qpeak
0.4
0.2
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
T/Tpeak
Triangular SHU
D SCS Dimensionless UHG & Triangular Representation
1.2 Excess
Precipitation
Tlag
0.8
Flow ratios
Cum. Mass
Q/Qpeak
Triangular
0.6
Point of
Inflection
Tc
0.4
0.2
0
0.0 Tp 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0
Tb
T/Tpeak
Dimensionless Ratios
Time Ratios Discharge Ratios Mass Curve Ratios
(t/tp) (q/qp) (Qa/Q)
0 .000 .000
.1 .030 .001
.2 .100 .006
.3 .190 .012
.4 .310 .035
.5 .470 .065
.6 .660 .107
.7 .820 .163
.8 .930 .228
.9 .990 .300
1.0 1.000 .375
1.1 .990 .450
1.2 .930 .522
1.3 .860 .589
1.4 .780 .650
1.5 .680 .700
1.6 .560 .751
1.7 .460 .790
1.8 .390 .822
1.9 .330 .849
2.0 .280 .871
2.2 .207 .908
2.4 .147 .934
2.6 .107 .953
2.8 .077 .967
3.0 .055 .977
3.2 .040 .984
3.4 .029 .989
3.6 .021 .993
3.8 .015 .995
4.0 .011 .997
4.5 .005 .999
5.0 .000 1.000
Triangular Representation D SCS Dimensionless UHG & Triangular Representation
1.2 Excess
Precipitation
Tb 2.67 x Tp 1
Tlag
Tr Tb - Tp 1.67 x Tp 0.8
Flow ratios
Cum. Mass
Q/Qpeak
Triangular
Point of
Q= + = (T p +T r ) Tc
Inflection
2 2 2 0.4
2Q 0.2
qp=
T p +T r 0
0.0 Tp 1.0
Tb
2.0 3.0
T/Tpeak
4.0 5.0
654.33 x 2 x A x Q
qp= The 645.33 is the conversion used for delivering 1-
T p +T r inch of runoff (the area under the unit hydrograph)
from 1-square mile in 1-hour (3600 seconds).
484 A Q
qp=
Tp
Duration & Timing?
Again from the triangle
D
T p= + L
2 L = Lag time
L 0.6 * Tc
Tc D 1.7 T p
D
+ 0.6 T c = T p
2
For estimation purposes should be around : D 0.133 Tc
Regression Eqs.
Segmental Approach
Time of Concentration
L
Tc 0.3( 0.25
) 0.76
J
Tc, is it always the same?
L0.8 (S 1) 0.7 L
Tlag Tc 0.3( 0.25
) 0.76
Propossed by Clark
Considering the basin shape, not just the
total area
Consider delays attributed to sub-surface
runoff
Need to be applied in non regular shape
basins
Clark - Time-Area
Time-Area
Synthetic UH, equal form as the time-area curve
It can show more than one peak
100%
Time
Q % Area of conc.
Time Time
Additional delay
Presence of sub-surface runoff
Runoff shows an additional delay, that can
not be explained just for surface runoff
Reservoir model for the
delay
Conceptual model
Assume that additional delay is equal to the
produced by a water reservoir
I (UH Clark) dS
I Q
dt
K Q
Storage description
General approach
S K1 Q K 2 Q K n Q
2 n
K T
Mathematical description
If K is contant in time
dQ
I QK
dt
2 t Q1 Q1
Q2 I1 2 K t
2K t
K values
7
7
6
6
6
2
5 0
4 3
1
5
Basin geometry
Isocrones Area Accum. Area Accum
Area # (km2) (km2) Time (hrs)
1 0-1 5 5 1.0
2 1-2 9 14 2.0
3 2-3 23 37 3.0
4 3-4 19 58 4.0
5 4-5 27 85 5.0
6 5-6 26 111 6.0
7 6-7 39 150 7.0
8
8 7-8 40 190 8.0
7
TOTAL 190 190 8.0
7
7
6
6
6
2
5 0
4 3
1
5
Time area curve
40
35
25
20
15
8 10
7 5
7
7 0
6
6 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
6 Time Increment (hrs)
2
5 0
4 3
1
5
Time accumulated area
9
7
Cumulative Area (sqaure miles)
6
8 Watershed 1
Boundary
7
Isochrone 0
7 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
7
6
6 Time (hrs)
6
2
5 0
4 3
1
5
No time / area curve ?