Engineering Hydrology: Assignment No. 1

Engineering Hydrology
Assignment No. 1
Instructor Engr. Sami ullah

Submitted By Ansar Shahzad
Regd. No. CVE172031
Semester 6th
1
Precipitation
Any form of water, such as rain, snow, sleet, or hail that falls to the earth's surface is
precipitation. In other words, precipitation is water released from clouds in the form of rain,
freezing rain, sleet, snow, or hail. It is the primary connection in the water cycle that provides for
the delivery of atmospheric water to the Earth. Most precipitation falls as rain.
Forms of Precipitation:
Drizzle:
Drizzle are the minute particles of water at start of rain. Drizzle has diameter under 0.02 inch.
Intensity of drizzle is usually less than 0.4 inch / hour. Its speed is quite slow and they are
normally evaporated rather than flowing on the surface.
Rain:
Rain is the most common type of precipitation. The size of drops is more than 0.02 inch and less
than 0.25 inch in diameter. Flow is generally produced on the ground by it if the rate of
rainfall is more than the rate of infiltration of soil.
Snow:
Snow is the precipitation in the form of ice crystals resulting from sublimation i.e. from water
vapor to ice directly. Often the warm surface of earth melts the freshly fallen snow. However, if
the Earth’s surface is cold, the snow can accumulate on the ground.
Glaze:
It is the ice coating formed on the drizzle or rain drops as it comes in contact with the cold
surfaces on the ground.
Sleet:
It is the frozen rain-drops cooled to the ice stage while falling through air at subfreezing
temperatures.
Hail:
Precipitation in the form of balls or lumps of ice over 0.2inch diameter. Formed by alternate
freezing and thawing as the particles are carried up and down in highly turbulent air currents.
Their impact is also more as compared to other forms of precipitation.
2
Weather Systems for Precipitation:
A front is the boundary between two different types of air mass. In our latitudes a front usually
separates warm, moist air from the tropics and cold, relatively dry air from polar regions.
Fronts move with the wind, so in the UK this is normally from west to east because our
prevailing winds are from the west or southwest. At a front, the heavier cold air undercuts the
less dense warm air, causing the warm air to rise up over the wedge of cold air.
As the air rises there is cooling and condensation, thus leading to the formation of clouds and
rainfall. Consequently, fronts tend to be associated with cloud and rain. Three types of front can
be identified; warm fronts, cold fronts and occluded fronts.
Cyclone:
A cyclone is an area of low pressure around which the winds flow counterclockwise in the
northern hemisphere. Since a cyclone is also known as a low-pressure center, moving in any
horizontal direction away from the "Low" will result in increasing pressure. Air converges into a
low-pressure center which causes air to rise. The rising motion may produce clouds and
precipitation. Different precipitation types include rain and thunderstorms in the summer and fall
seasons, to rain, thunderstorms, and even snow during the winter.
Anticyclone:
In anticyclones, the situation is reversed. Air at the center of an anticyclone is forced away from
the high pressure that occurs there. That air is replaced in the center by a downward draft of air
from higher altitudes. As this air moves downward, it is compressed and warmed. This warming
reduces the humidity of the descending air, which results in few clouds and low humidity in the
anticyclone.
Convective Precipitation:
In this type of precipitation a packet of air which is warmer than the surrounding air due to
localized heating rises because of its lesser density. Air from cooler surroundings flows to take
its place thus setting up a convective cell. The warmer air continues to rise, undergoes cooling
and results in precipitation.
Orographic Precipitation:
Orographic precipitation is produced when moist air is lifted as it moves over a mountain range.
As the air rises and cools, orographic clouds form and serve as the source of the precipitation,
most of which falls upwind of the mountain ridge. Some also falls a short distance downwind of
3
the ridge and is sometimes called spillover. On the lee side of the mountain range, rainfall is
usually low, and the area is said to be in a rain shadow. Very heavy precipitation typically occurs
upwind of a prominent mountain range that is oriented across a prevailing wind from a warm
ocean.
Factors Affecting Run-off:

1. Intensity of rainfall
2. Soil characteristic
3. Topo graph
4. Shape and size of catchment
5. Weather condition
Numerical 1
A lake had a water surface elevation of 134.200 m above datum at the beginning of a certain
month. In that month the lake received an average inflow of 6.0 m 3/s from surface runoff
sources. In the same period the outflow from the lake had an average value of 6.5 m 3/s. Further,
in that month, the lake received a rainfall of 176 mm and the evaporation from the lake surface
was estimated as 6.10 cm. Write the water budget equation for the lake and calculate the water
surface elevation of the lake at the end of the month. The average lake surface area can be taken
as 5000 ha. Assume that there is no contribution to or from the groundwater storage.
Solution
In a time interval 𝛥t the water budget for the lake can be written as
Input volume – output volume = change in storage of the lake
(t́ 𝛥t + PA) – (Q́ 𝛥t + EA) – 𝛥 S
Where t́ = average rate of inflow of water into the lake, Q́ = average rate of outflow from the
lake, P = precipitation, E = evaporation, A = average surface area of the lake and 𝛥 S = change in
storage volume of the lake.
Here 𝛥t = 1 month = 30 × 24 × 60 × 60 – 2.592 × 106 s = 2.592 Ms
In one month:
Inflow volume = t́ 𝛥t – 6.0 × 2.592 = 15.552 Mm3
Outflow volume = Q́ 𝛥t – 6.5 × 2.592 = 16.848 Mm3
4
0.176 ×5000 ×100 ×100
Input due to precipitation = PA = = 8.8 Mm3
10 6
0. 061×5000 ×100 × 100
Outflow due to evaporation = EA = 6 = 3.05 Mm3
10
𝛥 S = 15.552 + 8.8 – 16.848 – 3.05 = 4.454 Mm3
4.454 × 106
𝛥z = = 0.08908 m
5000× 100× 100
Elevation at end of month = 134.200 + 0.08908 = 134.29 m above the datum
Numerical 2
A small catchment of area 181 ha received a rainfall of 10.5 cm in 31 minutes due to a storm. At
the outlet of the catchment, the stream draining the catchment was dry before the storm and
experienced a runoff lasting for 10 hours with an average discharge of 1.5 m3/s. The stream was
again dry after the runoff event.
(a) What is the amount of water which was not available to runoff due to combined effect of
infiltration, evaporation and transpiration?
(b) What is the ration of runoff to precipitation?
Solution
The water budget equation for the catchment in a time 𝛥t is
R=P–L
Where L = Losses = water not available to runoff due to infiltration causing addition to soil
moisture and groundwater storage), evaporation, transportation and surface storage. In the
present case 𝛥t = duration of the runoff = 10 hours.
Note that the rainfall occurred in the first 41 minutes and the rest 8.5 hours the precipitation was
zero.
(a) P = Input due to precipitation in 10 hours = 181 × 100 × 100 × (10.5/100) = 190,050 m3
R = Runoff volume = outflow volume at the catchment outlet in 10 hours
= 1.5 × 10 × 60 × 60 = 54,000 m3
Hence losses L = 190,050 – 54,000 = 136,050 m3
(b) Runoff/rainfall = 54,000/157,500 = 0.343
5
6

Engineering Hydrology: Assignment No. 1

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Engineering Hydrology: Assignment No. 1

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Engineering Hydrology: Assignment No. 1

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Engineering Hydrology

Instructor Engr. Sami ullah

Factors Affecting Run-off:

You might also like