Flood Routing

Flood routing is a technique of determining the

flood hydrograph at a section of a river by
utilizing the data of flood flow at one or more
upstream sections.
Applications of Flood Routing
1- For accounting changes in flow hydrograph as
a flood wave passes down stream.
2- Flood Forecasting
3-Flood Protection and flood warning.
4-Design of spillway and reservoir.
In these application two broad categories of routing can
be recognized:
1- Reservoir routing.
2- Channel routing.
In reservoir routing the effect of flood entering on the
reservoir is studied. By known the volume-elevation
characteristics of the reservoir and the outflow-
elevation relationship for the spillways and other
outlet structures in the reservoir is studied to predict
the variation of reservoir elevation and outflow
discharge.
This form of reservoir routing is essential for :
1- Design of capacity of spillway and other outlet
structure.
2- The location and sizing of the reservoirs to meet
specific requirements.
While for channel routing the change on the shape of
the flood hydrograph as it travels down the channel
is studied. By considering a channel reach and input
hydrograph in upstream end, this form of routing
aims to predict the flood hydrograph at various
section of the reach
*Types of flood routing
1 - Lumped/hydrologic routing.
a - Reservoir routing (level pool routing).
b - Channel routing.
Flow, time. Continuity equation and
Flow/Storage relationship
2- Distributed/hydraulic routing.
Flow ,space, time.
Continuity and Momentum equations
 Hydrologic storage routing
For reservoir routing the following data have to be known:
1- Storage volume vs elevation of the reservoir.
2- Water surface elevation vs outflow discharge.
3- Initial values of S,I and Q at time = 0.
Where I = inflow S= Storage Q= Discharge

There are a variety of methods available for routing of floods

through a reservoir.
All of them use below equation but in various rearranged
manners.
I ∆ t – Q ∆ t = ∆s.
Commonly used method for reservoir routing is described below:
Modified pul’s Method
 I1  I 2   Q1Δt   Q 2 Δt 
  Δt   1
S  
  2
S  
 2   2   2 
Where I=inflow, Q= outflow and S= storage.
At the start of flood routing, the initial storage and
outflow discharge are known. In equation above all
the terms in the left - hand side are known at the
beginning of the time step ∆t , hence the value of the
function (S2 + Q2Δt / 2) at the end of the time step is
calculated by equation above.
For practical use in hand computation , the
following semigraphical method is very
convenient.
From the known storage - elevation and
discharge - elevation data, prepare a curve of
(S + QΔt / 2) vs elevation as shown in figure
below. Here Δt is any chosen interval ,
approximately 20% - 40% of the time of rise
of inflow hydrograph.
 Out flow Q (m3 / s)
10 13

Elevation (m)
Q VS Elevation

(S + QΔt / 2 (VS Elevation

100.5

3.686

3.58
(S + QΔt / 2 (Mm3
- On the same curve prepare outflow discharge vs
elevation.
- The storage , elevation and outflow discharge at the
starting of routing are known, for the time interval Δt
,  I1  I 2  and (S1 + Q1Δt / 2) are known ,
 Δt
 2 
hence the term (S2 + Q2Δt / 2) is determined.
- The water surface elevation corresponding to
(S2 + Q2Δt / 2) is founding by using figure above.
- The outflow discharge Q2 at the end of the time
step Δt is found from the figure also.
- Deducing Q2 Δt from (S2 + Q2Δt / 2) gives (S - QΔt /
2) for the beginning of the next time step.
The procedure is repeated till the entire inflow
hydrograph is routed.
2- Goodrich Method:
Anther popular method of hydrologic reservoir routing ,
known as Goodrich method.
 2S1   2S 2 
I1  I 2     Q1     Q2 
 Δt   Δt 
 Hydrologic channel routing
Hydrologic channel routing:
In reservoir routing the storage is a function of outflow
discharge, S=f (Q).
In channel routing the storage is a function of both
inflow and outflow discharge.
in channel the total storage can be considered under
two categories.
Prism storage and wedge storage.
Prism storage:
It is the volume that would exist if uniform occurred at
the downstream depth.
Attenuation:
Owing to the storage effect, the peak of the
outflow hydrograph will be smaller than that
of the peak of inflow hydrograph. This
reduction of peak flow is called attenuation.
The time difference between two peaks is
known as lag. The attenuation and lag are two
very important aspects of a reservoir food
operation under flood control criteria.
Wedge storage:
It is wedge like volume formed between the
actual water surface profile and the top surface
of the prism storage.
Muskingum method for routing:
For a given channel reach by selecting a routing
interval ∆t at using the Muskingum equation,
the change in storage is
S2-S1=K{x(I2-I1)+(1-x) (Q2-Q1)}
To use the Muskingum equation to route a given
inflow hydrograph through a reach, the value
of k and x for the reach and the value of the
outflow , Q1 , from the reach at the start are
needed.
- Knowing k and x , select an appropriate value
of ∆t.
Calculate C0, C1 and C2.
Starting from the initial conditions I1, Q1 and
known I2 at the first time step ∆t calculate Q2
by above equation.
Q2 = Co I2 + C1 I1 + C2 Q1
 kx  0.5t
Co 
k  kx  0.5t

kx  0.5t
C1 
k  kx  0.5t

k - kx  0.5t
C2 
k  kx  0.5t

Co + C1 + C2 = 1