Faculty of Engineering and IT

School of Civil Engineering and Built Environment

CLASS TEST

DATE: FEBRUARY 23, 2012 SESSION: 01:00

SUBJECT: WATER ENGINEERING II CODE: CWE21AI

EXAMINER: DC EDOSSA, PhD

CODE: ISNDLS
INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAMME: N. DIP: ENGINEERING: CIVIL

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS
2. PROVIDE YOUR ANSWERS IN THE SPACES PROVIDED CORRESPONDING TO EACH QUESTION
3. NON-ALPHA-NUMERIC CALCULATOR MAY BE USED
4. SHOW ALL UNITS AND GIVE ANSWERS TO TWO DECIMAL POINTS

Duration of paper: 1 HOUR Maximum mark: 40

SURNAME & INITIALS: SEAT NUMBER:

STUDENT NUMBER: SIGNATURE:
QUESTION MAX MARK MARK EARNED BY THE STUDENT
1 8
2 6
3 11
4 4
5 11
TOTAL 40

SIGNATURE
THIS PAPER CONSISTS OF 5 PAGES INCLUDING THE COVER PAGE

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EXAMINER
 Faculty of Engineering and IT
School of Civil Engineering and Built Environment

QUESTION 1

1.1. Explain briefly how the tipping-bucket type of rain gauge operates. (3)

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1.2. Discuss the optimum density of rain gauge network recommended by the World Meteorological
Organization for different regions: (5)

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QUESTION 2: The normal annual rainfall at five stations, A, B, C, D and E in a catchment are 100, 80, 95, 105
and 90 cm, respectively. In the year 2005, station B was inoperative and the stations A, C, D and E recorded
annual precipitation of 90, 95, 90 and 85, respectively. Estimate the rainfall at station B in that year using the
normal ratio method. (6)
N B PA PC PD PE
PB
M NA NC ND NE

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EXAMINER
 Faculty of Engineering and IT
School of Civil Engineering and Built Environment

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QUESTION 3: Given the following information for a catchment area, compute average rainfall over the area
using Theissen polygon and isohyetal methods. Fill in the tables provided with the required information based
on the steps followed by each method.

a) Thiessen Polygon method (5)

Rainfall Thiessen constant Rainfall in each Station

Station (fractional area) Polygon (mm) weight (mm)
A 0.144 33.4
B 0.110 34.2
C 0.104 33.3
D 0.133 34.5
E 0.132 35.0
F 0.113 37.0
G 0.064 37.3
H 0.105 35.5
I 0.103 35.0
Total 1.00

Average rainfall = ______________________

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EXAMINER
 Faculty of Engineering and IT
School of Civil Engineering and Built Environment

b) Isohyetal method (6)

Isohyets (mm) Area between Mean rainfall on Station weight

Upper Lower isohyets (ha) the area (mm) (ha.mm)
38 37 130
37 36 150
36 35 300
35 34 450
34 33 200
Total

Average rainfall: _____________________

QUESTION 4: The evaporation from a class-A pan (Eo) on a given day was 4.5 mm. The pan was placed
inside maize crop field. Estimate evapotranspiration from the crop (ETc) on the day if pan factor (Kp) is 0.65
and maize crop coefficient (Kc) is 0.70. (4)

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QUESTION 5: Use Thornthwaite method and the following information to calculate the seasonal crop
evapotranspiration for wheat crop grown in an area located at 24 N in the year 2010. The growing period of the
crop is from 1 November to 30 April. Assume a Kc value of 0.7 for wheat. Please use the spaces provided in the
table to enter the calculated values for each parameter. (11)

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EXAMINER
 Faculty of Engineering and IT
School of Civil Engineering and Built Environment

Useful equations:

Monthly heat index: j 0.09t 3 2

Yearly heat index: J j
Constant: a 0.016J 0.5
Monthly potential DT 10t
a

evapotranspiration: EToi 16
360 J
Seasonal evapotranspiration: ETo EToi
Seasonal crop ETc K c ETo
evapotranspiration:

Month Temperature, D T (hours) j Monthly potential

t ( C) (days) evapotranspiration, EToi
January 18.51 31 11
February 21.30 28 11.5
March 26.68 31 12
April 30.34 30 12.7
May 30.88 31 13.2
June 27.72 30 13.4
July 29.29 31 13.2
August 28.67 31 12.7
September 28.70 30 12.2
October 26.91 31 11.4
November 23.26 30 10.8
December 19.34 31 10.6
J= Seasonal ETo =
a= Seasonal ETc =

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EXAMINER