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Analysis of Instantaneous Unit Hydrograph Parameters

Article · July 2011

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Dhaka Univ. J. Sci. 59(2): 217-221, 2011 (July)

Analysis of Instantaneous Unit Hydrograph Parameters

Md. Motaleb Hossain
Department of Mathematics, Dhaka University, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh
E-mail: [email protected]
Received on 28. 04. 2010. Accepted for Publication on 20. 02. 2011

Abstract
The runoff measured at the basin outlet, when plotted against time gives the hydrograph. If the duration of effective rainfall approaches
zero, the hydrograph may be called as an instantaneous unit hydrograph. It is generally abbreviated as IUH. The IUH has been studied in
details to find out the sensitivity of scalar and shape parameters. Method of momentum is used to derive scalar and shape parameters. The
scalar parameter has effect for peak discharge and shape parameter is sensitive for flow duration.

List of Symbols (i) The unit hydrograph is the direct runoff hydrograph
produced by a storm of given duration such that the total
A Basin area in km2 volume of excess rainfall is 1 mm. The total volume of
I Inflow direct runoff is also 1 mm.
Q Discharge
u Ordinate of unit hydrograph (ii) The ordinates of UH indicate the direct runoff flow
k Scalar parameter produced by the watershed for every millimeter of excess
n Shape parameter rainfall.
S Storage
i Effective rainfall (iii) Storms of different durations produce different UHs
Mm mth moment about the origin even if the excess rainfall volume is always 1mm.
tr Rainfall duration (iv) Longer storms will likely produce smaller peaks and
tl Basin lag longer duration in the UH.
qp Peak discharge
L Length of the main stream III. Assumptions of Unit Hydrograph
Lc Distance between outlet and a point
Unit hydrograph theory assumes that watersheds behave as
Ct Coefficient of gauged watershed for retention
Cr Coefficient of gauged watershed for storage linear systems. The following are the fundamental
assumptions of UH theory.
I. Introduction (i) The duration of direct runoff is always the same for
The unit hydrograph is defined as a direct runoff hydrograph uniform-intensity storms of same duration, regardless of the
resulting from 1 unit of excess rainfall generated uniformly intensity. This means that the time base of the hydrograph
over the drainage area at a constant rate for an effective
does not change and that the intensity only affects the
duration. A unit hydrograph (UH) is used to more easily
represent the effect of rainfall of a particular basin. It is a discharge.
hypothetical unit response of the watershed to a unit input of (ii) The unit hydrograph concept is commonly used as a
rainfall. This allows easy calculation of the response to any convenient tool to calculate hydrographs and it gives results
arbitrary input (rainfall), by simply performing a
within acceptable levels of accuracy.
convolution between the rain input and the unit hydrograph
output. IV. Use and Application of Unit Hydrograph
II. Description of Unit Hydrograph (UH) The unit hydrographs are used in many hydrological
problems such as
Runoff hydrograph usually consists of a fairly regular lower
portion those changes slowly throughout the year and (i) in the development of flood hydrograph corresponding to
rapidly fluctuating the component that represents the design storms which are required for the design of hydraulic
immediate response to rainfall. structures.
The lower portion of runoff is termed base flow. The rapidly (ii) in the study of flood forecasting and flood warning
fluctuating component is called direct runoff. This systems.
distinction is made because the unit hydrograph is
(iii) in extending the flood flow records based on rainfall
essentially a tool for determining the direct runoff response
records.
to rainfall.
218 Md. Motaleb Hossain

V. Limitation of Unit Hydrograph product LLc is a measure of watershed shape. Ct is a

It is known that uniform intensity over long durations is less coefficient derived from gauged watersheds in the same
region, and represents variations in watershed slopes and
likely, so the storms selected for unit hydrographs analysis storage characteristics. The peak discharge of the standard
should be of short duration. Short duration storms would unit hydrograph (equation 3) is in m3/s, A is the basin area in
most likely produce an intense and nearly uniform effective km2 and c2 = 2.78. As ct , cp is a coefficient derived from
rainfall yielding a well-defined single peaked hydrograph.
gauged watersheds in the area, and represents the effects of
Again the uniform aerial distribution of rainfall over area is retention and storage.
less likely; the unit hydrographs can be applied only to cp and ct are model parameters which indicate input and
output flow. In addition, the values of L and Lc must also be
drainage basins with small area. In case of large basins, the
available. From the concurrent input-output observations, a
basin has to be divided into small sub-basins and each sub- unit hydrograph for the basin can be developed.
basin is subjected to analysis for storms covering the whole
If non-standard rainfall duration t R is adopted, instead of tr
sub-basin. The unit hydrographs are best suited to area not
more than 5000 km2 although they have been applied to to derive a unit hydrograph the value of the basin lag is
affected. The modified basin lag is given by
fairly large area with varying degree of success.
t −t
VI. Snyder’s Synthetic Unit Hydrograph t l ' = t l + R r ... ... (4)
The synthetic unit hydrograph of Snyder1 is based on 4
relationships found between three characteristics of a where t l = basin lag in hours for an effective duration of
'

standard unit hydrograph and descriptors of basin '

morphology. The hydrograph characteristics are t R h and t l is as given by Eq. (1). The value of tl must be
the effective rainfall duration = t r used instead of t l in Eq. (3). Thus the peak discharge and
the peak direct runoff rate = q p and time to peak discharge for a nonstandard effective rainfall of
duration t R are given by the following equations
the basin lag time = t l
From these relationships, five characteristics of a required t l ' = ct ( LLc ) 0.3 ... ... (5)
unit hydrograph for a given effective rainfall duration may C 2C p A
be calculated. q pR = ... ... (6)
These are given below, the peak discharge per unit of tl '
watershed area = q pR , the basin lag t l the base time Note that when t R = t r and q p = q pR .
= t b and the widths = W of the unit hydrograph at 50 and The time base of a unit hydrograph is given by Synder1 as
75 percent of the peak discharge. tl '
tb = 3 +
days = (72 + 3t l ' ) ... ... (7)
VII. Standard Unit Hydrograph 8
where tb = time base. While Eq. (7) gives reasonable
A standard unit hydrograph is associated with specific
effective rainfall duration, t r defined by the following estimates of tb for large catchments, it may gives
excessively large values of the time base for small
relationship with basin lag, t l ,
catchments. Taylor and Schwartz2 recommend
t l = 5.5 t r ... ... (1) t
tb = 5(t l ' + R ) hours ... ... (8)
2
For a standard unit hydrograph the basin lag tl and the with tb taken as the next larger integer value divisible by t R
peak discharge q p are given by, i.e. by tb is about five times the time-to-peak.

t l = ct ( LLc ) 0.3 ... ... (2) To assist in sketching of unit hydrographs, the widths of unit
hydrographs at 50% and 75% of peak have been found for
c2 c p A US catchments by the US Army Crops of Engineers. These
qp = ... ... (3) widths (in time units) are correlated to the peak discharge
l
t
intensity and are given by
5.97
The basin lag time of the standard unit hydrograph (equation W50 = ... ... (9)
2) is in hours, L is the length of the main stream in q1.08
kilometers from the outlet to the upstream divide, Lc is the
W 50
distance in kilometers from the outlet to a point on the and W 75 = ... ... (10)
stream nearest the centroid of the watershed area. The 1.75
Analysis of Instantaneous Unit Hydrograph Parameters 219

where W X = width of unit hydrograph in h at X % where M(d) and N(d) are the differential operators relative to
peak discharge M (d )
the I and Q, respectively. The ratio is defined as the
qp N (d )
q= = peak discharge per unit catchment transfer function of the system.
A
area. XI. Instantaneous Unit Hydrograph of Nash
VIII. Instantaneous Unit Hydrograph The instantaneous unit hydrograph proposed by Nash3
(1957) is a conceptual model of a catchment is assumed to
To obtain runoff hydrograph resulting from a storm of be made up of a series of n identical linear reservoirs each
varying duration and varying intensities, it is preferable to having the same storage coefficient K. The first reservoir
have a unit graph with very short duration. Theoretically the receives a unit volume equal to 1 cm of effective rain from
shortest duration approaches zero. Accordingly if the the catchment instantaneously. This inflow is routed through
duration of effective rainfall approaches zero, the unit the first reservoir to get the outflow hydrograph. The out
hydrograph may be called as an instantaneous unit flow from the first reservoir is considered as the input to the
hydrograph. It is generally abbreviated as IUH second and so on for all the n reservoirs. The outflow
hydrograph from the nth reservoir is taken as the IUH of the
IX. Instantaneous Unit Hydrograph Resulting from catchment.
Conceptual Models Equation (13) may be written as
The conceptual unit hydrographs result from the dQ 1 1
+ Q(t ) = I (t ) ... ... (15)
representation of the integration process of the effective dt k k
rainfall as a cascade of reservoirs that fill and deplete Considering the equation of convolution the expression of
according to certain laws. Let us consider one reservoir as Q(t) is
presented in the Fig.1 that is characterized by three t
Q(t ) = I (r ) u (t − r )dr ... ... (16)
∫0
functions that are the rate of filling I(t), the storage S(t), and
the rate of depletion Q(t). and one can obtain this solution
1
1 (− (t − r ))
u (t − r ) = e k ... ... (17)
k
Thus the output from the first reservoir becomes the input in
the second one and so on. Therefore, replacing t − r by r
yields
r
1 −
u ( r ) = e k ... ... (18)
k
The convolution equation (16) allows for determining the
Figure.1. Linear reservoir
output from the second reservoir
t
Q2 (t ) = ∫ I (r ) u (t − r )dr
0
X. Important Laws to Drive Instantaneous Unit r − (t − r )
−
Hydrograph of Nash Model t1 1
=∫ e k e k dt ... ... (19)
dS 0k k
Continuity Law: = I (t ) − Q(t ) ... ... (11)
t
dt
t (− )
Storage Law: S (t ) = K ⋅ Q(t ) ... ... (12) or Q 2 (t ) = e k ... ... ( 20)
k2
This outflow is then used as the inflow to the third reservoir.
where K is the storage coefficient and it is a constant that
confers to the reservoir the property of linearity. Continuing this procedure will yield the output flow Qn (t )
from the nth reservoir of the Nash3 instantaneous unit
Now replacing equation (12) in equation (11), we obtain hydrograph is obtained as
dQ t
K⋅ + Q = I ... ... (13) 1  t  ( n − 1) (− k )
dt u (t ) = Qn (t ) =   e ... ... (21)
kΓn  k 
where Γ(n) is the gamma function defined as
The solution of this equation is of the type:
Γ(n) = ∫ x (n − 1) e − x dx ... ... (22)
∞
0
M (d )
Q= ⋅ I ... ... (14) with the following iterative relation
N (d ) n != nΓ(n) ... ... (23)
220 Md. Motaleb Hossain

Relation (22) is the probabilistic Γ distribution function with The effect of routing the input through a series of linear
two parameters. It is well known that the integral of the reservoirs is to transform each elementary block of rainfall
probabilistic distribution function is always equal to 1, I (τ ) ⋅ dτ into an elementary outflow
which is the volume of the unit hydrograph.
I (τ ) ⋅ dτ − t / K  t  n − 1
The increase time tp and the peak discharge Qp are derived e ⋅  
dQ
KΓ n K
by solving the equation = 0 as follows
dt Consequently the center of area of each elementary block is
t p = K (n − 1) ... ... (24) moved to the right by an amount , and the center of area
( n − 1) (n − 1) e (1 − n)
1 of the total outflow is also moved to the right by nK. So, we
Qp = ... ... (25)
K (n − 1) ! have
Finally, the ordinates of the instantaneous unit hydrograph MQ1 − MI1 = nK ... ... (27)
might be expressed as a function of the increase time and where
the peak discharge, as given below
MQ1 = the first moment of the direct runoff, and
t
(1 − n)
 t  t p n −1 MI1 = the first moment of the direct rainfall.
Q (t ) = Q p  e
 e ... ... (26)
tp The elementary strip whose second moment about its own
 
The instantaneous unit hydrograph derived by Nash is 2
origin is n (n + 1) K 2 will give an elementary outflow. Now
determined only as a function of two parameters, namely n weighing the second moment of each routed strip with the
and k. The influence of these parameters upon the shape and area of each strip and transferring moments to the beginning
the magnitude of the hydrograph are presented in Fig. 2 and of effective rainfall we get
Fig. 3.
MQ2 = n(n + 1) K 2 + MI 2 + 2nK .MI1
XII. Method of Momentum for valuation of n and k
or MQ2 − MI 2 = n(n + 1) K 2 + 2nK .MI1 ... ... (28)
Moments represent certain characteristics of a function such
where MQ2 is the second moment of direct runoff and MI 2
as mean, variance, skewness and can be called descriptors of
that function. The method of obtaining the values of n and k is the second moment of effective rainfall.
from the recorded rainfall and runoff of a storm event is
Equation (27) and (28) are used to evaluate n and k from the
now explained. The mth moment of any area about the
observed rainfall and runoff record.
f ( x) dx . x m
origin is defined as M m = ∫ ⋅ Nash3 also showed that good correlation exists between the
∫ f ( x) dx
IUH parameters n and K, and the basin parameters like
From the above definition the mth moment of IUH the length of main steam, slope area etc. From his study on
∞

origin is given by M m =
∫ 0
u (t ) dt . t m some catchments in United Kingdom, he established the
following relations:
∞
n = 2.29 L0.1
∫ u(t) dt
0
... ... ( 29)

Since the area of IUH is always unity, so 1.2 A 0.3

K= ... ... (30)
∞ n −1 L0.1S 0.3
1 −t / k 
t 
=
∫
m
Mm e   t dt where A is the basin area in km2, L is the length of main
KΓn 0  
K
n−1 m
stream in km, S is the slope of the basin expressed as a
Km ∞  t   t   t 
=
Γn ∫ 0
e −t / k  
K
  d 
 
K K
dimensionless ratio and K is in hours.

and from the definition of gamma function given by XIII. Sensitivity Analysis of IUH for Scalar Parameter k
∞
∫
equation Γ n = − x n −1
e ⋅ x dx we can write the Nash3 proposed a cascade of n linear reservoirs as a model
0
on which to base the derivative of IUH’s for natural
above equation as M m = K Γ ( m + n ) ⋅
m
watersheds. The model is a two parameters gamma
Γn
distribution function where n is the shape parameter and k is
As there are two parameters to be evaluated, it is sufficient
the scalar parameter. When rainfall and runoff data are
if we calculate the first two moments. Therefore, for m = 1,
available the scalar parameter can be estimated as the ratio
the first moment of IUH M 1 = nK and for m = 1, the of first order moment of IUH about the origin to n. The
second moment of IUH effect of scalar parameter k of IUH for a drainage basin area
M 2 = n(n + 1) K 2 . 200 km2 is shown Fig.2.
 Analysis of Instantaneous Unit Hydrograph Parameters 221

In Fig.3 it is seen that if the values of n are increased then

Graph of IUH for different values of k and n = 2
the values of discharge are decreased but not as quickly as
25 for k. On the other hand the duration of flow is increased for
smaller values of n.
XV. Conclusion
20
My main aim of this work was the analysis of unit
hydrograph parameter for water flow. Hydrograph
15 represents the graphical representation of discharge or peak
m /s

flow. Here it is discussed somewhat about instantaneous

3

unit hydrograph parameters n and k. From Fig.2, it is seen

10
that if k is increased then discharge is decreased quickly and
k = 4, 6, 8, 10

Fig.3 shown that if the value of n is increased then the

5
duration of flow is increased.

From the above discussion, it is conclusion that scalar

0 parameter k is sensitive for pick flow and shape parameter n
20 40 60 80
Time ( hour ) is sensitive for duration of water flow.
………………..
Fig. 2 IUH for scalar parameters k
1. Franklin .F. Snyder (1997), Water Resources: Hydraulics
In the above figure 2 if the values of k are increased then the and Hydrology-US Army Corps of Engineers.
values of discharges is quickly decreased, but the duration 2. Taylor, A.B. and Schwartz, H.E., Unit Hydrograph Lag
of discharge is increased Related to Basin Characteristics: Am. Geophys, Union
Trans., 33 (1952), 235 – 246
XIV. Sensitivity Analysis of IUH for shape parameter n
3. Nash (2000)-Hydrology and Resources Engineers-Narosa
In Nash3 model the shape parameter is n. When rainfall and
runoff data are available the shape parameter can be 4. K Subramanya (1994)-Engineering Hydrology-McGraw-
estimated as the inverse of the second non-dimensional Hill Publication Company, New Delhi, pp 200-220.
moment of the IUH about the centroid. The effect of scalar 5. P. Jayarami Reddi (1994) Text book of Hydrology, Laxmi
parameter n on IUH for a drainage basin area 200 km2 is Pulications(P) Ltd. New Delhi, pp 394-409.
shown Fig.3.

Graph of IUH for different values of n and k = 5

4.5

3.5

2.5
m3/s

1.5

0.5
n = 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
0
25 50 75 100
Time ( hour )

Fig. 3 IUH for shape parameter n

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