Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Unit Hydrographs: Transforming The Runoff
Unit Hydrographs: Transforming The Runoff
Excess Precip.
Excess Precip.
Runoff Hydrograph
Runoff Hydrograph
Downstream Hydrograph
resulting from a relatively short, intense rain, called a unit storm. The runoff hydrograph may be made up of runoff that is generated as flow through the soil (Black, 1990).
Time of Concentration
Rising Limb Recession Limb (falling
limb) Peak Flow Time to Peak (rise time) Recession Curve Separation Base flow
Graphical Representation
Duration of excess precip.
Lag time
Time of concentration
Base flow
Fitted Distributions
Unit Hydrograph
The hydrograph that results from 1-inch of excess
precipitation (or runoff) spread uniformly in space and time over a watershed for a given duration.
The key points :
1-inch 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
100.0000
200.0000
300.0000
400.0000
500.0000
600.0000
700.0000
0.0000
Surface Response
Baseflow
0. 00 0 0. 0 16 00 0. 32 0 0. 0 48 00 0. 64 0 0. 0 80 00 0. 96 0 1. 0 12 0 1. 0 28 00 1. 44 0 1. 0 60 00 1. 76 0 1. 0 92 00 2. 08 0 2. 0 24 00 2. 40 0 2. 0 56 0 2. 0 72 00 2. 88 0 3. 0 04 00 3. 20 0 3. 0 36 00 3. 52 0 3. 0 68 00
Total Hydrograph
500.0000
400.0000
Surface Response
300.0000
Baseflow
200.0000
100.0000
0.0000 0.0000 0.5000 1.0000 1.5000 2.0000 2.5000 3.0000 3.5000 4.0000
15000
Flow (cfs)
0.5
0.4 10000
0.3
0
96 10 4 11 2 12 0 12 8 0 8 16 24 32 40 48 56 64 72 80 88
Time (hrs.)
Precipitation (inches)
Separation of Baseflow
...
generally accepted that the inflection point on the recession limb of a hydrograph is the result of a change in the controlling physical processes of the excess precipitation flowing to the basin outlet.
In
this example, baseflow is considered to be a straight line connecting that point at which the hydrograph begins to rise rapidly and the inflection point on the recession side of the hydrograph.
the
inflection point may be found by plotting the hydrograph in semi-log fashion with flow being plotted on the log scale and noting the time at which the recession side fits a straight line.
Semi-log Plot
100000 10000
1000
Flow (cfs)
100
10
Time (hrs.)
99 10 4 10 9 11 4 11 9 12 4 12 9 13 4
29 34
39 44
49 54
59 64
69 74
79 84
89 94
20000
15000
Flow (cfs)
10000 5000
14
21
28
35
42
49
56
63
70
77
84
91
98
105
112
119
126
Time (hrs.)
133
Separate Baseflow
25000
20000
15000
Flow (cfs)
10000 5000 0
98 10 5
11 2
11 9
12 6
Time (hrs.)
13 3
14
21
28
35
42
49
56
63
70
77
84
91
Sample Calculations
In the present example (hourly time step), the flows are
summed and then multiplied by 3600 seconds to determine the volume of runoff in cubic feet. If desired, this value may then be converted to acre-feet by dividing by 43,560 square feet per acre. The depth of direct runoff in feet is found by dividing the total volume of excess precipitation (now in acre-feet) by the watershed area (450 mi2 converted to 288,000 acres). In this example, the volume of excess precipitation or direct runoff for storm #1 was determined to be 39,692 acre-feet. The depth of direct runoff is found to be 0.1378 feet after dividing by the watershed area of 288,000 acres. Finally, the depth of direct runoff in inches is 0.1378 x 12 = 1.65 inches.
Final UHG
25000 Storm #1 hydrograph 20000 Storm#1 direct runoff hydrograph
15000
Flow (cfs)
14
21
28
35
42
49
56
63
70
77
84
91
98
105
112
119
126
Time (hrs.)
133
examining the precipitation for the event and determining that precipitation which is in excess. This is generally accomplished by plotting the precipitation in hyetograph form and drawing a horizontal line such that the precipitation above this line is equal to the depth of excess precipitation as previously determined. This horizontal line is generally referred to as the F-index and is based on the assumption of a constant or uniform infiltration rate. The uniform infiltration necessary to cause 1.65 inches of excess precipitation was determined to be approximately 0.2 inches per hour.
0.6
Precipitation (inches)
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Time (hrs.)
Excess Precipitation
1 0.9 0.8 0.7
Derived unit hydrograph is the result of approximately 6 hours of excess precipitation. Small amounts of excess precipitation at beginning and end may be omitted.
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
Time (hrs.)
hydrograph. If unit hydrographs are to be averaged, then they must be of the same duration. Also, convolution of the unit hydrograph with a precipitation event requires that the duration of the unit hydrograph be equal to the time step of the incremental precipitation. The most common method of altering the duration of a unit hydrograph is by the S-curve method. The S-curve method involves continually lagging a unit hydrograph by its duration and adding the ordinates. For the present example, the 6-hour unit hydrograph is continually lagged by 6 hours and the ordinates are added.
Develop S-Curve
60000.00 50000.00
40000.00
Flow (cfs)
30000.00
20000.00
10000.00
0.00
102 108 114
Time (hrs.)
120
12
18
24
30
36
42
48
54
60
66
72
78
84
90
96
1 hour and the difference between the two lagged S-curves is found to be a 1 hour unit hydrograph. However, because the S-curve was formulated from unit hydrographs having a 6 hour duration of uniformly distributed precipitation, the hydrograph resulting from the subtracting the two S-curves will be the result of 1/6 of an inch of precipitation. Thus the ordinates of the newly created 1-hour unit hydrograph must be multiplied by 6 in order to be a true unit hydrograph. The 1-hour unit hydrograph should have a higher peak which occurs earlier than the 6-hour unit hydrograph.
50000.00 S-curves are lagged by 1 hour and the difference 40000.00 is found. 1-hour unit hydrograph resulting 30000.00 from lagging Scurves and multiplying the 20000.00 difference by 6.
10000.00
8000.00
6000.00
4000.00 10000.00
2000.00
0.00
Flow (cfs)
and averaged. The unit hydrographs must be of the same duration in order to be properly averaged. It is often not sufficient to simply average the ordinates of the unit hydrographs in order to obtain the final unit hydrograph. A numerical average of several unit hydrographs which are different shapes may result in an unrepresentative unit hydrograph. It is often recommended to plot the unit hydrographs that are to be averaged. Then an average or representative unit hydrograph should be sketched or fitted to the plotted unit hydrographs. Finally, the average unit hydrograph must have a volume of 1 inch of runoff for the basin.
Synthetic UHGs
Snyder SCS Time-area
Snyder
Since peak flow and time of peak flow are two of the most
important parameters characterizing a unit hydrograph, the Snyder method employs factors defining these parameters, which are then used in the synthesis of the unit graph (Snyder, 1938). The parameters are Cp, the peak flow factor, and Ct, the lag factor. The basic assumption in this method is that basins which have similar physiographic characteristics are located in the same area will have similar values of Ct and Cp. Therefore, for ungaged basins, it is preferred that the basin be near or similar to gaged basins for which these coefficients can be determined.
Basic Relationships
t LAG Ct ( L Lca )0.3
t duration
t LAG
5.5
tbase 3
t LAG 8
q peak
640 AC p t LAG
Final Shape
The final shape of the Snyder unit hydrograph is controlled by the equations for width at 50% and 75% of the peak of the UHG:
SCS
SCS Dimensionless UHG Features
1
0.8
0.6
Q/Qpeak
0.4
0.2
Dimensionless Ratios
Time Ratios (t/tp) 0 .1 .2 .3 .4 .5 .6 .7 .8 .9 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2.0 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3.0 3.2 3.4 3.6 3.8 4.0 4.5 5.0 Discharge Ratios (q/qp) .000 .030 .100 .190 .310 .470 .660 .820 .930 .990 1.000 .990 .930 .860 .780 .680 .560 .460 .390 .330 .280 .207 .147 .107 .077 .055 .040 .029 .021 .015 .011 .005 .000 Mass Curve Ratios (Qa/Q) .000 .001 .006 .012 .035 .065 .107 .163 .228 .300 .375 .450 .522 .589 .650 .700 .751 .790 .822 .849 .871 .908 .934 .953 .967 .977 .984 .989 .993 .995 .997 .999 1.000
Triangular Representation
D
1.2
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0 0.0
Tp
1.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
5.0
Tb
T/Tpeak
Triangular Representation
Tb 2.67 x Tp
D
1.2
Tr Tb - Tp 1.67 x Tp
0.8
0.6
Q=
qpT p 2
qpT r 2
qp 2
0.4
(T p +T r )
0.2 0 0.0
Tp
1.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
5.0
Tb
2Q qp = T p +T r
T/Tpeak
qp =
654.33 x 2 x A x Q T p +T r
The 645.33 is the conversion used for delivering 1-inch of runoff (the area under the unit hydrograph) from 1-square mile in 1-hour (3600 seconds).
qp =
484 A Q Tp
484 ?
qp = 484 A Q Tp
Comes from the initial assumption that 3/8 of the volume under the UHG is under the rising limb and the remaining 5/8 is under the recession limb.
General Description Urban areas; steep slopes Typical SCS Mixed urban/rural Rural, rolling hills Rural, slight slopes Rural, very flat Peaking Factor 575 484 400 300 200 100 Limb Ratio (Recession to Rising) 1.25 1.67 2.25 3.33 5.5 12.0
L = Lag time
L 0.6 * Tc
Tc D 1.7 T p
D + 0.6 T c = T p 2
D 0.133 Tc
Time of Concentration
Regression Eqs. Segmental Approach
A Regression Equation
L0.8 (S 1) 0.7 Tlag 1900(% Slope) 0.5
where : Tlag = lag time in hours L = Length of the longest drainage path in feet S = (1000/CN) - 10 (CN=curve number) %Slope = The average watershed slope in %
Segmental Approach
More hydraulic in nature
The parameter being estimated is essentially the time of
concentration or longest travel time within the basin. In general, the longest travel time corresponds to the longest drainage path The flow path is broken into segments with the flow in each segment being represented by some type of flow regime. The most common flow representations are overland, sheet, rill and gully, and channel flow.
A Basic Approach V kS
K 0.25 0.5 0.7 0.9 1.0 1.5 2.0 Land Use / Flow Regime Forest with heavy ground litter, hay meadow (overland flow) Trash fallow or minimum tillage cultivation; contour or strip cropped; woodland (overland flow) Short grass pasture (overland flow) Cultivated straight row (overland flow) Nearly bare and untilled (overland flow); alluvial fans in western mountain regions Grassed waterway Paved area (sheet flow); small upland gullies
1 2
McCuen (1989) and SCS (1972) provide values of k for several flow situations (slope in %)
Sorell & Hamilton, 1991 Flow Type Small Tributary - Permanent or intermittent streams which appear as solid or dashed blue lines on USGS topographic maps. Waterway - Any overland flow route which is a well defined swale by elevation contours, but is not a stream section as defined above. Sheet Flow - Any other overland flow path which does not conform to the definition of a waterway.
K 2.1
1.2
0.48
Triangular Shape
In general, it can be said that the triangular version will not
cause or introduce noticeable differences in the simulation of a storm event, particularly when one is concerned with the peak flow. For long term simulations, the triangular unit hydrograph does have a potential impact, due to the shape of the recession limb. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (HEC 1990) fits a Clark unit hydrograph to match the peak flows estimated by the Snyder unit hydrograph procedure. It is also possible to fit a synthetic or mathematical function to the peak flow and timing parameters of the desired unit hydrograph. Aron and White (1982) fitted a gamma probability distribution using peak flow and time to peak data.
1.0000
2.0000
3.0000
4.0000
5.0000
6.0000
Time-Area
Time-Area
Time
Time
Time-Area
Hypothetical Example
A 190 mi2 watershed is divided into 8 isochrones of travel time.
The linear reservoir routing coefficient, R, estimated as 5.5
hours. A time interval of 2.0 hours will be used for the computations.
Rule of Thumb
R - The linear reservoir routing coefficient can be estimated as approximately 0.75 times the time of concentration.
Basin Breakdown
Map Area # 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 TOTAL Bounding Isochrones 0-1 1-2 2-3 3-4 4-5 5-6 6-7 7-8 Area (mi2) 5 9 23 19 27 26 39 40 190 Cumulative Area (mi2) 5 14 37 58 85 111 150 190 190 Cumulative Time (hrs) 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 8.0
Incremental Area
40 35
Synthetic time-area curve The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (HEC 1990)
Instantaneous UHG
IUH i cI i (1 c) IUH ( i 1)
2t 2 R t
t = the time step used n the calculation of the translation unit hydrograph The final unit hydrograph may be found by averaging 2 instantaneous unit hydrographs that are a t time step apart.
Computations
Time (hrs) (1) 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 Inc. Area (mi2) (2) 0 14 44 53 79 0 Inc. Translated Flow (cfs) (3) 0 4,515 14,190 17,093 25,478 0 Inst. UHG (4) 0 1391 5333 8955 14043 9717 6724 4653 3220 2228 1542 1067 738 510 352 242 168 116 81 55 39 26 19 13 IUHG Lagged 2 hours (5) 0 1,391 5,333 8,955 14,043 9,717 6,724 4,653 3,220 2,228 1,542 1,067 738 510 352 242 168 116 81 55 39 26 19 13 2-hr UHG (cfs) (6) 0 700 3,360 7,150 11,500 11,880 8,220 5,690 3,940 2,720 1,890 1,300 900 630 430 300 200 140 100 70 50 30 20 20
Incremental Areas
90 80
Incremental Flows
30000
25000
20000
15000
10000
5000
Instantaneous UHG
16000 14000 12000
Flow (cfs/inch)
Flow (cfs/inch)
Convolution
Excess Precip.
Excess Precip.
Runoff Hydrograph
Runoff Hydrograph
Downstream Hydrograph
Convolution
CN = 68 Time Ppt 0 0 1 0.7 2 1.2 3 0.6 4 1.5 5 6.3 6 4 7 0 8 1.6 9 0.4 10 0.2 11 0.6 12 0.1 13 0 14 0 15 0 16 0 17 0 18 0 19 0 20 0 21 0 22 0 23 0 24 0 25 0 26 0 27 0 28 0 29 0 30 0 31 0 32 0 33 0 S= 4.706 IA = 0.9412 Cum Ppt. cum. RO Inc. ROUHG(@360) RO1(UHG) RO2(UHG) RO3(UHG) RO4(UHG) 0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.7 0.01 0.01 750.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.9 0.16 0.15 1500.00 0.00 9.77 0.00 0.00 2.5 0.39 0.23 2250.00 0.00 19.54 111.95 0.00 4 1.20 0.82 2850.00 0.00 29.31 223.90 169.19 10.3 6.23 5.02 3625.00 0.00 37.13 335.85 338.37 14.3 9.88 3.65 3400.00 0.00 47.23 425.41 507.56 14.3 9.88 0.00 3150.00 0.00 44.30 541.09 642.91 15.9 11.38 1.50 2725.00 0.00 41.04 507.50 817.74 16.3 11.76 0.38 2500.00 0.00 35.50 470.19 766.98 16.5 11.95 0.19 2250.00 0.00 32.57 406.75 710.59 17.1 12.51 0.57 1925.00 0.00 29.31 373.16 614.71 17.2 12.61 0.09 1675.00 0.00 25.08 335.85 563.96 17.2 12.61 0.00 1450.00 0.00 21.82 287.34 507.56 17.2 12.61 0.00 1225.00 0.00 18.89 250.02 434.25 17.2 12.61 0.00 1000.00 0.00 15.96 216.43 377.85 17.2 12.61 0.00 775.00 0.00 13.03 182.85 327.10 17.2 12.61 0.00 550.00 0.00 10.10 149.27 276.34 17.2 12.61 0.00 325.00 0.00 7.17 115.68 225.58 17.2 12.61 0.00 100.00 0.00 4.23 82.10 174.83 17.2 12.61 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.30 48.51 124.07 17.2 12.61 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 14.93 73.31 17.2 12.61 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 22.56 17.2 12.61 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 17.2 12.61 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 17.2 12.61 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 17.2 12.61 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 17.2 12.61 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 17.2 12.61 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 17.2 12.61 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 17.2 12.61 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 17.2 12.61 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 17.2 12.61 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 17.2 12.61 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Individual Responses
Individual Responses
20000.00
15000.00
Flow (cfs)
10000.00
5000.00
0.00 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Overall Response
Overall Response
40000.00 35000.00 30000.00 25000.00
Flow (cfs)
UHG Application
unit hydrograph for the SAC-SMA model, the user should attempt to separate out both baseflow and interflow.
SAC-SMA more
The very nature of the
unit hydrograph is that is time distributes the runoff or excess precipitation. Therefore, it accounts for lagging or delays. The SAC-SMA model also accounts for delays in the interflow and baseflow components; therefore, they should not be accounted for in the unit hydrograph that is to be used with the SAC-SMA.