Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
HYDROGRAPH
Non-uniform areal
distribution and variation
in intensity within a storm
are very common.
Under such conditions unit
hydrographs can still be
used if the areal
distribution is consistent
between different storms.
In
the
use
of
unit
hydrographs
very
accurate
reproduction
of
results
should
not
be
expected.
Variations in the hydrograph
base of as much as 20% and
in the peak discharge by
10% are normally considered
acceptable.
DISTRIBUTION GRAPH
The distribution
graph introduced
by Bernard (1935)
is a variation of
the
unit
hydrograph. It is
basically a D-h
unit
hydrograph
with
ordinates
showing
the
percentage of the
surface
run-off
occurring
in
successive
periods of equal
SYNTHETIC UNIT
HYDROGRAPH
To develop unit hydrographs to
a
catchment,
detailed
information about the rainfall
and
the
resulting
flood
hydrograph
are
needed.
However,
such
information
would be available only at a
few
locations
and
in
a
majority
of
catchments,
especially those which are at
remote locations, the data
would normally be very scanty.
In
order
to
construct
unit
hydrographs
for
such
areas,
empirical equations of regional
validity
which
relate
the
salient
hydrograph
characteristics
to
the
basin
characteristics are available.
Unit hydrographs derived from
such relationships are known as
synthetic-unit hydrographs.
SNYDERS METHOD
The most important characteristic of a
basin affecting a hydrograph due to a
storm is basin lag. While actually
basin lag (also known as lag time) is
the
time
difference
between
the
centroid of the input (rainfall excess)
and
the
output
(direct
runoff
hydrograph), because of the difficulty
in determining the centroid of the
direct runoff hydrograph (DRH) it is
defined for practical purposes as the
elapsed time between the centroid of
rainfall excess and peak of DRH.
(6.9)
where
tp = basin lag in hours
L = basin length measured along the water
course from the basin divide to the gauging
station in km
Lca = distance along the main water course from
the gauging station to a point opposite to the
watershed centroid in km
Ct = a regional constant representing watershed
slope and storage effects.
The
Hence,
(6.10)
where
and n are basin constants.
For the basins in the USA studied n
by them n was found to be equal to
0.38 and the values of
were 1.715
for mountainous n drainage areas,
1.03 for foot-hill drainage areas
and 0.50 for valley drainage areas.
Snyder
(6.12)
where
A = catchment area in km2 and Cp = a
regional constant
If
(6.12a)
The
To
and
(6.17)
where
= width of unit hydrograph in h at 50% peak
discharge
= width of unit hydrograph in h at 75% peak
discharge
q = Qp/A = peak discharge per unit catchment
3
Example
Two catchments A and B are considered meteorologically
similar. Their catchment characteristics are given below.
For catchment A, a 2-h unit hydrograph was developed and was
found to have a peak discharge of 50 m3/s.The time to peak from
the beginning of the rainfall excess in this unit hydrograph was
9.0 h. Using Snyders method, develop a unit hydrograph for
catchment B.
Catchment A Catchment B
L = 30 km
L = 45 km
Lca = 15 km
Lca = 25 km
A = 250 km2
A = 400 km2
Example
Two catchments A and B are considered meteorologically
similar. Their catchment characteristics are given below.
For catchment A, a 2-h unit hydrograph was developed and was
found to have a peak discharge of 50 m3/s.The time to peak from
the beginning of the rainfall excess in this unit hydrograph was
9.0 h. Using Snyders method, develop a unit hydrograph for
catchment B.
Catchment A Catchment B
L = 30 km
L = 45 km
Lca = 15 km
Lca = 25 km
A = 250 km2
A = 400 km2
= 62, , , , and = 57 h