2014-2015

Advance Hydrology
Asst. Prof. Dr. Mahmoud S. Al Khafaji
Building and Construction Engineering Department
University of Technology

References:
Water Resources Engineering- Ralph A. Wurbs and Wesly P. James, 2007.
Hydrology and Flood Control Engineering- Santosh Kumar Gary, 1993.
Applied Hydrology Chaw, 1975.
Hydrology for Engineering- Ray K. Linsley, 1975.
Hydrology Principle, analysis and Design- H.M. Raghunath, 2006.
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Hydrology
Is the science, which deals with the occurrence, distribution and disposal
of water on the planet earth; it is the science which deals with the various
phases of the hydrologic cycle.
Scope of Hydrology
The study of hydrology helps to know:
1- the maximum probable flood (MPF) and its frequency.
2- the water yield from a basin occurrence, quantity
and frequency.
3- the groundwater development.
4- the maximum intensity of storm and its frequency.
 For the analysis and design of any hydrologic project,
2013-2014

adequate data and length of records are necessary. The

basic hydrological data required are:
1-Climatological data
2- Hydrometeorological data
3- Precipitation records
4- Stream-flow records
5- Seasonal fluctuation of ground water table or
piezometric heads
6- Evaporation data
7- Cropping pattern, crops and their consumptive use.
8- Water quality data
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It is important to know:
1-Precipitation
1-2 Formation and types of precipitation
1-3 Measurement of precipitation
1-4 Rain-Gauge intensity
1-5 Estimation of missing data and adjustment of records
1-6 Mean areal depth of precipitation (Pav)
1-7 Optimum Rain-gauge network design
1-8 Depth-Area- duration (DAD) curve
1-9 Graphical representation of rainfall
1-10 analysis of rainfall data
2- Water Losses
2-1Evaporation
2-2 Transpiration
2-3 Evapotanspiration
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It is important to know:
2-4 hydrometeorology
2-5 Infiltration and infiltration indices
3- Runoff and Catchment Characteristics
4- Hydrograph
5- Flow Routing
6- Hydrological Statistics
Rainfall - Runoff
 Formation Process of Surface Runoff
Surface runoff
overland flow (sheet flow)
shallow concentrated flow
open channel flow
 Runoff hydrograph
Total streamflow during a precipitation event includes the baseflow existing in the
basin prior to the storm and the runoff due to the given storm precipitation.
Total streamflow hydrographs are usually conceptualized as being composed of:
Direct Runoff, which is composed of contributions from surface runoff and quick interflow.
Unit hydrograph analysis refers only to direct runoff.
Baseflow, which is composed of contributions from delayed interflow and groundwater
runoff.
 Surface runoff includes all overland flow as well as all precipitation
falling directly onto stream channels. Surface runoff is the main
contributor to the peak discharge.
Interflow is the portion of the streamflow contributed by infiltrated
water that moves laterally in the subsurface until it reaches a
channel. Interflow is a slower process than surface runoff.
Components of interflow are
quick interflow, which contributes to direct runoff, and

delayed interflow, which contributes to baseflow.

 Groundwater runoff is the flow component contributed to the channel by
groundwater. This process is extremely slow as compared to surface runoff.
Basins with a lot of storage have a large recessional limb.
Recession occurs exponentially for baseflow
Methods of baseflow separation
Fixed base method (A-B-D-E)
Variable slope method (A-B-C-E)
Straight line method (A-E)

Curves AB and EF are considered as ground water recession curves.

The ground water recession can be described by the following equation

 The recession limb of a hydrograph represents withdraw of water from
surface storage, subsurface (inter) flow and groundwater flow. Suppose that
the recession curve can be expressed by

Then the recession constant K is then taken as the product of recession

constants for three individual components, i.e.,

where Ks, Ki and Kg are recession constants associated with surface

storage, interflow and groundwater flow, respectively.
 The main factors affecting hydrograph shape are:
Drainage characteristics: basin area, basin shape, basin slope, soil
type and land use, drainage density, and drainage network topology.
Most changes in land use tend to increase the amount of runoff for a
given storm.
Rainfall characteristics: rainfall intensity, duration, and their spatial
and temporal distribution; and storm motion, as storms moving in the
general downstream direction tend to produce larger peak flows than
storms moving upstream.
Also need to consider the storm
duration and time of concentration.
Hydrologic Analysis

Change in storage w.r.t. time = inflow

- outflow
In the case of a linear reservoir, S = kQ
dS/dt=kdQ/dt

Transfer function for a linear

system (S = kQ).
Proportionality and superposition

Linear system (k is constant in S = kQ)

Proportionality
If I1 Q1 then C*I2 C*Q2
Superposition
If I1 Q1 and I2 Q2, then I1 +I2 Q1 + Q2
 Impulse response function
Impulse input: an input applied instantaneously (spike) at
time and zero everywhere else

An unit impulse at
produces as unit
impulse response
function u(t-)
For an unit impulse, the response of the system is given
by the unit impulse response function u(t-)
An impulse of 3 units produces the 3u(t-)

Principle of
proportionality and
superposition
Convolution integral
If I() is the precipitation intensity occurring for a time period of d,
the response of the system (direct runoff) is I()u(t-)d
The complete response due to the input function I() is given by
convolution integral
t
Q(t ) I ( )u (t )d
0

Response of a linear system is the sum (convolution) of the

responses to inputs that have happened in the past.
Step and pulse inputs
A unit step input is an input that
goes from 0 to 1 at time 0 and
continues indefinitely thereafter
A unit pulse is an input of unit
amount occurring in duration t
and 0 elsewhere.

Precipitation is a series of pulse

Unit Hydrograph Theory

Direct runoff hydrograph resulting from a

unit depth of excess rainfall occurring
uniformly on a watershed at a constant
rate for a specified duration.
Unit pulse response function of a linear
hydrologic system
Can be used to derive runoff from any
excess rainfall on the watershed.
Unit hydrograph assumptions
Assumptions
Excess rainfall has constant intensity during
duration
Excess rainfall is uniformly distributed on
watershed
Base time of runoff is constant
Ordinates of unit hydrograph are proportional
to total runoff (linearity)
Unit hydrograph represents all characteristics
of watershed (lumped parameter) and is time
invariant (stationarity)
Discrete Convolution
t

Continuo Q(t ) I ( )u (t )d
0
us
n M
Discrete Qn P U
m 1
m n m 1

Q is flow, P is precipitation and U is unit

hydrograph
M is the number of precipitation pulses, n is
the number of flow rate intervals
The unit hydrograph has N-M+1 pulses
Application of
convolution to
the output from a
linear system
Time Area Relationship

Isochrone of
Equal time to outlet
A3
A4
A2 A1

10hr 5hr
15hr
A3
Excess Rainfall

Area
A4
R2
R3 A2
R1 Qn Ri A1 Ri 1 A2 ... R1 A j A1

0 5 10 15 20
Time, t Time, t
Application of UH
Once a UH is derived, it can be
used/applied to find direct runoff and
stream flow hydrograph from other storm
events.
Given: Ex. 7.5.1
P1 = 2 in, P2 = 3 in and P3 = 1 in, baseflow = 500 cfs and
watershed area is 7.03 mi2. Given the Unit Hydrograph
below, determine the streamflow hydrograph
 7.5.1 solution (contd)

See another example at: http://www.egr.msu.edu/~northco2/BE481/UHD.htm