Hydrographs

A hydrograph shows two graphs - a bar chart showing rainfall, usually from a
storm and a line graph showing discharge from before, during and after the
rain storm shown in the bar graph.
Basically, a hydrograph shows you the ways in which a river is affected by a
storm. This helps us to understand discharge patterns of a particular
drainage basin and helps to predict flooding and plan flood prevention
measures.
As you can see in the graph below, the peak rainfall is the time of highest
rainfall. The peak discharge is the time when the river reaches its highest
flow. There is a delay because it takes time for the water to find its way to
the river. This is called lag time.

The normal (base) flow of the river starts to rise when run-off, ground and
soil water reaches the river. This is shown on the hydrograph as the rising
limb.
The falling limb shows that water is still reaching the river but in decreasing
amounts. The run-off/discharge of the river is measured in cumecs - this
stands for cubic metres per second. Precipitation is measured in mm - this
stands for millimetres.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/guides/zpqwwmn/revision
http://www.slideshare.net/DuncanAshton/hydrograph-explanation-and-animation

CE322 Basic Hydrology

Jorge A. Ramrez
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) (DRH) (m3/s) (m3/s/cm)
0 160 10 --
 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 -index equal to the ratio of the volume of losses to the
rainfall duration, tr. Thus,

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

c) Determine the ERH by subtracting the infiltration (e.g., -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 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 Total
(m3/s/cm) (m3/s) (m3/s) (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

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.

Ti UH UH(t- UH(t- UH UH(t- UH(t- UH(t- UH(t- UH(t- UH(t- S-

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

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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Ramirez/CE322_Web/Unit%20Hydrographs%20Example.htm