RUNOFF: PREPARED BY:

ENGR. NESLYN E.

RUNOFF VOLUME
LOPEZ
ESTIMATING RUNOFF VOLUME USING
EMPIRICAL EQUATIONS
 The importance of estimating the water availability from the
available hydrologic data for purposes of planning water-
resource projects was recognized by engineers.

 These formulae are essentially rainfall-runoff relations with

additional third or fourth parameters to account for climatic
or catchment characteristics.
BARLOW’S TABLES

 Barlow, the first Chief Engineer of the Hydro -Electric Survey of

India (1915) on the basis of his study in small catchments
(area~130 Km 2 ) in Uttar Pradesh expressed runof f 𝑹 as

𝑹 = 𝑲𝒃 𝑷

Where:
𝑲 𝒃 = runof f coef ficients which depends upon the type of
catchment and nature of rainfall monsoon rainfall.
BARLOW’S TABLES

 Barlow’s Runof f Coef ficient 𝑲 𝒃 in Percentage (developed for

use in UP)

Values of 𝑲𝒃 in Percentage
Class Description of Catchment
Season 1 Season 2 Season 3
A Flat, cultivated and absorbent soils 7 10 15
B Flat, partly cultivated, stiff soils 12 15 18
C Average catchment 16 20 32
D Hills and plains with little cultivation 28 35 60
E Very hilly, steep and hardly any cultivation 36 45 81
Season 1: Light rain, no heavy downpour
Season 2: Average or varying rainfall, no continuous downpour
Season 3: Continuous downpour
STRANGE’S TABLE

 Strange (1892) studied the

available rainfall and runoff in the
border areas of present-day
Maharashtra and Karnataka and
has obtained yield ratios as
functions of indicators representing
catchment characteristics.

 Catchments are classified as good,

average and bad according to the
relative magnitudes of yield.
STRANGE’S TABLE

RUNOFF VOLUME FROM TOTAL MONSOON SEASON

RAINFALL

- A table giving the runoff volumes for the monsoon period (i.e.
yield during monsoon season) for different total monsoon rainfall
values and for the three classes of catchments (viz. good, average
and bad) are given.
STRANGE’S TABLE

 Strange’s Table of Total Monsoon Rainfall and estimated

Runof f
Total Percentage of Runoff to rainfall Total Percentage of Runoff to rainfall
Monsoon Monsoon
Rainfall Good Average Bad Rainfall Good Average Bad
(in) catchment catchment catchment (mm) catchment catchment catchment
25.4 0.1 0.1 0.1 279.4 5.2 3.9 2.6
50.8 0.2 0.2 0.1 304.8 6.2 4.6 3.1
76.2 0.4 0.3 0.2 330.2 7.2 5.4 3.6
101.6 0.7 0.5 0.3 355.6 8.3 6.2 4.1
127.0 1.0 0.7 0.5 381.0 9.4 7.0 4.7
152.4 1.5 1.1 0.7 406.4 10.5 7.8 5.2
177.8 2.1 1.5 1.0 431.8 11.6 8.7 5.8
203.2 2.8 2.1 1.4 457.2 12.8 9.6 6.4
228.6 3.5 2.6 1.7 482.6 13.9 10.4 6.9
254.0 4.3 3.2 2.1 508.0 15.0 11.3 7.5
STRANGE’S TABLE

 The correlation of equations of best fitting lines relating

percentage yield ratio ( Yr ) to precipitation ( P ) could be
expressed as

For Good Catchment

𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑃 < 250 𝑚𝑚, 𝒀𝒓 = 𝟕 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟓 𝑷𝟐 − 𝟎. 𝟎𝟎𝟎𝟑𝑷 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝒓𝟐 = 𝟎. 𝟗𝟗𝟗𝟒

𝐹𝑜𝑟 250 < 𝑃 < 760 𝑚𝑚, 𝒀𝒓 = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟒𝟑𝟖𝑷 − 𝟕. 𝟏𝟔𝟕𝟏 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝒓𝟐 = 𝟎. 𝟗𝟗𝟗𝟕

𝐹𝑜𝑟 760 < 𝑃 < 1500 𝑚𝑚, 𝒀𝒓 = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟒𝟑𝟖𝑷 − 𝟕. 𝟏𝟔𝟕𝟏 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝒓𝟐 = 𝟏. 𝟎

Where:
𝒀 𝒓 = percentage yield ratio
= ratio of seasonal runof f to seasonal rainfall in percentage
𝑷 = monsoon season rainfall in mm
STRANGE’S TABLE

For Average Catchment

𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑃 < 250 𝑚𝑚, 𝒀𝒓 = 𝟔 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟓 𝑷𝟐 − 𝟎. 𝟎𝟎𝟐𝟐𝑷 + 𝟎. 𝟏𝟏𝟖𝟑

ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝒓𝟐 = 𝟎. 𝟗𝟗𝟖𝟗

𝐹𝑜𝑟 250 < 𝑃 < 760 𝑚𝑚, 𝒀𝒓 = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟑𝟐𝟖𝑷 − 𝟓. 𝟑𝟗𝟑𝟑 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝒓𝟐 = 𝟎. 𝟗𝟗𝟗𝟕

𝐹𝑜𝑟 760 < 𝑃 < 1500 𝑚𝑚, 𝒀𝒓 = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟑𝟑𝟑𝑷 − 𝟓. 𝟕𝟏𝟎𝟏 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝒓𝟐 = 𝟎. 𝟗𝟗𝟗𝟗

For Bad Catchment

𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑃 < 250 𝑚𝑚, 𝒀𝒓 = 𝟒 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟓 𝑷𝟐 − 𝟎. 𝟎𝟎𝟏𝟏𝑷 + 𝟎. 𝟎𝟓𝟔𝟕

ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝒓𝟐 = 𝟎. 𝟗𝟗𝟖𝟓

𝐹𝑜𝑟 250 < 𝑃 < 760 𝑚𝑚, 𝒀𝒓 = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟐𝟏𝟗𝑷 − 𝟑. 𝟓𝟗𝟏𝟖 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝒓𝟐 = 𝟎. 𝟗𝟗𝟗𝟕

𝐹𝑜𝑟 760 < 𝑃 < 1500 𝑚𝑚, 𝒀𝒓 = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟐𝟐𝟏𝑷 − 𝟑. 𝟕𝟕𝟏 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝒓𝟐 = 𝟏. 𝟎

STRANGE’S TABLE

SAMPLE PROBLEM

Monthly rainfall values of 50% dependable year at a site

selected for construction of irrigation tank is given below.
Estimate the monthly and annual runoff volume of this
catchment of area 1500 ha.
[Assume the catchment classification as Good Catchment]

Month June July Aug Sept Oct

Monthly rainfall (mm) 90 160 145 22 240

 STRANGE’S TABLE

SOLUTION
No. Month June July Aug Sept Oct

1 Monthly rainfall (mm) 90 160 145 22 240

2 Cumulative monthly rainfall (mm) 90 250 395 417 657

3 Runoff/Rainfall as % (Strange’s Table) 0.56 4.17 10.01 11.08 21.69

4 Monthly Runoff (mm) 0.50 9.92 29.11 6.66 96.30

5 Cumulative Runoff (mm) 0.50 10.43 39.54 46.20 142.50

Total monsoon runoff = 142.50 mm = 2.1375 Mm 3

Annual Runoff is taken as equal to monsoon runoff
INGLIS AND DESOUZA FORMULA

 As a result of careful stream gauging in 53 site in Western

India, Inglis and DeSouza (1929) evolved two regional
formulae between annual runof f 𝑹 in cm and annual rainfall 𝑷
in cm as follows:

1. For Ghat regions of Western India

𝑹 = 𝟎. 𝟖𝟓𝑷 − 𝟑𝟎. 𝟓

2. For Deccan plateau

𝟏
𝑹= 𝑷 𝑷 − 𝟏𝟕. 𝟖
𝟐𝟓𝟒
KHOSLA’S FORMULA

 Khosla (1960) analyzed the rainfall, runof f and temperature

data for various catchments in India and USA to arrive an
empirical relationship between runof f and rainfall
 The time period is taken as month,
 His relationship for monthly runof f is 𝑹𝒎 = 𝑷𝒎 − 𝑳𝒎

And 𝑳𝒎 = 𝟎. 𝟒𝟖𝑻𝒎 for 𝑻𝒎 > 𝟒. 𝟓℃

Where:
𝑹 𝒎 = monthly runof f in cm and 𝑅𝑚 ≥ 0
𝑷 𝒎 = monthly rainfall in cm
𝑳 𝒎 = monthly losses in cm
𝑻 𝒎 =mean monthly temperature of the catchment in ℃
KHOSLA’S FORMULA

 In 𝑻 𝒎 ≥ 𝟒. 𝟓℃ , the loss 𝑳 𝒎 may provisionally be assumed as

𝑻℃ 4.5 -1 -6.5
𝑳𝒎 (cm) 2.17 1.78 1.52

𝑨𝒏𝒏𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝑹𝒖𝒏𝒐𝒇𝒇 = 𝑹𝒎
KHOSLA’S FORMULA

SAMPLE PROBLEM

For a catchment in UP, India, the mean monthly temperatures

are given. Estimate the runoff and annual runoff coefficient by
Khosla’s method.

Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Temperature (℃) 12 16 21 27 31 34 31 29 28 29 19 14

(𝑷𝒎 ) (cm) 4 4 2 0 2 12 32 29 16 2 1 1
KHOSLA’S FORMULA

SOLUTION

Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Temperature (℃) 12 16 21 27 31 34 31 29 28 29 19 14

(𝑷𝒎 ) (cm) 4 4 2 0 2 12 32 29 16 2 1 1

(𝐿𝒎 ) (cm) 4 4 2 0 2 12 14.9 13.9 13.4 2 1 2

Runoff (𝑅𝒎 ) (cm) 0 0 0 0 0 0 17.1 15.1 2.6 0 0 0

Total runoff = 34.8 cm

Annual runoff coefficient = (Annual runoff/Annual rainfall)
= (34.8/116.0)
Annual runoff coefficient = 0.30
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