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Homework No. 7 - Solution Unit Hydrograph

The document outlines a homework solution for a hydrology course, focusing on the derivation of a Unit Hydrograph for a specific basin area using rainfall and streamflow data. It details the steps for separating baseflow, calculating direct runoff, and normalizing the hydrograph, along with predicting streamflow from effective rainfall. Additionally, it describes the S-Hydrograph method for developing a 3-hour Unit Hydrograph from a 1-hour Unit Hydrograph.

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57 views7 pages

Homework No. 7 - Solution Unit Hydrograph

The document outlines a homework solution for a hydrology course, focusing on the derivation of a Unit Hydrograph for a specific basin area using rainfall and streamflow data. It details the steps for separating baseflow, calculating direct runoff, and normalizing the hydrograph, along with predicting streamflow from effective rainfall. Additionally, it describes the S-Hydrograph method for developing a 3-hour Unit Hydrograph from a 1-hour Unit Hydrograph.

Uploaded by

annkiarii
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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5/5/23, 10:59 AM Homework No.

7 - Solution

CE322 Basic Hydrology


Jorge A. Ramírez
UNIT HYDROGRAPHS

1. Obtain a Unit Hydrograph for a basin of 282.6 km2 of area using the rainfall and streamflow data tabulated below.
Time Observed
(h) Hydrograph
(m3/s)
0 160
1 150
2 350
3 800
4 1200
5 900
6 750
7 550
8 350
9 225
10 150
11 140

Time Gross
(h) Precipitation
(GRH)
(cm/h)
0-1 0.25
1-2 2.75
2-3 2.75
3-4 0.25

In this process: use the horizontal straight-line method to separate baseflow.

Empirical Unit Hydrograph Derivation


1. Separate the baseflow from the observed streamflow hydrograph in order to obtain the Direct Runoff Hydrograph
(DRH).

For this example, use the horizontal line method to separate the baseflow. From observation of the hydrograph
data, the streamflow at the start of the rising limb of the hydrograph is 150 m3/s. Thus, use 150 m3/s as the
baseflow.

2. Compute the volume of Direct Runoff. This volume must be equal to the volume of the Effective Rainfall
Hyetograph (ERH).

Thus, for this example:


VDRH = (200+650+1050+750+600+400+200+75) m3/s (3600) s = 14'130,000 m3

3. Express VDRH in equivalent units of depth:

VDRH in equivalent units of depth = VDRH/Abasin = 14'130,000 m3/(282600000 m2) = 0.05 m = 5 cm.

4. Obtain a Unit Hydrograph by normalizing the DRH. Normalizing implies dividing the ordinates of the DRH by
the VDRH in equivalent units of depth.

Time (h) Observed Direct Runoff Unit Hydrograph


Hydrograph Hydrograph (m3/s/cm)
(m3/s) (DRH) (m3/s)
0 160 10 --

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5/5/23, 10:59 AM Homework No. 7 - Solution

1 150 0 0
2 350 200 40
3 800 650 130
4 1200 1050 210
5 900 750 150
6 750 600 120
7 550 400 80
8 350 200 40
9 225 75 15
10 150 0 0
11 140 0 0

5. Determine the duration D of the ERH associated with the UH obtained in 4. In order to do this:
a) Determine the volume of losses, VLosses which is equal to the difference between the volume of gross
rainfall, VGRH, and the volume of the direct runoff hydrograph, VDRH .
VLosses = VGRH - VDRH = (0.25 + 2.75 + 2.75 +0.25) cm/h 1 h - 5 cm = 1 cm

b) Compute the f-index equal to the ratio of the volume of losses to the rainfall duration, tr. Thus,

f-index = VLosses/tr = 1 cm / 4 h = 0.25 cm/h

c) Determine the ERH by subtracting the infiltration (e.g., f-index) from the GRH:

Time Effective
(h) Precipitation
(ERH)
(cm/h)
0-1 0.0
1-2 2.5
2-3 2.5
3-4 0.0

As observed in the table, the duration of the effective rainfall hyetograph is 2 hours. Thus, D = 2 hours, and the
Unit Hydrograph obtained above is a 2-hour Unit Hydrograph. Therefore, it can be used to predict runoff from

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5/5/23, 10:59 AM Homework No. 7 - Solution

precipitation events whose effective rainfall hyetographs can be represented as a sequence of uniform intensity
(rectangular) pulses each of duration D. This is accomplished by using the principles of superposition and
proportionality, encoded in the discrete convolution equation:

where Qn is the nth ordinate of the DRH, Pm is the volume of the mth rainfall pulse expressed in units of equivalent
depth (e.g., cm or in), and Un-m+1 is the (n-m+1)th ordinate of the UH, expressed in units of m3/s/cm.

2. For the basin of Problem 1, predict the total streamflow hydrograph that would be observed as a result of a storm
whose effective rainfall is tabulated below. Use the same value of baseflow as for Problem 1.

Time Effective
(h) Precipitation
(ERH)
(cm/h)
0-1 1.0
1-2 1.0
2-3 1.5
3-4 1.5
4-5 0.75
5-6 0.75
6-7 0.25
7-8 0.25

As observed in the table, the ERH can be decomposed into a sequence of rectangular pulses, each of 2 hours
duration. Thus, we can use the 2-hour UH obtained in Problem 1. To do so:

1. Determine the volume of each ERH pulse, Pm, expressed in units of equivalent depth:

Time Pm
(h) (cm)
0-2 2.0
2-4 3.0
4-6 1.5
6-8 0.5

2. Use superposition and proportionality principles:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Time(h) UH P1*UH P2*UH P3*UH P4*UH DRH (m3/s) Total (m3/s)
(m3/s/cm) (m3/s) (m3/s) (m3/s) (m3/s)
1 0.00 0.00 0.00 150.00
2 40.00 80.00 80.00 230.00
3 130.00 260.00 0.00 260.00 410.00
4 210.00 420.00 120.00 540.00 690.00
5 150.00 300.00 390.00 0.00 690.00 840.00
6 120.00 240.00 630.00 60.00 930.00 1080.00
7 80.00 160.00 450.00 195.00 0.00 805.00 955.00
8 40.00 80.00 360.00 315.00 20.00 775.00 925.00
9 15.00 30.00 240.00 225.00 65.00 560.00 710.00
10 0.00 0.00 120.00 180.00 105.00 405.00 555.00
11 45.00 120.00 75.00 240.00 390.00
12 0.00 60.00 60.00 120.00 270.00
13 22.50 40.00 62.50 212.50
14 0.00 20.00 20.00 170.00
15 7.50 7.50 157.50
16 0.00 0.00 150.00

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5/5/23, 10:59 AM Homework No. 7 - Solution

a) Columns 2 - 5: Apply the proportionality principle to scale the UH by the actual volume of the corresponding
rectangular pulse, Pm. Observe that the resulting hydrographs are lagged so that their origins coincide with the
time of occurrence of the corresponding rainfall pulse.

b) Column 6: Apply the superposition principle to obtain the DRH by summing up Columns 2 - 5.

c) Column 7: Add back the baseflow in order to obtain the Total Streamflow Hydrograph.

3. Use the 1-h Unit Hydrograph tabulated below to predict the total streamflow hydrograph that would be observed as a
result of a storm whose effective rainfall is also tabulated below. Use the same value of baseflow as for Problem 1.
Obtain the solution using the S-Hydrograph method.
Time 1-H Unit
(h) Hydrograph
(m3/s/cm)
1 0.00
2 40.00
3 130.00
4 210.00
5 150.00
6 120.00
7 80.00
8 40.00
9 15.00
10 0.00

Time Effective
(h) Precipitation
(ERH)
(cm/h)
0-3 1.0
3-6 2.0
6-9 1.5

The ERH is composed of 3 rectangular pulses of 3-hour duration each. Thus, we need a 3-h Unit Hydrograph. Since the
only available hydrograph is a 1-h Unit Hydrograph, we need to develop a new 3-h UH using the S-Hydrograph method,
as illustrated below. Observe that the S-hydrograph is obtained in 2 different ways: a) in tabular form as the
superposition of an infinite sequence of 1-h UH's each lagged by 1-h; and b) as the cumulative volume of UH per unit
time.

Time UH UH(t-1) UH(t-2) UH(t- UH(t-4) UH(t-5) UH(t-6) UH(t-7) UH(t-8) UH(t-9) S-Hydr.
(h) (m3/s/cm) (m3/s/cm) (m3/s/cm) 3) (m3/s/cm) (m3/s/cm) (m3/s/cm) (m3/s/cm) (m3/s/cm) (m3/s/cm) (m3/s/cm)
1 0 0
2 40 0 40
3 130 40 0 170
4 210 130 40 0 380

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5/5/23, 10:59 AM Homework No. 7 - Solution

5 150 210 130 40 0 530


6 120 150 210 130 40 0 650
7 80 120 150 210 130 40 0 730
8 40 80 120 150 210 130 40 0 770
9 15 40 80 120 150 210 130 40 0 785
10 0 15 40 80 120 150 210 130 40 0 785
11 0 15 40 80 120 150 210 130 40 785
12 0 15 40 80 120 150 210 130 785
13 0 15 40 80 120 150 210 785
14 0 15 40 80 120 150 785
15 0 15 40 80 120 785
16 0 15 40 80 785
17 0 15 40 785
18 0 15 785
19 0 785

2 3 4 5
1
Time (h) 1-h UH S-Hyd Lagged S1-S2 D'-UH
(m3/s/cm) (m3/s/cm) S-Hyd (m3/s/cm) (m3/s/cm)
(m3/s/cm)
1 0 0 0 0
2 40 40 40 13.33333
3 130 170 170 56.66667
4 210 380 0 380 126.6667
5 150 530 40 490 163.3333
6 120 650 170 480 160
7 80 730 380 350 116.6667
8 40 770 530 240 80
9 15 785 650 135 45
10 0 785 730 55 18.33333
11 785 770 15 5
12 785 785 0 0
13 785 785 0 0
14 785 785 0 0

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5/5/23, 10:59 AM Homework No. 7 - Solution

3. Determine the volume of each ERH pulse, Pm, expressed in units of equivalent depth:

Time Pm
(h) (cm)
0-3 3.0
3-6 6.0
6-9 4.5

4. Use superposition and proportionality principles:

1 2 3 4 5 6
Time(h) UH P1*UH P2*UH P3*UH DRH (m3/s) Total (m3/s)
(m3/s/cm) (m3/s) (m3/s) (m3/s)
1 0 0 0 150
2 13.33333 40 40 190
3 56.66667 170 170 320
4 126.6667 380 0 380 530
5 163.3333 490 80 570 720
6 160 480 340 820 970
7 116.6667 350 760 0 1110 1260
8 80 240 980 60 1280 1430
9 45 135 960 255 1350 1500
10 18.33333 55 700 570 1325 1475
11 5 15 480 735 1230 1380
12 0 0 270 720 990 1140
13 110 525 635 785
14 30 360 390 540
15 0 202.5 202.5 352.5
16 82.5 82.5 232.5
17 22.5 22.5 172.5
18 0 0 150

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5/5/23, 10:59 AM Homework No. 7 - Solution

a) Columns 2 - 4: Apply the proportionality principle to scale the UH by the actual volume of the corresponding
rectangular pulse, Pm. Observe that the resulting hydrographs are lagged so that their origins coincide with the time of
occurrence of the corresponding rainfall pulse.

b) Column 5: Apply the superposition principle to obtain the DRH by summing up Columns 2 - 4.

c) Column 6: Add back the baseflow in order to obtain the Total Streamflow Hydrograph.

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