Time of Concentration The time of concentration of a watershed is the time required for a drop of water to travel from the

most hydrologically distant point in the watershed to the point of interest, such as the outlet or point of collection of the watershed. The time of concentration can be calculated using the following equations
n

tc =
m=1

TTM

TTM =

1 0.4 i Sm 0.3

Lm nm 0.6 Cn

where tc = time of concentration Lm = length of reach m i = intensity in feet per second Cn = conversion coecient for Mannings eqn General Steps to Solve for Time of Concentration 1. Break the watershed into m appropriate reaches Each reach will have a consistent slope, Mannings Coecient, and channel characteristics. By channel characteristics, we mean river section, intermediate section, or upper watershed. The upper watershed and intermediate sections are treated as sheet ow. The break point is determined by Lmax = 2. Assume a tc 3. Read intensity, i, from the IDF Table 4. Use the intensity read from the IDF Table to calculate tc Calculate the travel time for the upper watershed, intermediate area, and river section using TTM = 1 0.4 i Sm 0.3 Lm nm 0.6 Cn 100S 2 n upper watershed
1

TTM = travel time for reach m nm = Mannings Roughness Coecient for each m Sm = bed slope for each m

The Mannings Roughness Coecient, nm , needs to be determined for each reach For the upper watershed, use Table 8.9.1 to determine n upper watershed For the intermediate section, use Table 5.1.1, Section D-2 (Flood Plain) to determine n intermediate section For the river section, use Table 5.1.1, Section D-1 or D-3 to determine n river section The conversion coecient, Cn , is 1.486 for U.S. Customary units and 1 for S.I. units Sum the travel time for each reach to determine tc 5. Repeat step 4 using calculated tc to read a new intensity from the IDF Table 6. Iterate until tc does not change by more than 10%