Representation of Streamflow

❑ Streamflow is presented in the form of hydrograph

❑ A hydrograph is a graph showing discharge versus time

❑ Hydrograph can be

➢ Annual hydrograph –It represents the variation of daily or weekly or monthly flow

over a year.

➢ Monthly hydrograph- It represents the variation of daily mean flows over a month.

➢ Seasonal Hydrograph- It represents the variation of the discharge in a particular

season such as the monsoon season or dry season

➢ Storm hydrograph : Represents stream flow due to a storm over a catchment

Annual hydrograph

❑ The plot of streamflow versus time for a complete year is the annual hydrograph

❑ Streamflow is consisting of surface runoff, interflow and also baseflow

❑ Annual hydrograph give us a clear picture of the contribution of water to the stream from surface
runoff, interflow and also baseflow

❑ During the monsoon season only, the contribution from the surface flow and interflow will be coming
(because of rainfall) , rest of the season will be getting water in the rivers by means of baseflow.
Types of Annual hydrograph

• A perennial stream is one which • Intermittent stream

always carries some flow remains dry for some • Have a long period with no
throughout the year month of the year water when the river is dry
• Most of the basin yield comes • There is infiltration of • Most of the water becomes
from baseflow, spikes are water but not much runoff and little infiltration
represented by the storms • There is contribution occurs
• So, majority of the water during from baseflow but limited • Basin yield is the result of
the time of storm will be getting • Base flow occurs direct runoff only
infiltrated into the ground and significantly during wet •
reach the stream as baseflow season
Components of Streamflow

Direct/Surface Runoff
❑ It is the principal contributor to peak discharged from a storm event
❑ It is the first one to reach the stream
Interflow
❑ when the flow is taking place, beneath the ground surface, the resistance offered by the soil pores will be more.
❑ The rate with which it is flowing will be less compared to the surface runoff
❑ if the interflow contribution is coming from nearby area of the stream, it can reach faster than the runoff
contribution from the farther away point of the drainage basin
❑ So, both these move more rapidly than groundwater and both lumped together for hydrologic processes

Baseflow
❑ Moves very slowly
❑ Does not contribute to peak discharge for a given storm
 Component of Storm Hydrograph
❑ Prior to the time of intense rainfall, contribution is from
baseflow that is represented by this segment AB.
❑ Increase in flow rate means there is contribution coming from
runoff, that is after satisfying the storage components,
overland flow started and contribution of runoff has reached
the outlet.
❑ So, this BC is the representation of the storm characteristics
and also catchment
❑ CDE-Since the peak value is consisting of the contribution from G
different areas of the watershed, it may be having certain spikes
present or fluctuations present. So, that part is represented by the
crest and the peak point from that is chosen as the hydrograph peak .
AB- Baseflow recession
❑ E is the point where rainfall has stop and entire catchment has started to
contribute towards the outlet BC- Rising Limb
❑ The shape of the falling limb depends only on the basin D- Peak
characteristics because, by the time, the peak is attained, the storm has CDE- Crest
already stopped EF- Falling limb
❑ When it reaches the point F, all the contribution from runoff is FG- Baseflow recession
stopped FG only the contribution related to this part is from baseflow E- Point of Inflection
 Overland flow
Basin lag time
Peak flow
+
Inter flow
3 +
GW (BF)
=
Discharge (m3/s)
Overland
2 flow Stream Flow
mm Or
4 Inter flow Total Runoff
1 3

2
Base flow

0 12 24 36 48 30 72
Hours from start of rain storm
Baseflow Separation

❑ Streamflow, it is the contribution from surface runoff, interflow and baseflow.

❑ Since baseflow is taking too much of time to contribute towards streamflow, we have combined
surface runoff and interflow together and baseflow separately

❑ So, whenever we are doing the study related to surface runoff or excess runoff, we need to separate
the baseflow contribution
Baseflow Separation

❑ A variety of techniques have been suggested for baseflow separation

❑ Three methods
❖ Straight line method
❖ Fixed based method
❖ Variable slope method
Factors affecting on the flood/storm hydrograph.

The factor that affect the shape of hydrograph can be broadly grouped into

➢ Physiographic factors
➢ Climatic factors

The physiographic factor that influence the hydrograph shape and volume can be further subdivided into
two types
➢ Basin Characteristics
a) Area (b) Size (c) Slope (d) Shape (e) Elevation (f) Drainage density

➢ Infiltration characteristics
(a) Land use and cover (b) Soil type and geological conditions
Area
Large basins receive more precipitation than small therefore have larger runoff
Larger size means longer lag time as water has a longer distance to travel to reach
the outlet of river.

Shape
Elongated basin will produce a lower peak flow and longer lag time than a circular
one of the same size
1st case : area having the catchment wider near to the outlet point (peak is from the major area closes to the outlet, peak
early)

2nd case: at the outlet point the width is less (peak is the from the major area far from outlet, skew to right)

3rd case: initially, initial area contribution will be high, then because of the reduction in area the contribution is reduced,
then when the entire catchment start contributing, it will again increase
Slope
Channel flow can be faster down a steep slope therefore steeper rising limb and
shorter lag time

Drainage Density
A higher density will allow rapid overland flow

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 Land Use
The impact of urbanization on the flood hydrograph include

❑ Increased total runoff volume

❑ Peak flow rate

The climatic factors that influence the hydrograph shape and the volume of runoff are

1) Rainfall intensity (2) Rainfall duration; (3) Distribution of rainfall on the basin;(4) Direction of storm
movement;

Rainfall intensity: For a given rainfall duration, an increase in intensity will increase the peak discharge and the
runoff volume, provided the infiltration rate of the soil is exceeded.

Rainfall duration: The duration of storm of given intensity also has direct proportional effect on the volume of
runoff, the peak flow rate and the duration of surface runoff. The effect of duration is reflected to rising limb and
peak flow.

Distribution of rainfall: If an area of high rainfall is near to the basin outlet, a rapid rise, sharp peak and rapid
recession of the hydrograph usually result. If a larger amount of rainfall occurs in the upper reaches of a
basin, the hydrograph exhibits a lower and broader peak.

Direction of storm: storms that move upstream tend to produce lower peaks of a longer duration than storms that
move downstream.