ROUTING

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 ROUTING
• used to predict the temporal and spatial variations of a
hydrograph (flood wave) as it traverses a river reach or
reservoir
• a procedure to determine the hydrograph at one point
on a stream from a known hydrograph at an upstream
point
• flood forecasting
• reservoir design
• watershed simulation
modeling, and
• comprehensive flood
control planning
studies

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 ROUTING

HYDROLOGIC ROUTING
• combine the continuity equation with some relationship
(either a linear or curvilinear relation) between storage,
outflow, and possibly inflow
• these relationships are usually assumed, empirical, or
analytical in nature
• an of example of such a relationship might be a stage-
discharge relationship
• or using
Manning’s
equation
1 2
3
1
Q = AR S 2
n

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 ROUTING

HYDRAULIC ROUTING
• combine the continuity equation with some more
physical relationship describing the actual physics of the
movement of the water
• the momentum equation is the common relationship
employed.
• in hydraulic routing
analysis, it is intended
that the dynamics of
the water or flood wave
movement be more
accurately described

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 ROUTING

• as discharge in a channel increases, stage also

increases and with it the volume of water in temporary
storage in the channel
• during the falling portion of a flood, an equal volume of
water must be released from storage
• as a result, a flood wave
moving down a channel appears to
have its time base lengthened and
(if volume remains constant) its crest
lowered
• the flood wave is then
said to be attenuated
 ROUTING

Lag

Attenuation
Discharge

Outflow
hydrograph

Inflow hydrograph

Time
Relationship among inflow, outflow and storage in a channel reach
due to a passing flood
 ROUTING

Problem:

• you have a hydrograph at one location (I)

• you have river characteristics (S = f(I,O))

Need:

• a hydrograph at different location (O)

wedge wedge

prism prism prism

I>O I=O I<O

 ROUTING

Continuity Equation
• assuming a negligible amount of loss or gain of water in
the course of flow through the reach, the total areas
under the hydrographs are equal, since the volume of
flood water is unchanged, the flood peak is attenuated
and delayed
• the difference between the ordinates of the inflow and
outflow hydrographs (represented by the shaded area),
is equal to the rate of storage of water in the reach
S
I −O =
t
• S/t is the change in storage during the period t
• I and O are the average inflow and outflow during t
• t is the Routing Period
• the value of S/t is positive when storage is increasing
and negative when storage is decreasing
 ROUTING

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 ROUTING

Continuity Equation (cont.)

• from principle of mass conservation, the change in flow
per unit length in a control volume is balanced by the
change in flow area per unit time
Q A
+ = 0 ; where Q = O − I and S = Ax
x t
• Q is the difference b/n the outflow and inflow
• S is the change in storage volume
S dS
= I − O or = I −O in differential from
St dt
= I − O t2 t2
St2 − S1 =  I dt −  O dt
t1 t1

I1 + I 2 O1 + O2 S 2 − S1 I1 + I 2 O1 + O2
S 2 − S1 = t− t or = −
2 2 t 2 2
 ROUTING

• the storage in a channel reach for unsteady flow depends

primarily on the inflow and outflow discharges and on the
geometric and hydraulic characteristics of the channel and
its control features
• assuming that the upstream and downstream end sections
of the reach have the same mean discharge and storage
relationship with respect to the depth y
I = ay n Si = by m
O = ay n So = by m
• a and n express the depth-discharge characteristics of the
section, b and m express the mean depth-storage
characteristics of the reach,
• Si and So are the storages referring to the depths at the
upstream and downstream sections, respectively
 ROUTING

• combining the equations

 I  mn  O  mn
Si = b  y So = b  y
a a
• Let X be a dimensionless factor that defines the relative
weights given to inflow and outflow in the determination of
the storage volume within the reach
S = X Si + (1 − X )So Equation for storage within a

S = K X I x + (1 − X )O x  reach at a given time
b
where K= and x=m
a m/n n
• storage in a stable river reach depends primarily on the
discharge into and out of a reach and on hydraulic
characteristics of the channel section
 ROUTING

Stream Channel Routing (Flood Routing)

• most stream channel routing applications are in flood flow
analysis, flood control design and flood forecasting
• uses mathematical relations to calculate outflow from a
stream channel once inflow, lateral contributions and
channel characteristics are known
• channel reach refers to a specific length of stream having
certain translation and storage properties
 ROUTING

Muskingum Method
• developed in the 1930’s in connection with the design of
flood protection schemes in the Muskingum River, Ohio
• most widely used method of hydrologic stream routing
• the Muskingum method assumes that m/n = 1 and lets
b/a = K, resulting in:
S = K X I + (1 − X )O
where K = the storage time constant for the reach
X = weighting factor that varies between 0 and 0.5
• If K and X are known, the routing procedure begins by
dividing time into a number of equal increments, t,
• expressing the continuity equation in finite difference form
S 2 − S1 I1 + I 2 O1 + O2
= −
t 2 2
 ROUTING

Muskingum Method (cont.)

• the storage change in the river reach during the routing
interval is then:
S2 − S1 = K X (I 2 − I1 ) + (1 − X )(O2 − O1 )
• and substituting this into Eq. 4 results in the Muskingum
routing equation:
O2 = Co I 2 + C1I1 + C2 I1
• where Co =
− KX + 0.5t
=
(t K ) − 2 X
K − KX + 0.5t 2(1 − X ) + (t K )

C1 =
KX + 0.5t
=
( t K ) + 2 X
K − KX + 0.5t 2(1 − X ) + (t K )
K − KX − 0.5t 2(1 − X ) − (t K )
C2 = =
K − KX + 0.5t 2(1 − X ) + (t K )
 ROUTING

Muskingum Method (cont.)

• the routing time interval t is normally assigned any
convenient value between K/3 and K
• note that K and t must have the same time units
• the three coefficients C0, C1 and C2 sum up to 1
• a rule-of-thumb for adequate temporal resolution is to make
the ratio tp/t  5
• in addition, the chosen t should be such that the routing
coefficients remain positive
• since I1 and I2 are known for every time increment, routing
is accomplished by solving the Muskingum routing equation
for successive t using each O2 as O1 for the next t
 ROUTING

Example 1: Perform flood routing for a reach of river given

X = 0.1 and K = 2 days. The inflow hydrograph with t = 1
day is shown in Table 1. Assume equal inflow and outflow
rates at the start.
− 2(0.1) + 0.5(1)
Solution:
Co = = 0.1304
2 − 2(0.1) + 0.5(1)
2(0.1) + 0.5(1)
C1 = = 0.3044
2 − 2(0.1) + 0.5(1)
2 − 2(0.1) − 0.5(1)
C2 = = 0.5652
2 − 2(0.1) + 0.5(1)

C0 + C1 + C2 = 0.1304 + 0.3044 + 0.5652 = 1

Channel routing by Muskingum method. ROUTING
Inflow Outflow
Date C0 I2 C1 I1 C2 O1
m3/s m3/s
0 352.0 - - - 352.0
1 587.0 76.5 107.2 199.0 382.7
2 1353.0 176.5 178.6 216.3 571.4
3 2725.0 355.4 411.8 323.0 1090.2
4 587×0.1304
4408.5 575.0 829.4 616.2 2020.6
5 5987.0 780.9 1341.7 1142.1 3264.7
6 6704.0 874.4 1822.1 1845.3 4541.8
7 6951.0 906.7
352×0.3304 2040.3 2567.1 5514.1
Co = 0.1304 8 6839.0 892.0 2115.5 3116.7 6124.2
9 6207.0 809.6 352×0.5652
2081.5 3461.5 6352.6
C1 = 0.3044 10 5346.0 697.3 1889.1 3590.6 6177.0
11 4560.0 594.8 76.5+107.2+199.0
1627.0 3491.4 5713.2
C2 = 0.5652 12 3861.5 503.7 1387.8 3229.2 5120.7
13 3007.0 392.2 1175.2 2894.3 4461.7
14 2357.5 307.5 915.2 2521.8 3744.5
15 1779.0 232.0 717.5 2116.5 3066.0
16 1405.0 183.3 541.4 1733.0 2457.7
17 1123.0 146.5 427.6 1389.1 1963.2
18 952.5 124.2 341.8 1109.6 1575.6
19 730.0 95.2 289.9 890.6 1275.7
20 605.0 78.9 222.2 721.0 1022.1
21 514.0 67.1 184.1 577.7 828.9
22 422.0 55.1 156.4 468.5 680.0
23 352.0 45.9 128.4 384.4 558.7
24 352.0 45.9 107.1 315.8 468.8
25 352.0 45.9 107.1 365.0 418.0
 ROUTING

Reservoir routing
• a reservoir is a natural or artificial feature designed to
store incoming water and release it regulated rates
• reservoir routing uses mathematical relations to calculate
outflow from a reservoir once inflow, initial conditions,
reservoir characteristics and operational rules are known
• two types: (a) linear reservoir method and (b) storage
indication method (modified Puls method)
• in ideal reservoirs, storage
is solely a function of
outflow: S = f (O )
S = KO n
• K is the storage coeff. and
n = exponent
 ROUTING

Linear Reservoir Routing

• for linear reservoirs, n = 1, such that
S1 = KO1 and S2 = KO2
• substituting to the continuity equation and solving for O2
O2 = Co I 2 + C1 I1 + C2 I1
• in which C0, C1 and C2 are routing coefficients defined as:
t K
Co = C1 =
2 + (t K )
2 − (t K )
C2 =
2 + (t K )
• C0 + C1 + C2 = 1; interpreted as weighting factors
 ROUTING

Storage Indication (modified Puls) method

• used to route streamflows through actual reservoirs, where
the relationship between storage and outflow is not linear
• rewriting the differential form of continuity equation
2S 2 2S1
+ O2 = I1 + I 2 + − O1
t t
• where the unknown values are on the left side (storage
indication quantity) and the known values (inflows, initial
outflow and storage) are on the right side
• requires geometric and hydraulic reservoir data
a. elevation – storage
b. elevation – outflow
c. storage – outflow
d. storage indication – outflow
 ROUTING

Reservoir routing procedure

• partly numerical and partly graphical procedure that can
be applied to either reservoir or stream flood routing.
• approximate size of the pipe may be determined from an
equation developed by Culp (1948)
1/2
𝑞𝑜 1500𝑉
= 1.25 − + 0.06
𝑞 𝑅𝐴
qo = outflow rate when pipe first flows full (m3/s)
q = peak inflow (m3/s)
V = available storage (ha-m)
R = runoff (mm)
A = drainage area (ha)
 ROUTING

Example: Design a combination flood control reservoir and

farm pond for a site with drainage area of 48.58 ha. The
actual runoff for a 50-yr return period is 88.9 mm and the
peak runoff rate is 5.38 m3/s. A depth of 2.44 m for the pond
is available below an elevation of 29.26 m. The storage
capacity of the reservoir above 29.26 m (0 stage) is shown
in Fig. 11.12. A box inlet spillway and circular concrete
outlet pipe are to be used in the outlet structure. The max.
allowable stage in the reservoir is 1.62 m at elev. 30.88 m.
By flood routing procedure, determine the size of the outlet
structure, actual water stage, elev. of the flood spillway
crest, and the max. height of the dam, allowing a net
freeboard of 0.61 m and a flow depth of 0.30 m in the flood
spillway.
 ROUTING

Reservoir routing procedure

Diagram of Example:

31.79
FB = 0.61
30.75
30.88
flow depth = 0.30 30.75
30.75
30.75
30.75 29.26
 ROUTING

Reservoir routing procedure

Diagram of Example:
 ROUTING

207

5.3
 ROUTING

Solution:
• stage = 1.62 m (5.3 ft), storage = 5.86 m3/s-h (207 cfs-h)
• storage = 5.86*3600/10,000 = 2.109 ha-m
1500∗2.109 1/2
• 𝑞𝑜 = 5.38 1.25 − + 0.06 = 1.94 𝑚3 /𝑠
88.9∗48.58

• assume a 0.9 x 1.1-m (3x3.5-ft) box inlet; crest length 2.9 m

(9.5 ft) and a 762-mm (30-in) outlet pipe. (Box-inlet area
should be about twice the area of the pipe).
• using a weir formula 𝑞 = 0.55𝐶𝐿ℎ3/2 with a C = 3.0 and
𝑎 2𝑔𝐻
pipe flow formula 𝑞 = with Ke = 1.0, n =
1+𝐾𝑒 +𝐾𝑏 +𝐾𝑐 𝐿
0.014, and L = 33.5 (110 ft), compute the spillway discharge
curve shown in Figure 11.12.
• qo = 1.81 m3/s (64 cfs) and is satisfactory
 ROUTING

64
 ROUTING

Solution:
• develop the inflow hydrograph (AENG 140)
• volume of runoff (area under the curve) = 4.32 ha-m
• compute the routing curve shown in Fig. 11.14; the
procedure is shown on Table 11.4 (based on continuity eqn)
Procedure
1. Select ∆t = 0.2 hr (10-15% of time to peak)
2. Select outflow rates. Take sufficient number to adequately
define the full range of spillway discharge (Fig. 11.12)
3. From Fig. 11.12, read the storage for the corresponding
outflow rate.
4. The rest of the terms are then computed.
ROUTING
 ROUTING
Fig. 11.12
Table 11.4 t = 0.2 0.17 / 0.2 0.28 / 2

O S S/t O/2 S/t +O/2

(m3/s) (m3/s-h) (m3/s) (m3/s) (m3/s)

0 0 0 0 0.00
0.17 0.10 0.48 0.09 0.57
0.28 0.17 0.85 0.14 0.99
0.57 0.34 1.70 0.29 1.99
0.85 0.48 2.41 0.43 2.83
1.13 0.62 3.12 0.57 3.68
1.42 0.77 3.83 0.71 4.54
1.70 0.94 4.68 0.85 5.53
1.81 1.13 5.67 0.91 6.57
1.93 2.27 11.34 0.97 12.30
2.04 3.88 19.41 1.02 20.43
2.15 6.18 30.89 1.08 31.96
0.85 + 0.14
 ROUTING
Fig. 11.12
0.15

0.28 10
6 0.17
 ROUTING
Fig. 11.14
 ROUTING

Example: Determine the outflow hydrograph (Table 11.5)

S 2 O2 I 1 + I 2  S1 O1 
+ = +  +  − O1
t 2 2  t 2 

• routing is continued until outflow rate exceeds inflow rate

• plot the outflow hydrograph (t vs. O)
• the storage volume may be checked by measuring the area
between the inflow and outflow hydrograph
• maximum storage may be computed from Col. 4:
26.64 − 2.12 5.12𝑚3 ∙ ℎ
𝑆= ∗ 0.2 = = 1.84 ℎ𝑎 ∙ 𝑚
2 𝑠
 ROUTING

Example:
• from Fig.11.12, the maximum water level height corr. to a
storage of 5.12 m3/s-h = 1.49 m (4.9 ft)
• crest elev. of flood spillway = 29.26 + 1.49 = 30.75 m
• maximum settled height of the dam is:
2.44 + 1.49 + 0.61 + 0.3 = 4.84 m
• pond area freeboard flow depth
depth
• the max. water level ht. and the desired max. outflow rate
(2.12 m3/s) are close enough to the design requirements to
give satisfactory solution to the problem
Table 11.5 ROUTING

Time, h I (I1 + I2)/2 S/t +O/2 O

t = 0.2 (m3/s) (m3/s) (m3/s) (m3/s)
0.0 0 0 0.00
0.2 0.28 0.14 0.14 0.03
0.4 0.62 0.45 0.56 0.17
0.6 1.36 0.99 1.38 0.40
0.8 2.55 1.95 2.93 0.88
1.0 3.74 3.14 5.20 1.61
1.2 4.76 4.25 7.84 1.87
1.4 5.21 4.98 10.95 1.90
1.6 5.38 5.30 14.35 1.95
1.8 5.15 5.27 17.66 1.98
2.0 4.67 4.91 20.60 2.01
2.2 4.11 4.39 22.98 2.07
2.4 3.54 3.82 24.73 2.10
2.6 2.97 3.26 25.89 2.10
2.8 2.46 2.72 26.50 2.12
3.0 2.01 2.24 26.64 2.12
3.2 1.78 1.90 26.39 2.10
3.4 1.50 1.64 25.93 2.10
ROUTING
 ROUTING

0.15
 ROUTING

Reservoir routing procedure

Diagram of Example:

31.66
FB = 0.61
30.75
30.88
flow depth = 0.30 30.75
30.75
30.75 29.26
 ROUTING

Determination of K and X values

• if inflow and outflow hydrograph records are available for
one or more floods, the routing process is easily reversed
to provide better values of K and X for the reach
• instantaneous values of [XI + (1 – X)O] versus S are first
graphed for several selected values of X
• the value of X that gives the best linear plot (narrowest
loop) is accepted
• after plotting, the value for K is determined as the slope
through the narrowest loop:
S
K=
XI + (1 − X )O
 ROUTING

Example 2. Use the outflow hydrograph calculated in

Example 1 together with the given inflow hydrograph to find
the routing parameters K and X. The procedure is
summarized in the Table

• Given the inflow and outflow hydrographs, compute for the

channel storage (m3/s-day)
S2 = S1 + (t 2)(I1 + I 2 − O1 − O2 )
• channel storage at the start is assumed to be 0
• several values of X are tried within the range of 0 to 0.5
• for each X, the weighted flows [XI + (1 – X)O] are calculated
• the weighted flows are then plotted against channel storage
Calibration of Muskingum parameters K and X. ROUTING

Storage XI + (1-X)O
Inflow Outflow
Date m3/s -
m3/s m3/s X = 0.1 X = 0.2 X = 0.3
day
0 352.0 352.0 0 - - -
1 587.0 382.7 102.2 403.0 423.5 443.9
2 1353.0 571.4 595.2 649.6 727.7 805.9
3 2725.0 1090.2 1803.4 1253.7 1417.2 1580.6
4 4408.5 2020.6 3814.7 2259.4 2498.2 2737.0
5 5987.0 3264.7 6369.8 3536.9 3809.2 4081.4
6 6704.0 4541.8 8812.1 4758.0 4974.2 5190.5
7 6951.0 5514.1 10611.6
S25657.8
= S1 + (t/2)(I
5801.5 1 +I 2 - O 1 - O2 )
5945.2
8 6839.0 6124.2 11687.5 = 0 + (1/2)(352
6195.7 6267.2+ 5876338.6 - 352 - 382.7)
9 6207.0 6352.6 11972.1 6338.0 6323.5 6308.9
10 5346.0 6177.0 11483.8 6093.9 + (1 – X)O5927.7
6010.8
X = XI
11 4560.0 5713.2 10491.7 5597.9 = 0.1(587)
5482.6 + (15367.2 – 0.1)(382.7)
12 3861.5 5120.7 9285.5 4994.8 4868.9 4742.9
13 3007.0 4461.7 7928.5 4316.2 4170.8 4025.3
14 2357.5 3744.5 6507.7 3605.8 3467.1 3328.4
15 1779.0 3066.0 5170.7 2937.3 2808.6 2679.9
16 1405.0 2457.7 4000.8 2352.4 2247.2 2141.9
17 1123.0 1963.2 3054.4 1879.2 1795.2 1711.1
18 952.5 1575.6 2322.7 1513.4 1451.1 1388.7
19 730.0 1275.7 1738.2 1221.1 1166.6 1112.0
20 605.0 1022.1 1256.8 980.4 938.7 897.0
21 514.0 828.9 890.8 797.4 765.9 734.4
22 422.0 680.0 604.4 654.2 628.4 602.6
 ROUTING

Example 2.
 ROUTING

• if X = 0,
S = K X I + (1 − X )O

reduces to S = KO, where storage is a function solely of

outflow and the Muskingum method reduces to a linear
reservoir routing
• in other words, linear reservoir routing is a special case of
Muskingum channel routing for which X = 0
• the routing parameters are not constant, tending to vary
with flow rate
• K could be related to length of channel reach and flood
wave velocity
• X could be related to the diffusivity characteristics of the
flow and the channel
ROUTING
ROUTING
ROUTING