(3-1) Abstractions From Precipitation

Hydrology
Abstractions from Precipitation

[3-1]
Dr. Mohammad N. Almasri
1 [3] Spring – 2021 – Hydrology Dr. Mohammad N. Almasri Abstraction from precipitation
Objectives of the Presentation
① To understand the broad meaning of abstraction

from precipitation and its components
② To quantify the following:

i. Infiltration
ii. Evaporation
iii. Evapotranspiration
Just a Reminder
Rainfall
Interception
Abstractions from
precipitation are
losses due to:
Evapotranspiration Runoff
① Evaporation
Depression ② Transpiration
③ Infiltration
④ surface detention
Infiltration
Abstraction = Removal
Interception
Before rainfall reaches the ground, part of it may be caught
by the vegetation and subsequently evaporated
The volume of water so caught is called interception
Interception
The intercepted precipitation may follow one of three

possible routes:
① Retained by the vegetation as surface storage and
returned to the atmosphere by evaporation
(interception loss)
② Drip off the plant leaves to the ground surface

(through fall)
③ Run along the leaves and branches and down the

stem to reach the ground surface (stemflow)
Depression Storage
Depression Storage
When the precipitation of a storm reaches the ground,

it must first fill up all depressions before it can flow
over the surface
The volume of water trapped in these depressions is

called depression storage
Depression Storage
Infiltration
Infiltration
What is Infiltration?
Infiltration is the process by which water (from

precipitation or irrigation) on the ground surface
enters the soil
Infiltration rate f(t) is a measure of the actual rate at

which a particular soil is able to absorb rainfall or
irrigation
It is measured in inches per hour or millimeters per

hour
Factors that Controls Infiltration
Vegetation cover and root development: this promotes

infiltration since roots provide access to the soil
Initial moisture content (antecedent): the drier the soil

initially is, the larger will be the infiltration
Soil texture and structure: characterizes the size and

number of the passages through which water must flow
Surface slope: less infiltration is expected with

increasing the surface slope
Mechanisms of Infiltration
Infiltration Capacity
Infiltration capacity fp(t) is the maximum rate at which
the soil can transmit water across its surface at a
specific time
Where the infiltration

capacity curve is
above the hyetograph,
the actual rate of
infiltration is equal to
that of rainfall
intensity f(t) = min [fp(t), i(t)] where
i(t) is the rainfall intensity
Infiltration Capacity
Infiltration Capacity = 1 inch/hr
Infiltration
General Concepts
The potential Infiltration rate decreases as the soil

becomes more and more saturated
If rainfall rate exceeds the infiltration capacity [i > fp],

then [i]: actual infiltration equals infiltration capacity,
[ii] saturation occurs, [iii] ponding starts and [iv] runoff
usually begins
This runoff is called Horton overland flow
Infiltration
General Concepts
t4 is ponding time
(saturation)
Apparently, until
saturation is reached at
the surface, the
infiltration rate is
constant and equals the
rainfall rate
Point 4 corresponds to
the time at which
saturation occurs at the
soil surface and runoff As time goes on, the infiltration
begins capacity continues to decline
Infiltration
General Concepts
Point 4 is also the point at which the actual infiltration

rate (f) becomes equal to the infiltration capacity rate
(fp) rather than the intensity rate i
Horton Infiltration Model
Horton model is an empirical formula that says that

infiltration capacity starts at a constant initial
maximum rate (f0) and is decreasing exponentially with
time (t)
After some time when the soil saturation level reaches

a certain value, the rate of infiltration will approximate
the rate fc which is the final equilibrium minimum
asymptotic value of infiltration
Horton Model of the infiltration capacity is:

 kt
f p  f c  (f 0  f c )e
fp = the infiltration capacity (potential) at some time (L/T)
k = a constant representing the rate of decrease in the
infiltration capacity (decay coefficient) and depends on
soil characteristics (1/T)
fc = a final or equilibrium infiltration capacity (L/T)
f0 = the initial infiltration capacity (L/T)
t = the time (T)
Factors affecting the parameters
f0: depends chiefly on soil type, initial moisture content
and surface vegetation conditions
Soil Type f0 (mm/hr)
Dry sandy soils with little or no vegetation 127
Dry sandy soils with dense vegetation 254
Moist sandy soils with little or no vegetation 43
Moist sandy soils with dense vegetation 84
Dry clay soils with little or no vegetation 25.4

Dry clay soils with dense vegetation 51
Moist clay soils with little or no vegetation 7.6
Moist clay soils with dense or no vegetation 18
Factors affecting the parameters
fc: depends on the hydraulic conductivity or the

permeability of the soil
fc is high for sandy soil and low for clayey soil
Cumulative infiltration F(t): the total amount of water

entering the soil
Ponding Time
Time of ponding according to Horton’s model is given
by the following equation:
 1  i  fc 
tp  ln 
k  f0  fc 
Time of ponding is the elapsed time between the time
rainfall begins and the time at which water begins to
pond on the soil surface
This time can be found by equating the rainfall intensity

and the potential infiltration rate
Example 1
A soil in a catchment has the following Horton
infiltration parameters:
f0 = 3.0 in/h
fc = 0.5 in/h
k = 0.3 hr-1
Plot the infiltration capacity curve with time for this

catchment
kt
fp  fc (f0  fc )e
Example 1
Example 2
rainfall
rainfall
rainfall
Example 2
Actual infiltration = rainfall intensity
rainfall
rainfall
Infiltration Infiltration
rainfall
Infiltration
Measuring Infiltration
Single Ring Infiltrometer
The single ring involves driving a ring into
the soil and supplying water in the ring
either at a constant head or a falling head
condition
Constant head refers to conditions where
the amount of water in the ring is always
held constant. Maintaining constant head
means the rate of water supplied
corresponds to the infiltration capacity
Falling head refers to conditions where
water is allowed to drop with time. The
operator records how much water goes into
the soil for a given time period
Double Ring Infiltrometer
Double ring infiltrometer

requires two rings: an inner ring
and an outer ring
An inner ring is driven into the

ground, and a second bigger
outer ring around that to help
control the flow of water
through the first ring (vertical
flow)
Water is filled in the two rings

Double Ring Infiltrometer
Estimation of the Parameters of Horton Model
Example 3
Infiltration capacity data obtained from an infiltration
test is given in the table below:
① For this data plot the curves of (i) cumulative
infiltration versus time and (ii) infiltration capacity
versus time
② Obtain the best values of the parameters in
Horton's infiltration capacity equation to represent
this data set
Time since start (min) 5 10 15 25 45 60 75 90 110 130

Cumulative infiltration
1.75 3.00 3.95 5.50 7.25 8.30 9.30 10.20 11.28 12.36
depth (cm)
Example
Example
Example
From the best-fit equation of t and LN (fp – fc) figure,

we find that:
The slope = –2.6751 = -K thus K = 2.6751 h-1
The intercept = 2.8868 = LN (f0 – fc)

This implies that f0 – fc =17.94 and f0 = 21.18 cm/h
Classification of Infiltration Capacities
Infiltration
Infiltration
Capacity Remarks
Class
(mm/h)
Very low < 2.5 Highly clayey soils
Clay soils, soils in low organic
Low 2.5 to 12.5
matter
Medium 12.5 to 25 Loam
High > 25 Deep sands
Infiltration Indices
Φ – Index
Φ – Index is the average rainfall
Intensity
Hyetograph
intensity above which the
volume of rainfall equals the
volume of runoff
The hashed area above the

dashed line represents runoff Time
(Rainfall excess)
Intensity
The unhashed area below the
Runoff
line is the rainfall that did not
become runoff and represents
all the losses including
interception, evaporation and Losses Φ index
infiltration Time
Φ – Index
To determine Φ – Index for a given storm, the amount

of observed runoff is determined and the difference
between this quantity and the total rainfall is then
calculated
The volume of loss is then distributed uniformly across

the storm duration
Φ – Index is the rate of loss for a given storm
Φ – Index
Φ – Index – Example
A storm with 10 cm of precipitation produced a direct

runoff of 5.8 cm. The duration of the rainfall was 16
hours and its time distribution is given in the table
below
Estimate the Φ – Index of the storm

Time from start (h) 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Cumulative rainfall (cm) 0 0.4 1.3 2.8 5.1 6.9 8.5 9.5 10
Time from start (h) 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Cumulative rainfall (cm) 0 0.4 1.3 2.8 5.1 6.9 8.5 9.5 10
time (hours) 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
Incremental rain (cm) - 0.4 0.9 1.5 2.3 1.8 1.6 1 0.5
Rainfall intensity (cm/h) - 0.2 0.45 0.75 1.15 0.9 0.8 0.5 0.25
First iteration
Total rainfall depth (cm) 10
Runoff depth (cm) 5.8
Loss (cm) 4.2
Loss (cm/h) = Φ 0.2625
Check ✗ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✗
First iteration
Total rainfall depth (cm) 10
Loss (cm) 4.2
Loss (cm/h) = Φ 0.2625
Check ✗ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✗
Second iteration
Total rainfall depth (cm) 9.1
Loss (cm) 3.3
Loss (cm/h) = Φ 0.275
You have two storm

events of 75 mm of a
total duration of 6
hours as shown in the
figures
Both produced a total

runoff equivalent to
33 mm
Find out the Φ Index

for the two storm
events Time (hours)
Φ = 8 mm/h Φ = 9 mm/h
Time (hours) Time (hours)
Φ index
Example
Let us put this in an

opposite way
Determine the
runoff and losses
amounts due to the
following storm if Φ-
index is 9 mm/h
Determine the
runoff and losses
amounts due to the
following storm if
Φ-index is 0.275
mm/h
5.8 cm
4.2 cm
Determine Φ-index if the rainfall is given in the

following hyetograph while the direct runoff is 6 mm

(3-1) Abstractions From Precipitation

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

(3-1) Abstractions From Precipitation

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Hydrology

Abstractions from Precipitation

Dr. Mohammad N. Almasri

① To understand the broad meaning of abstraction

② To quantify the following:

The volume of water so caught is called interception

The intercepted precipitation may follow one of three

② Drip off the plant leaves to the ground surface

③ Run along the leaves and branches and down the

When the precipitation of a storm reaches the ground,

The volume of water trapped in these depressions is

Infiltration is the process by which water (from

Infiltration rate f(t) is a measure of the actual rate at

It is measured in inches per hour or millimeters per

Vegetation cover and root development: this promotes

Initial moisture content (antecedent): the drier the soil

Soil texture and structure: characterizes the size and

Surface slope: less infiltration is expected with

Where the infiltration

Infiltration Capacity = 1 inch/hr

The potential Infiltration rate decreases as the soil

If rainfall rate exceeds the infiltration capacity [i > fp],

This runoff is called Horton overland flow

Point 4 is also the point at which the actual infiltration

Horton model is an empirical formula that says that

After some time when the soil saturation level reaches

Horton Model of the infiltration capacity is:

Dry clay soils with little or no vegetation 25.4

fc: depends on the hydraulic conductivity or the

fc is high for sandy soil and low for clayey soil

Cumulative infiltration F(t): the total amount of water

This time can be found by equating the rainfall intensity

Plot the infiltration capacity curve with time for this

Double ring infiltrometer

An inner ring is driven into the

Water is filled in the two rings

Time since start (min) 5 10 15 25 45 60 75 90 110 130

From the best-fit equation of t and LN (fp – fc) figure,

The slope = –2.6751 = -K thus K = 2.6751 h-1

The intercept = 2.8868 = LN (f0 – fc)

The hashed area above the

To determine Φ – Index for a given storm, the amount

The volume of loss is then distributed uniformly across

Φ – Index is the rate of loss for a given storm

A storm with 10 cm of precipitation produced a direct

Estimate the Φ – Index of the storm

You have two storm

Both produced a total

Find out the Φ Index

Time (hours) Time (hours)

Let us put this in an

Determine Φ-index if the rainfall is given in the

You might also like