UNIT HYDROGRAPH

Linear System in Continuous time

Hydrologic system
model approximates
actual system and
gives output for a
given input.
Transfer function

Input and output are

measurable hydrologic
variables.
Linear System in Continuous time
Linear system (k is constant in S = kQ)

Proportionality
If I1 => Q1 then C* I1 => C*Q1

Superposition
If I1 => Q1 and I2 => Q2 then I1+ I2 => Q1+ Q2
 Impulse Response Function

(a) Unit impulse response function (b) proportionality and superposition

Step Response Method
Impulse, step and pulse response
functions of a linear reservoir
Impulse, step and pulse response
functions of a linear reservoir
Impulse, step and pulse response
functions of a linear reservoir
1.2

0.8

output
0.6
SRF
IRF
0.4 PRF

0.2

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
t
Comparison of linear system and unit
hydrograph concepts
Linear System Unit Hydrograph
Comparison of linear system and unit
hydrograph concepts
Linear System Unit Hydrograph
Discrete Pulse Response Function
Discrete Pulse Response Function

finally
Discrete
Convolution
Equation
 Numerical Example
• A system has the following unit pulse response function (Un-m+1).
• Find the output if the input is 2 units in the first time interval and 3
units in the second time interval

i Pi Ui P1Ui P2Ui Qi
1 2 0.27 0.54 0.00 0.54
2 3 0.36 0.72 0.81 1.53 Q  P1 *U i  P2
3 0.18 0.36 1.08 1.44 *U i
4 0.09 0.18 0.54 0.72
5 0.05 0.10 0.27 0.37
6 0.03 0.06 0.15 0.21 P2 *U i
7 0.01 0.02 0.09 0.11
8 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.05 P1 *U i
9 0.00 0.03 0.03
1.00 2.00 3.00 5.00
Ui
 Unit Hydrograph
The direct runoff hydrograph resulting from 1-inch (or
1cm) of excess precipitation spread uniformly in space
and time over a watershed for a given duration.

Assumptions:

1-inch (1cm) of EXCESS precipitation

Spread uniformly over space - evenly over the
watershed
Uniformly in time - the excess rate is constant over
the time interval
There is a given duration. t-UH (ex. 2hr-UH)
Watershed is not changing
15
 Unit Hydrograph

(a) Base width (T): The period of direct surface runoff of the unit hydrograph is
called the time base or the base width.

(b) Unit period (tr): The time duration of the unit storm (i.e., the duration of the
unit hyetograph) is called unit period.

(c) Lag time (tp): The time from the center of a unit storm to the peak discharge of
the unit hydrograph is called lag time.

(d) Recession time (Tr): The duration of the direct surface runoff after the end of
Unit Hydrograph-Assumptions

1. Time Invariance
Identical rainfalls with the same antecedent conditions
produce identical unit hydrographs.

The time bases of all unit hydrographs from rainfalls of

the same duration with the same antecedent conditions
are equal

2. Linear Response
Superposition: If the storm duration is the same, the unit
hydrograph of a 2” storm is twice the amount of a 1”
storm. 17
Methods for Developing UHs

• Using Streamflow Data

• Synthetic methods
– Snyder
– SCS

18
 Unit Hydrograph Derivation
• i) Tabulate the total hydrograph (Q) with time
distribution.
• ii) Tabulate the baseflow if given or separate
with method of our choice.
• iii) Find the Direct Runoff Hydrograph(DRH)
by subtracting the baseflow from the total
hydrograph.( DRH = Q – BF )
• iv) Find the volume of water under the DRH
Vol. = Σ DRH * Δt
 Unit Hydrograph Derivation
• v) Divide the volume of water(step iv)
by the drainage area(A) to get effective
rainfall(de) (runoff) per unit area.
de = vol. / A

• vi) Divide the ordinates of the DRH by

the de of effective rainfall(step v).

• The result is a unit hydrograph(UH) for

the duration of storm.
 Derivation of Unit Hydrograph
Recall: Shoal Creek Flood, May 24-25, 1981 (Example 5.3.1)
Find: ½-hr unit hydrograph

Time Time Direct Excess

1/2 hr Runoff Rainfall

cfs in
10:00 PM 1 428 1.06
10:30 PM 2 1923 1.93
11:00 PM 3 5297 1.81
11:30 PM 4 9131
12:00 AM 5 10625
12:30 AM 6 7834
1:00 AM 7 3921
1:30 AM 8 1846
2:00 AM 9 1402
2:30 AM 10 830
3:00 AM 11 313
 Derivation of Unit Hydrograph
Direct Excess
• Excess Rainfall: M = 3 pulses Time Runoff Rainfall
Time
• Streamflow: N = 11 pulses 10:00 PM
1/2 hr
1
cfs
428
in
1.06

• Unit Hydrograph: N – M + 1 = 9 pulses 10:30 PM

11:00 PM
2
3
1923
5297
1.93
1.81
11:30 PM 4 9131
n=M 12:00 AM 5 10625

Qn  
12:30 AM 6 7834
Q1  1:00 AM 7 3921
m1 1:30 AM 8 1846
P21U1 P1U2
Q P2U 1 PmU nm1
2:00 AM
2:30 AM
9
10
1402
830
 P 3U 1 3:00 AM 11 313
P 2U 2
Q 3  P 1U 3  P2U 3 P 3U
5 
Q P1U 5
 2P2U 4 P 3U 3
P1U 4
 
Q46 
Q   P2U 5 P3U
Q7  P 1U 6 P
 1U 7 P
4 2U 6 P 3U 5
  
Q8  P 2U 7  P 3U 6
P 1U 8
P 1U 9  P 2U 8 
Q9  
Q10  P3UP71U 10  P2U 9  P3U 8
Q11  P1U 11  P2U 10  P3U 9
 Derivation of Unit Hydrograph
• Excess Rainfall: M = 3 pulses Qn Pm
• Streamflow: N = 11 pulses Direct Excess

• Unit Hydrograph: N – M + 1 = 9 pulses Time

Time
Runoff Rainfall

1/2 hr cfs in
n=M 10:00 PM 1 428 1.06

Qn  m1
 PmU nm1
10:30 PM
11:00 PM
2
3
1923
5297
1.93
1.81
11:30 PM 4 9131
12:00 AM 5 10625
12:30 AM 6 7834
428  1.06U1 1:00 AM 7 3921
1:30 AM 8 1846
1923  1.93U1 1.06U 2 2:00 AM
2:30 AM
9
10
1402
830
3:00 AM 11 313
5297  1.81U1 1.93U 2
9131 1.81U 2 1.93U 3 1.06U 4
1.06U
 3
1.81U 3 1.93U 4 1.06U 5
10625 
7834  1.81U 4  1.93U 5 1.06U 6
3921
1.81U 5  1.93U 6 1.06U 7

1846  1.81U 6  1.93U 7 1.06U 8
1402  1.81U 7 1.93U 8
1.06U 9
Derivation of Unit Hydrograph
Alternate method Matrix Inversion
Derivation of Unit Hydrograph
Direct Excess Unit
Hydrograp
Time Runoff Rainfall h
1/2 hr cfs in cfs/in
1 428 1.06 404
2 1923 1.93 1079
3 5297 1.81 2343
4 9131 2506
5 10625 1460
6 7834 453
7 3921 381
8 1846 274
9 1402 173
10 830
11 313
 Application of Unit Hydrograph Direct
Runoff
Time Pi Ui P1Ui P2Ui P3Ui
0 0 0 (cfs)
1 2 404 0 808 00 00 0 808
2 3 1079 2158 1212 0 3370
Three period storm: 3 1 2343 4686 3237 404 8327
1st period: 2 in rain 4 2506 5012 7029 1079 13120
2nd period: 3 in 5 1460 2920 7518 2343 12781
rain 3rd period: 1 6 453 906 4380 2506 7792
7 381 762 1359 1460 3581
in rain
8 274 548 1143 453 2144
Find: DR using UH 9 173 346 822 381 1549
from last ex. 10 0 0 519 274 793
11 0 0 0 173 173
 Lagged Hydrograph
• Given a 2‐hr UH, a 4‐hr UH
can be derived.
– Plot the 2‐hr UH
– Plot another 2‐hr UH, lagged
2 hrs
– Add the ordinates of the UHs
and divide by 2to get 4‐hr
UH

Time (hr) 2-hr UH (cfs) 2-hr UH (cfs)-Lag2 4-hr UH (cfs)

0 0 0
1 60 30
2 200 0 100
3 300 60 180
4 200 200 200
5 120 300 210
6 60 200 130
7 30 120 75
8 10 60 35
9 0 30 15
10 10 5
11 0 0
 S ‐ Hydrograph
The S-curve also known as S-hydrograph is a hydrograph produced
by a infinitely continuous effective rainfall of 1cm/hr or 1 inch/hr

• Continuously
lagging a 1‐hr UH
represents the
direct runoff from
a continuous
excess rainfall of
1 in./hr.
• The resulting
curve is a
S ‐ Hydrograph of
1-hr unit rainfall
S ‐ Hydrograph
UH of Different Duration from SH
• Lagging to obtain UH of a
different duration is
restricted to multiples of
the original duration
• To obtain a non‐
multiple duration UH,
use the S‐ Hydrograph
method
• Plot an S – Hydrograph
• Plot another S –
Hydrograph, lagged by a
time interval equal to the
desired duration
• Take the difference
between the two to get
new UH
Hydrographs of Different Durations
Numerical Example of deriving a S-
Hydrograph
Question: 0.5 hr unit hydrograph has been given, derive a S-Hydrograph

0.5-h unit lagged S-

t (hours) hydrograph UH SH ordinate hydrograph
0 0 0 0
0.5 404 0 404 202
1 1079 404 1483 741.5
1.5 2343 1483 3826 1913
2 2506 3826 6332 3166
2.5 1460 6332 7792 3896
3 453 7792 8245 4122.5
3.5 381 8245 8626 4313
4 274 8626 8900 4450
4.5 173 8900 9073 4536.5
5 0 9073 9073 4536.5
5.5 0 9073 9073 4536.5
6 0 9073 9073 4536.5
 Hydrographs of Different Duration

• Advance (lag) the S – Hydrograph by a time equal to

the new desired duration t 
• Subtract this Lagged S – Hydrograph SH (t  t )
from the original S – Hydrograph to get the new
Unit Hydrograph with duration t 
 Hydrograph of Different Duration

lagged
t (hours) 0.5-h unit hydrograph UH SH ordinate S-hydrograph logging by 3 hours 1/1.5*(E-F)
0 0 0 0 0 0.0
0.5 404 0 404 202 0 134.7
1 1079 404 1483 741.5 0 494.3
1.5 2343 1483 3826 1913 0 1275.3
2 2506 3826 6332 3166 202 1976.0
2.5 1460 6332 7792 3896 741.5 2103.0
3 453 7792 8245 4122.5 1913 1473.0
3.5 381 8245 8626 4313 3166 764.7
4 274 8626 8900 4450 3896 369.3
4.5 173 8900 9073 4536.5 4122.5 276.0
5 0 9073 9073 4536.5 4313 149.0
5.5 0 9073 9073 4536.5 4450 57.7
6 0 9073 9073 4536.5 4536.5 0.0
 Hydrograph of Different Duration
Q: Develop 2-h unit hydrograph from given 4-h unit hydrograph

lagged
time (h) 4-h UH UH SHordinate SHcurve SH lagged by 2H 2Hr UH
0 0 0 0 0
2 8 8 32 0 16
4 20 0 20 80 32 24
6 43 8 51 204 80 62
8 80 20 100 400 204 98
10 110 51 161 644 400 122
12 130 100 230 920 644 138
14 146 161 307 1228 920 154
16 150 230 380 1520 1228 146
18 142 307 449 1796 1520 138
20 130 380 510 2040 1796 122
22 112 449 561 2244 2040 102
24 90 510 600 2400 2244 78
26 70 561 631 2524 2400 62
28 52 600 652 2608 2524 42
30 38 631 669 2676 2608 34
32 27 652 679 2716 2676 20
34 20 669 689 2756 2716 20
36 15 679 694 2776 2756 10
38 10 689 699 2796 2776 10
40 5 694 699 2796 2796 0
42 2 699 701 2804 2796 4
44 0 699 699 2796 2804 -4
2796
 Synthetic UH
• Definition: Synthetic Hydrograph is a plot
of flow versus time and generated based
on a minimal use of streamflow data.

• Example: A pending land use change and

the resulting runoff hydrograph is thus
unknown, but nevertheless must be
estimated.
 Synthetic UH

• Developed for un- gauged basins

• Based on data from similar gauged
basins
What is an un-gauged basin?
A basin without streamflow data therefore without a unit
hydrograph
What is a gauged basin?
Gauged basin is where unit hydrograph of a particular
duration is available.
 Synthetic UH
• Synthetic hydrographs are derived by
– Relating hydrograph characteristics such as
peak flow, base time etc. with watershed
characteristics such as area and time of
concentration.
– Using dimensionless unit hydrograph
– Based on regional parameters
 Synthetic UH Methods
1. Snyder’s Method (1938)
2. SCS (1964, 1975)
 Snyder’s Method
• Synder (1938)- based on study of large
catchment in Appalachian Mountains
(USA) developed a set of empirical
equation for synthetic UH.
• The equation is use in USA and with some
modification in many other countries.
 Snyder’s Method

Snyder’s Synthetic Unit Hydrograph

 Snyder’s Method
Based on hydrograph parameters: tp and qp,
where tp = lag time (hr) and
qp = peak flow in cms or cfs
Important basin parameters:
Time parameter Ct and peak parameter Cp

A larger Ct meant a greater basin lag.

A larger Cp meant a greater peak flow
 Lag time
• The most important characteristic of basin
due to storm- basin lag (Lag time)
• Lag time- time difference between the
centroid of the input (rainfall excess) and
the output (DRH)
• Represent time of travel of water from all
parts of watershed to the outlet during a
given storm.
 Snyder’s Equations
Eq.1) tp = C1 Ct (LLc)0.3

• tp=basin lag in hour

• L= basin length in km
• Lc= distance along the main water course
from gauging station to a point opposite
to the watershed centroid in km
• Ct = regional constant represent
watershed slope and storage effects.
• C1 = 0.75 (1.0 for English system)
 Snyder’s Equations
Eq.2) qpR = C2Cp / tpR
• tp=basin lag in hour
• C2= 2.75 (640 for the English system)
• Cp = regional constant represent retension
and storage capacity of the watershed.
Eq.3) tp= 5.5tr
tp=tpR+(tr-tR)/4
Eq.4) qpR=(qptp)/(tpR)
tb= C3 / qpR
 Snyder’s Equations
Eq.5)
Snyder’s Method
Snyder’s Method
 SCS Method
• Dimensionless UH
• Based on a study of large number of UH
• Developed by US Soil Conservation
Services (SCS)
• The earliest method assumed a
hydrograph as a simple triangle, with
rainfall duration tr, time of rise Tp (hr), time
of fall Tb- Tp and peak flow qp (cfs).
 The SCS Unit Hydrograph
Assumptions
1. For large watersheds, time of concentration tc
(tp)  duration (tr) of constant rainfall intensity
2. The peak flow, qp, will occur at time tp from
center of storm
3. The peak flow, qp, will occur at time Tp, which is
a function of rainfall duration tr and the
watershed characteristics represented by tc
 SCS Method
Coordinates of SCS Dimensionless Unit Hydrograph
 SCS Method

Dimensionless SCS Unit Hydrograph

 SCS Method

SCS Triangular Unit Hydrograph

 SCS dimensionless hydrograph
• Synthetic UH in which
the discharge is
expressed by the ratio
of q to qp and time by
the ratio of t to Tp
• If peak discharge and
lag time are known, UH
can be estimated.

Tc: time of concentration

t p  0.6Tc tb  2.67Tp
C = 2.08 (483.4 in English
system) tr CA
Tp   t p qp 
A: drainage area in km2 (mi2) 2 Tp
 Example: Construct a 10-min SCS UH. A =
3.0 km2 and Tc = 1.25 h

t r  10 min  0.166 h

t p  0.6Tc  0.6  1.25  0.75 h 0.833 h

tr
Tp   t p
2
q
0.166 7.49 m3/[Link]
Tp   0.75  0.833 h
2
CA 2.08  3
qp    7.49 m 3 / [Link]
Tp 0.833

Multiply y-axis of SCS hydrograph by

qp and x-axis by Tp to get the required
t
UH, or construct a triangular UH 2.22 h
Instantaneous Unit Hydrograph
(IUH)
If the excess rainfall is of unit amount and its duration is
infinitesimally small, the resulting hydrograph is an
impulse response function called the instantaneous unit
hydrograph (IUH).

The IUH characterizes the

watershed's response to
rainfall without reference to the
rainfall duration.

Unit Hydrographs of Different Durations

 Instantaneous Unit Hydrograph
(IUH)
• As D is reduced, the intensity of rainfall excess
being equal to 1/D increases and the UH
becomes more skewed.
• A finite UH indicated as D 0.
• The limiting case of UH of zero duration is
known as instantaneous unit hydrograph (IUH).
• The IUH ordinate at time t is equal to the slope
at time t of an S-hydrograph constructed for an
excess rainfall intensity of unit depth per unit
time.
 The properties of the IUH are as follows, with l = t-

Convolution of I() and IUH

 Calculate IUH for a given UH
Time (hours) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
1 hour UH (m3/s) 0 4 21.5 42.5 48.5 43.5 35.5 27 19 12.5 8 4.5 1.5

D_h_UH(t) = 0.5/D*(IUH(t)+IUH(t-D))
IUH(t) = 2*D*(D_h_UH(t)-D_h_UH (t-D))

IUH of
Time 1 hour UH 0.5/D IUH
(hours) (m3/s) lagged by 1 hour intensity (m3/s)
0 0 0 0 0
1 4 0 4 8
2 21.5 4 17.5 35
3 42.5 17.5 25 50
4 48.5 25 23.5 47
5 43.5 23.5 20 40
6 35.5 20 15.5 31
7 27 15.5 11.5 23
8 19 11.5 7.5 15
9 12.5 7.5 5 10
10 8 5 3 6
11 4.5 3 1.5 3
12 1.5 1.5 0 0
Thank You