Intro to Unit Hydrograph

Presented by: Dr. Michael Horst Assistant Professor of Water Resources The College of New Jersey

Unit Hydrograph Theory

Sherman (1932) What is Unit Hydrograph Theory
Given two evenly distributed rainfall events over an entire watershed The response hydrographs of the watershed will have similar characteristics The only difference will be in the magnitude of the flows

Unit Hydrograph Theory

Storm Hydrograph (4 inches)
400 350 300 250

Flow

200 150 100 50 0 0 5 10 15 Time 20 25 30

Unit Hydrograph Theory

Storm Hydrograph (4 inches vs 2 inches)
400 350 300 250

Flow

200 150 100 50 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Time

Unit Hydrograph Theory

Hydrograph Characteristics
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Flow

200 150 100 50 0 0 5 10 15 Time 20 25 30

Unit Hydrograph Theory

The unit hydrograph is the response of the watershed to 1 unit of excess runoff distributed uniformly over the entire watershed
1 inch (English units) 1 mm (Metric units)

Unit Hydrograph Theory

Unit Hydrograph vs Storm Hydrographs
400 350 300 250

Flow

200 150 100 50 0 0 5 10 15 Time 20 25 30

Significance of Unit Hydrograph

Watersheds response to a given amount of excess precipitation is just a multiplier of the unit hydrograph Use unit hydrograph as a basis to determine the storm hydrograph from any given rainfall distribution

Example
Given the following rainfall distribution
Time 1 Precipitation 0.5

2
3 4

3
1.5 0.2

The watershed will respond as follows

Example
Incremental Storm Hydrographs
500

400
Time 1 2 3 4 Precipitation 0.5

300
1.5 0.2
Flow

200

100

0 0 5 10 15 Time 20 25 30 35

Example
Incremental + Final Storm Hydrograph
500

400

300

Flow
200 100 0 0 5 10 15 Time 20 25 30 35

Unit Hydrograph Derivation

A unit hydrograph is derived from historical rainfall and runoff data The volume of water produced by the storm (area under the hydrograph curve) divided by the area of the watershed equals depth of excess precipitation The ordinates of the storm hydrograph are divided by this depth to obtain the unit hydrograph Timing must be taken into consideration (S-curve technique to adjust timing)

What if there is no Historical Data?!?!

Synthetic Unit Hydrograph
Snyder (1938) Clark Instantaneous Unit Hydrograph (1945) SCS Dimensionless Unit Hydrograph (1957)

Each method uses the principles of Unit Hydrograph theory

Synthetic Unit Hydrographs

Time to Peak Lag Time
centroid of excess precip to peak of hydrograph

Time of Concentration
end of excess precip to inflection point on recession limb

Time to Base Watershed Area

Synthetic Unit Hydrographs

Use watershed characteristics to compute various parameters
Time to peak = f(slope, LHL, Lca CN, etc.) Peak flow = (Constant * Area)/Time Time to base

Synthetic Unit Hydrograph

Synthetic Unit Hydrograph
600

500

400

Flow

300

200

100

0 0 5 10 15 Time 20 25 30 35

Synthetic Unit Hydrograph

Predetermined shape distribution of hydrograph

Synthetic Unit Hydrograph

Synthetic Unit Hydrograph
600

500

400

Flow

300

200

100

0 0 5 10 15 Time 20 25 30 35