Egyptian Russian University Engineering Hydrology

‫الجامعة المصرية الروسية‬ CE307

Faculty of Engineering Spring 2019-2020
Model Answer Sheet (4)

1. Given the total discharge in (m3/sec) due to a rainfall storm occurred for 3hrs on a
catchment of 10000 Km2. Find the unit hydrograph of this storm.
Time (Hrs) Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Time (Hrs) Day 1 Day 2 Day 3
3 am 600 4600 1500 3 pm 8000 2700 550
6 am 550 4000 1250 6 pm 7000 2400 550
9 am 6000 3500 950 9 pm 6100 2100 550
noon 9500 3100 700 midnight 5300 1750 550
By drawing the hydrograph it was clearly noticed that there is a base flow contribution
so it should be separated as follows:
Assume the base flow is linear; the first Time 3-hr
Qt Qb Qd
point of the base flow is at 6 am of the (hrs) m3/sec m3/sec m3/sec Qu
3
first day. In order to calculate the second m /sec
point of the base flow line 3 600 550 -- --
6 550 550 0 0
N = 0.83 (A)0.2 = 0.83(10000) 0.2 =5.237
9 6000 550 5450 833.41
days ≈ 126 hours. However, by 12 9500 550 8950 1368.63
inspection, DRH starts at t = 6, has the 15 8000 550 7450 1139.25
peak at t = 12 h and ends at t = 63 h 18 7000 550 6450 986.33
(which gives a value of N = 63-12 = 51h). 21 6100 550 5550 848.70
As N = 51 h appears to be more 24 5300 550 4750 726.37
satisfactory. 27 4600 550 4050 619.32
30 4000 550 3450 527.57
From the hydrograph it is clearly that the
33 3500 550 2950 451.11
base flow is constant with value 550
36 3100 550 2550 389.94
m3/sec. 39 2700 550 2150 328.78
The total volume of the direct flow (V) is 42 2400 550 1850 282.90
equal: V= 60*60*3 (5450+8950+7450 45 2100 550 1550 237.02
+6450+5550+4750+4050+3450+2950 48 1750 550 1200 183.50
+2550+2150+1850+1550+1200+950 51 1500 550 950 145.27
+700+400+150) =653940000 = 0.65*109 54 1250 550 700 107.04
57 950 550 400 61.17
m3 .
60 700 550 150 22.94
RE = V/A = (0.65*109)/ 10000*106 =
63 550 550 0 0
0.065m= 6.5 cm 66 550 550 0 0
Qu = Qd/RE 69 550 550 -- --
72 550 550 -- --
Egyptian Russian University Engineering Hydrology
‫الجامعة المصرية الروسية‬ CE307
Faculty of Engineering Spring 2019-2020

2. The following table shows the hydrograph of a catchment of 40Km2, due to a storm
occurred for (2hrs). Calculate the total volume of the direct flow due to this storm
and its Excess in cm then calculate the unit hydrograph of the storm on this
catchment
The base flow to be deducted Base
Time Qt Qd 2-hr Qu
from the total hydrograph 3 flow
(Hours) m /sec 3 m /sec m3/sec
3
element to get the direct runoff m /sec
hydrograph. 4 8 8 0 0.00
To calculate the volume of the 6 20 6 14 3.58
direct runoff, the area under the 8 25 6 19 4.86
hydrograph curve is calculated as 10 32 5 27 6.91
follows 12 50 5 45 11.52
V= 60*60*2 (14+19+27+45+66 14 70 4 66 16.90
3
+25+21) = 1562400 m 16 30 5 25 6.40
6
RE= V/A = (1.5624*10 )/ 18 28 7 21 5.38
6
40*10 20 8 8 0 0.00
RE = 0.0391 m = 3.91 cm
Egyptian Russian University Engineering Hydrology
‫الجامعة المصرية الروسية‬ CE307
Faculty of Engineering Spring 2019-2020

3. Known the (6hr) unit hydrograph as shown in the following table. Find the peak
discharge and its time of occurrence due to storm on the same watershed occurred
for 12 hr in which the Rainfall Excess for the first (6hr) was 3 cm and the second
(6hr) was 2 cm.
Time 6-hr Q1 = Q2 = Qd
(Hrs) Qu Qu*3 Qu*2 (12hr)
0 0 0 -- 0
3 25 75 -- 75
6 50 150 0 150
9 85 255 50 305
12 125 375 100 475
15 160 480 170 650
18 185 555 250 805
21 173 519 320 839
24 160 480 370 850
30 110 330 346 676
36 60 180 320 500
42 36 108 220 328
48 25 75 120 195
54 16 48 72 120
60 8 24 50 74
66 2.7 8.1 32 40.1
69 0 0 16 16
75 0 0 5.4 5.4
81 -- -- 0 0
87 -- -- 0 0
Egyptian Russian University Engineering Hydrology
‫الجامعة المصرية الروسية‬ CE307
Faculty of Engineering Spring 2019-2020

4. Knowing the (6hr) unit hydrograph of a storm as shown in the following table. The
area of the basin is (A1) = 3230 km2. Another basin which is meteorologically and
hydrologically similar has an area (A2) = 2430 km2, and this basin is not gauged.
Derive a 6-hour synthetic-unit hydrograph of the same storm for the ungauged
basin.

Time (Hrs) 0 6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48 54 60 66 72
Q m3/sec 0 20 56 98 127 147 156 154 140 122 107 93 78
Time (Hrs) 78 84 90 96 102 108 114 120 126 132 138 144
Q m3/sec 65 52 41 30 20.7 14.5 10 6.7 4.5 2.2 1.1 0
Q unit = Qd/RE = Qd*A/V
Qd= Qu*V/A
Qd = (Qu) gauged * V/A1
Qd = (Qu) ungauged * V/A2
(Qu) ungauged = (Qu) gauged * A2/A1
A2/A1 = 2430/3230 ≈ 0.75

Time (Hrs) 0 6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48 54 60 66 72
Qu gauged 0 20 56 98 127 147 156 154 140 122 107 93 78
Q ungauged 0 15 42 73.5 95.25 110.25 117 115.5 105 91.5 80.25 69.75 58.5

Time (Hrs) 78 84 90 96 102 108 114 120 126 132 138 144
Qu gauged 65 52 41 30 20.7 14.5 10 6.7 4.5 2.2 1.1 0
Q ungauged 48.75 39 30.75 22.5 15.53 10.88 7.5 5.025 3.375 1.65 0.825 0
Egyptian Russian University Engineering Hydrology
‫الجامعة المصرية الروسية‬ CE307
Faculty of Engineering Spring 2019-2020

Qu gauge Qu ungauged
180
160
140
Q (m3/sec)

120
100
80
60
40
20
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Time (hr)
5. A flood hydrograph of a river draining a catchment of 189 km2 due to a 6 hour
isolated storm is in the form of a triangle with a base of 66 hour and a peak ordinate
of 30 m3/s occurring at the 10th hour from the start. Assuming zero base flow,
develop the 6-hour unit hydrograph for this catchment.
The volume of the direct flow = area of the triangle
V = 0.5*66*30*60*60 = 3.564*106 m3
RE = V/A 3.564*106 /189*106 = 1.886 cm
The Peak of the unit hydrograph = 30/1.886 = 15.91
The unit hydrograph is a triangle with base 66 hr and its peak is 15.91
Egyptian Russian University Engineering Hydrology
‫الجامعة المصرية الروسية‬ CE307
Faculty of Engineering Spring 2019-2020
6. Two storms each of 12-h duration and having rainfall excess values 3.0 and 4.0
cm respectively occur successively. The 4-cm RE rain follows the 3-cm rain. The
6-h unit hydrograph for the catchment is as shown below. Calculate the resulting
DRH.
1 st storm 3 cm 2nd storm 4 cm
Time 6-hr Qu Qd
Q1=Qu*1.5 Q2=Qu*1.5 Q3=Qu*2 Q3=Qu*2
0 0 0 -- -- -- 0
3 25 37.5 -- -- -- 37.5
6 50 75 0 -- -- 75
9 85 127.5 37.5 -- -- 165
12 125 187.5 75 0 -- 262.5
15 160 240 127.5 50 -- 417.5
18 185 277.5 187.5 100 0 565
21 160 240 240 170 50 700
24 110 165 277.5 250 100 792.5
27 60 90 240 320 170 820
30 36 54 165 370 250 839
33 25 37.5 90 320 320 767.5
36 16 24 54 220 370 668
39 8 12 37.5 120 320 489.5
42 0 0 24 72 220 316
45 -- -- 12 50 120 182
48 -- -- 0 32 72 104
51 -- -- -- 16 50 66
54 -- -- -- 0 32 32
57 -- -- -- -- 16 16
60 -- -- -- -- 0 0
The volume of the direct runoff ∑Qd*60*60*3 = 79002000 m3 = 79 MCM

6-hr Qu Direct Runoff Hydrograph

900
800
700
600
Q (m3/sec)

500
400
300
200
100
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Time (hr)
Egyptian Russian University Engineering Hydrology
‫الجامعة المصرية الروسية‬ CE307
Faculty of Engineering Spring 2019-2020
7. The peak of flood hydrograph due to a 3-h duration isolated storm in a catchment
is 270 m3/s. The total depth of rainfall is 5.9 cm, assuming an average infiltration
loss of 0.3 cm/h and a constant base flow of 20 m3/s. (a) estimate the peak of the
3-h unit hydrograph (UH) of this catchment. (b) If the area of the catchment is 567
km2 determine the base width of the 3-h unit hydrograph by assuming it to be
triangular in shape.

Solution
a) Duration of rainfall excess = 3 h
Loss = 0.3 cm/h ------- 3 h = 0.9 cm
Total depth of rainfall = 5.9 cm
Rainfall Excess = 5.9 - 0.9 = 5.0 cm
Peak flow:
3
Peak of flood hydrograph = 270 m /s
3
Base flow = 20 m /s
3
Peak of Direct Runoff Hydrograph = 250 m /s
Peak of 3-h unit hydrograph = peak of DRH / rainfall excess
250 3
= = 50 m /s
5
b) Let B = base width of the 3-h UH in hours.
Volume represented by the area of UH = volume of 1 cm depth over the
catchment Area of UH = (Area of catchment * 1 cm)
0.5 * B * 60 * 60 * 50 = 567*106 * 1/100
567∗104
B= = = 63 hr
9∗104