Rational Method

• It has been reported that Mulvaney in 1851 has proposed this

method for determination of the peak flow rate for urban
catchments.

• However, it is fairly applicable to small agricultural watersheds of

40 to 80 hectares size (Chow, 1964).

• Rainfall intensity i begins instantaneous and continues indefinitely

and is homogeneous over the drainage basin.

• The rate of runoff will increase until the time of concentration tc,
when the entire watershed is contributing to flow at the outlet.

1
 I

Qp
Recession
Runoff Q

curve

Tc
Time
Time of
concentration
/equilibrium

2
The peak runoff rate Qp is expressed as

Qp = 1/3.6 * C I A
where
Qp = peak runoff rate (m3/s)

I = rainfall intensity (mm/h) for a duration equal to time of

concentration
A = area of drainage basin (km2)
C = coefficient of runoff (Table 1)

For multiple land use types within a single catchment a weighted

runoff coefficient is determined and weighted by area:
n
 Ci Ai
weighted C  i
n
 Ai 3
i
 Table 1. Values of runoff coefficient factor, C.
Slope Loam Silt
Vegetation Sandy Stiff
range loam
Type loam soil clay soil
% Clay soil
0-5 0.1 0.3 0.4
Woodland
5-10 0.25 0.35 0.5
and forests
10-30 0.3 0.5 0.6
0-5 0.1 0.3 0.4
Grassland 5-10 0.16 0.36 0.55
10-30 0.22 0.42 0.6
0-5 0.3 0.5 0.6
Agricultural
5-10 0.4 0.6 0.7
land
10-30 0.52 0.72 0.82

4
 Example 1
A catchment has an area of 5 km2. The average slope of the land surface is
0.006 and the maximum travel length of rainfall in the catchment is
approximately 1.95 km. The maximum depth of rainfall in the area with a
return period of 25 years is as tabulated below:
Time duration (min) 5 10 15 20 25 30 40 60
Rainfall depth (mm) 15 25 32 45 50 53 60 65
Assume that 2 km2 of the catchment area has cultivated sandy loam soil (C = 0.2) and
3 km2 has light clay cultivated soil (C = 0.7). Determine the peak flow rate of runoff
by using the Rational method.
Solution
The time of concentration is given by Kirpich’s equation

Tc = 0.0195 L0.77 S-0.385 = 0.0195 (1950)0.77 (0.006)-0.385 = 47.65 min

The maximum rainfall depth for 47.65 min duration would fall between the
period 40 - 60 min and is located at 7.65 min after the 40 min period at which the
maximum rainfall depth is 60 mm, as per the available data.
5
The rainfall depth during the 7.65 min period = (65-60)/20 * 7.65 = 1.9 mm
Therefore, at 47.65 min duration, the rainfall depth = 60 + 1.9 = 61.9 mm

The average rainfall intensity = Maximum rainfall depth / Tc

(during the period of time of concentration)

= 61.9/47.65 x60 = 77.96 mm/h

Runoff coefficient = C = (2.0 x 0.2 + 3.0 x 0.7)/(2.0 + 3.0) = 0.5

Peak Runoff Rate = Qp = (1/3.6) CIA = (1/3.6) x 0.5 x 77.96 x 5.0

= 54.138 m3/s