Department of Civil Engineering/ MBMAN

Different Methods of estimating design flood

1. Rational
Rational formula was used to calculate the floods from the catchment by using maximum
hourly rainfall intensities for the time of concentration. The The formula is as follows:

CI A
QP 
3.6

Where, Qp= Maximum flood discharge in m3/s; I = Intensity of rainfall within the time of
concentration in mm/hr; A = Catchment area in km2; C = Dimensionless run-off coefficient.

2. WECS/DHM 1990

This study is based on the flow records of DHM primary gauges from whole Nepal. The method
can be used for any ungauged point of Nepal and require catchment area below 5000 m and the
average monsoon rainfall over the basin. It gives daily and instantaneous flood peaks for
different return periods. It estimates the flood values at ungauged locations in general for whole
Nepal hence it may not give the accurate results for particular basin. However this method is
used here mainly for the purpose of cross-checking and verification. Flood results by this
method may be obtained directly by the software called “HYDEST” by using catchment area
and monsoon wetness index at any location of Nepal.
 Department of Civil Engineering/ MBMAN

2. DHM 2004

This method is similar to WECS 1990 but has more data base and it also uses the mean elevation
of basin. Flood results by this method may be obtained directly by the software called
“HYDEST2004” at any location of Nepal.

3. Modified Dicken’s
Irrigation Research Institute, Roorkee (India) has conducted frequency studies on Himalayan
Rivers and suggested the following relationship to compute Dickens constant CT for desired
return period (T):
CT = 2.342 log (0.6T) log (1185/p) + 4
p = [(a+6) / (A+a)]*100
Where a = perpetual snow area in sq. km; A = total basin area in sq. km.
Now, T year flood discharge (QT) in m3/sec is determined by:
QT = CTA0.75

4. Flood Transposition from HSC (Hydrologically Similar catchments)

The design flood of ungauged catchment also can be derived from flood transportation form
hydrologicaly simillar other catchments by catchment area ratio.

For example,

Extreme instantaneous flood data from past years are available at Mainachuli of Kankai Mai
River (st. no. 795) can be transposed to Ratuwa Bridge site to estimate the design flood by
Catchment Area Ratio (CAR) method. The catchment area of Kankai is 1148 km 2 and that of
ratuwa is 430 and both of the catchments share same hydrogeological region with similar
landuse pattern. Hence catchment area ratio (CAR) = 430/1148 = 0.375 can be used to
transpose the flood data. It is assumed that Ratuwa and Kankai are Hydrological Similar
Catchments (HSC).
 Department of Civil Engineering/ MBMAN

5. Medium Irrigation Project (MIP) method

The MIP method presents a technique for estimating the distribution of monthly flows throughout a
year for ungauged locations. For application to ungauged sites, it is necessary to obtain one flow
measurement in the low flow period from November to April.

In the MIP Method, Nepal has been divided hydrologically into seven zones. Once the catchment area of
the scheme, one flow measurement in the low flow period and the hydrological zone is identified, long-
term average monthly flows can be determined by multiplying the unit hydrograph (of the concerned
region) with the measured catchment area.

Hydrological zone can be identified based on the location of the scheme in the hydrologically zoned map
of Nepal. For catchment areas less than 100 km2, MIP method is used for better results.

If the measured date is on 15th of the particular month, the coefficient given in the table is directly used.
For other date of measurement, coefficient for that date is found by interpolation.
Department of Civil Engineering/ MBMAN