WATER RESOURCES BULLETIN

VOL. 9, NO. 2 AMERICAN WATER RESOURCES ASSOCIATION APRIL 1973

DEVELOPMENT OF DESIGN STORM HYETOGRAPHS FOR CINCINNATI, OHIO'

Herbert C Preul and Constantine h? Papadakis2

ABSTRACT. A synthetic storm rainfall hyetograph for a one-year design frequency is derived from
the one-ye= intensity-duration curve developed for Cincinnati, Ohio. Detailed rainfall data for a
three-year period were collected from P r e e raingages triangulating the Bloody Run Sewer Watershed,
an urban drainage areas of 2380 acres'in Cincinnati, Ohio. The advancement of the synthetic storm
pattern is obtained from an analysis of the antecedent precipitation immediately preceding the
maximum period of three selected durations. Rains which produced excessive runoff at least for some
duration were considered only. The same approach can be used for other design frequencies. The
purpose of this study is to provide synthetic storm hyetographs to be used as input in deterministic
mathematical models simulating urban storm water runoff for the design, analysis and possible
surcharge prediction of sewer systems.
KEY TERMS: Hydrology; urban runoff; design storm hyetographs; rainfall intensity-duration curves;
mathematical modeling.

INTRODUCTION

During the past decade a number of deterministic mathematical models have been developed
for the calculation of runoff hydrographs from urban watersheds [Preul and Papadakis, 19721 .
Most of these models use as input any given rainfall hyetograph and the characteristics of the
watershed under study. The output obtained from these models is the resulting hydrograph of
runoff at a selected location which usually is the outlet of the drainage system. However, if
these models should be used for the design and analysis of sewer systems, the input rainfall
should be a design rainfall hyetograph for a desired storm frequency.
Synthetic design storm patterns of a selected frequency are developed herein for a
Cincinnati, Ohio urban watershed. A similar approach may be applied to other locations. In
general, the procedure involves establishing the rainfall intensity-duration curve for a selected
design frequency for a particular location and then deriving the corresponding storm pattern
using a method first proposed by, Keifer and Chu [1957] and later implemented by
Bandyopadhyay [ 19721.

Paper No. 73164 of the WaterResources Bulletiiz. Discussionsare open until November 1, 1973.
* Respectively, Associate Professor, Division of Water Resources, Department of Civil and Environmental
Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 45221 and Teaching Fellow, Department of Civil
Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104.

29 1
292 h e u l and Papadakis

The location of the peak of the synthetic storm pattern is established by relating to
antecedent precipitation. For Cincinnati, the required antecedent precipitation data were
obtained from detailed hyetograph records, collected from three automatic raingages located in
the vicinity of the Bloody Run Sewer watershed.

INTENSITY-DURATION CURVES FOR CINCINNATI, OHIO,

FOR SELECTED DESIGN FREQUENCIES

Rainfall intensity-duration relationships for a given frequency and less than a two-hour
duration can be expressed mathematically [Sherman, 19311 by an equation of the form:

where iQv = average intensity in inches per hour; td = duration of the maximum period of
rainfall, in minutes; a,b.c, = constants to be computed for each selected frequency N.
For any selected frequency N, the one-hour duration rainfall, in inches, to be expected at
Cincinnati once in N years can be obtained from the isopluvial maps of the U.S.A. contained in
US. Weather Bureau Technical Paper No. 40 [1963]. As a check, each frequency and the
corresponding one-hour rainfall should plot on log-normal paper as a straight line.
In the following, the constants a, b and c are determined for the one-year frequency rainfall.
The mass of the one-hour rainfall to be expected at Cincinnati once in one year is 1.10 inches.
Therefore, the average intensity of that rainfall which has a duration td of 60 minutes is iQV =
1.1 0 inches per hour. Making use of the standard rainfall intensity-duration curves developed by
the Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army [ 19451 , the point with coordinates td = 60 minutes and iav
= 1.10 inches per hour falls on the No. 1.I curve. Curve numbers correspond to one-hour values
of rainfall and all points on the same curve have the same average frequency of occurrence. This
can be checked by considering the mass of the 30-minute rainfall to be expected at Cincinnati
once in one year which is 0.92 inches. The average intensity of that rainfall is iQV - 1.84 inches
per hour. The point with coordinates td = 30 minutes and iav = 1.84 inches per hour also falls
on the intensity-duration curve No. 1 .I as should be expected.
The values of a, b and c for N = 1 year are obtained by fitting equation 1 to the standard
intensity-duration curve No. 1 .l. Equation 1 written in logarithmic form is:

in which, if b is selected properly, the logarithms of iav and (td + b ) should plot as a straight
line having a slope equal to -c. The value of b is determined by plotting points with various
assumed values of b until a straght line is established, after which the intersect a and the
slope -C can be found graphically [Wisler and Brater, 19671. This procedure is presented in
table 1 and in figure 1 and resulted in a = 53, b = 10 and c = 0.91. Therefore, at Cincinnati the
intensity-duration curve for a one-year design storm is expressed by the equation:

The same procedure can be followed for other selected frequencies.

 DEVELOPMENT OF DESIGN STORM HYETOGRAPHS FOR CINCINNATI, OHIO 293

TABLE 1. Determination of the Intensity-Duration Curve

with One-Year Frequency for Cincinnati, Ohio.

Duration Av. intensity* td + b (minutes)

td in iav in inches I I

minutes per hour b=5 b=lO b=20

5 4.50 10 15 25
10 3.50 15 20 30
20 2.40 25 30 40
30 1.85 35 40 50
40 1S O 45 50 60
60 1.10 65 70 80
80 0.87 85 90 100

I * For a one-year frequency, extrapolated from standard intensity-duration curve No. 1 . I .

I

( I d +b ) IN MINUTES

Figure 1. Determination of the Intensity-Duration Curve

With I-Year Frequency for Cincinnati, Ohio

DEVELOPMENT O F SYNTHETIC STORM PATTERN

The volume of water P i n inches precipitated for any duration time and for a selected design
frequency can be obtained from the corresponding intensity-duration curve as:

a ‘d
P= (3)
60 (td + b )
294 Preul and Papadakis

Initially, a completely advanced rainfall pattern is developed that has the peak occurring at
time zero, with no antecedent rainfall. The area under the curve of the hyetograph is:

p= 1Std i dtd (4)

6o 0

where i = ordinate of hyetograph (rainfall intensity in inches per hour).

Differentiating Equation 4 with respect to t d :

Differentiating Equation 3 with respect to t d :

Equating Equation 5 and 6:

Equation 7 represents a completely advanced rainfall pattern (peak occurring at time zero)
that has the same average intensities as given by the rate duration curve. However, this equation
must be modified t o apply to any intermediate type storm pattern (a storm with peak after
time zero), Within the maximum period of any rainfall, duration td can be separated into the
period tb = rtdwhich occurs before the peak and is measured from the peak to the left and the
period ta = (1 - r ) td which occurs after the peak and is measured from the peak to the right.
Obviously td = ta + tb. For r = 0 , the storm is of the completely advanced type. For 0 < r < 1
the storm pattern is of the intermediate type (Figure 2).

Advanced Pollern

Equolion 8

$ 8

+ - 1 .... 4
TI ME

Figure 2. Completely Advanced and Intermediate Storm Patterns

 DEVELOPMENT OF DESIGN STORM HYETOGRAPHS FOR CINCINNATI, OHIO 295

Substituting into Equation 7 , td = tb/ r and td = ta/ ( I - r ) respectively:

a [ (1-c) tb+b 1
Before the peak ib =
[ -tb+ b ] l + C
r

For ta = 0 and tb = 0, the magnitude of the peak is obtained from a/bc. The synthetic
hyetograph which results from Equations 8 and 9 (Figure 2) has the same average intensity for
all durations as the intensity-duration curve (for a certain design frequency) from which the
constants a, b and c were derived. The only unknown quantity in Equations 8 and 9 is r.
Therefore, it remains to assign the best value to the constant r for Cincinnati from the available
rainfall records.

DETERMINATION OF r FROM ANTECEDENT RAINFALL

The mass precipitated before the peak (Pb in inches) within a duration td is:

r a td
Pb"P'
60 (td + b ) c

To assure adequate design, the maximum runoff that may occur with the design frequency
must be determined. Therefore, the maximum (peak) runoff will occur when all parts of the
watershed are contributing to the flow. The time required for this to happen is called time of
concentration (tc). A storm producing maximum runoff must be of maximum intensity and last
long enough for all parts of the watershed to contribute to the flow concurrently. A storm of
this type should necessarily have a duration equal to the time of concentration. Therefore, the
total duration of the synthetic storm pattern is set equal to the longest time of concentration.
The time of concentration for the Bloody Run Sewer Watershed, an urban watershed of 2380
acres in Cincinnati which was monitored for three consecutive years [Preul and Papadakis,
19721, is estimated to be 100 minutes. Since this duration is relatively long for an urban area, it
is assumed that any small amount of rainfall preceding this period would produce little effect
on runoff, therefore no antecedent rainfall is assumed prior to this 100-minute-long synthetic
storm pattern.
The amount of antecedent rainfall A in inches preceding the duration td, can now be
expressed as:
296 Preul and Papadakis

For a certain duration time td, the ratio A/r is obtained from Equation 11. Therefore, in
order to find r, the mass A of the antecedent rainfall preceding td should be estimated first.
Periods of 15, 30 and 60 minutes have been selected as duration times and table 2 is a
tabulation of the antecedent mass precipitated prior to each duration. Only those rainfalls were
recorded which produced excessive runoff at least for some definite duration. The precipitation
records were obtained from three raingages which automatically recorded the accumulative
mass curve of each rainfall. The three raingages triangulate the Bloody Run Sewer Watershed in
Cincinnati, Ohio and are named after their locations (Laidlaw Avenue, Ridge Road and
Woodward School). Only three years of detailed rainfall records are available; however, this is
considered t o be sufficient since r is independent of frequency.

TABLE 2. Antecedent Precipitation Records from Three Stations in the

Vicinity of Bloody Run Watershed, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Antecedent mass A(inches) prior

Raingage to the maximum:
Date Station* 15 min. 30 min. 60 min.
duration duration duration
5/12/70 L 0.040 0.040 0.040
R 0.040 0.040 0.040
9/13/70 L 0.075 0.045 0
W 0.125 0.042 0
9/25/70 W 0.290 0.290 0.290
9/26/70 W 0.120 0.080 0
10/9-10/70 L 0.060 0.030 0
w 0.090 0 0
11/19-20/70 L 0.020 0.020 0.020
R 0.095 0.095 0.080
12/11-12/70 L 0.067 0.04 7 0.012
12121-22/70 R 0.067 0.054 0
2/4/71 L 0.550 0.500 0.400
R 0.501 0.448 0.34 3
W 0.220 0.150 0.050
2 119-20171 R 0.050 0.010 0.005
3/19/71 L 0 0 0
4/27/71 L 0.012 0 0
R 0.01 7 0 0
5 15-6/7 1 L 0.050 0.040 0
W 0.065 0 0
R 0.080 0.010 0
5/7/71 L 0.135 0,100 0.053
W 0.670 0.670 0.660
5 /19/7 1 R 0 0 0
6/7/71 R 0.095 0.070 0
6/14/71 L 0.060 0.030 0
6/19/71 W 0 0 0
7/10/71 R 0.200 0 0
7/14/71 R 0.025 0 0
L 0.025 0 0
8/21-2217 1 W 0.100 0 0
8125-26/71 W 0.060 0 0
91217 1 R 0.400 0.400 0.127
912-3/7 1 L 0.570 0.570 0.350
 DEVELOPMENT OF DESIGN STORM HYETOGRAPHS FOR CINCINNATI, OHIO 297

913-417 1 L 0.510 0.460 0.250

9/24/71 R 0.827 0.727 0.480
9/6/71 R 0 0 0
911 1-12/71 W 0.190 0.120 0
9/13/71 W 0.1 80 0.1 10 0
9/20/71 L 0.100 0.030 0
R 0.250 0.050 0
W 0.200 0.100 0.020
9/26 /7 1 L 0.030 0 0
R 0.635 0.535 0.160
W 0.095 0.095 0
10/16/71 L 0.025 0 0
W 0.070 0 0
11/2/71 R 0.010 0.010 0
11/I 917 1 R 0.050 0 0
11/24/71 W 0.100 0 0
12/15/71 L 0.040 0 0
W 0.065 0 0
12/30/71 W 0.105 0.205 0.105
1/24/72 W 0 0 0
3/2/72 W 0 0 0
4/5/72 L 0.100 0.050 0
4/7/72 R 0.050 0.050 0
4 /I 2/72 W 0 0 0
4/13/72 W 0.030 0 0
4/16/72 W 0.190 0.100 0
5/8/72 L 0.200 0.150 0
5/9/72 W 0.290 0.220 0.010
5/29/72 L 0 0 0
R 0.300 0 0
5130172 L 0.100 0 0
R 0 0 0
6/15/72 L 0 0 0
6/21172 W 0.130 0.080 0
R 0 0 0
7120172 L 0.360 0.340 0.220
__ - ~-
- - ~

Number of excessive 71
station rainfalls

Mean A (inches) 0.1437 0.1016 0.0523

*L, R and W represent the Laidlaw, Ridge and Woodward raingage stations.

From table 2 a statistical mean value of A is obtained for each duration time. These values
are used to solve Equation 11 and to obtain the corresponding values of r for the three
durations under consideration. Through all durations r is to be constant, but the antecedent
rainfall for the shorter durations is greater and of greater importance in affecting runoff than
that for the longer durations. Therefore, the values of r obtained from different durations
should be weighted in proportion t o A in obtaining the average r value. This procedure is
presented in table 3. The mass antecedent rainfall for Cincinnati is plotted in figure 3 using
equation 1 1 for a one-year frequency. The statistical mean values of the mass antecedent
298 Reul and Papadakis

rainfall of table 2 are also plotted in figure 3 for comparison. Equations 8 and 9 are now
completely defined and generate respectively the rising and recession limbs of the intermediate
storm hyetograph.
The value of r obtained for the Cincinnati area example is 13/40. For Chicago Keifer and
Chu [1957] reported a value of r = 15/40. Since both areas have very similar climatic
conditions this agreement in the values of r was expected. For Gauhati, India, Bandyopadhyay
[ 19721 found a value of r equal to 16/40.

TABLE 3. Determination o f "r" from Mass Antecedent Rainfall

for a One-Year Design Frequency; Bloody Run Watershed, Cincinnati, Ohio.

15 25 18.7 0.710 0.517 0.1437 0.278 0.0399

30 40 28.6 0.927 0.300 0.1016 0.339 0.0344
60 70 48.0 1.104 0.123 -
0.0523
0.2976
0.425 0.0222
0.0965
Weighted value of r = 0.0965/0.2976 = 0.325 = 13/40

53x100 - 53 td
* From the 1-yr-frequency equation A = -
r [ 1
6o (100 + 10) 0'91 (td + 10) 0'91
** From Table 2.

DURATION OF MAXIMUM PERIOD IN MINUTES

Figure 3. Comparison of the Mass Antecedent Rainfall Occurring in the ]-Year

Synthetic Storm Pattern with That of the Mean Values of Actual Rainfalls
 DEVELOPMENT OF DESIGN STORM HYETOGRAPHS FOR CINCINNATI, OHIO 299

Another method may be used [Wisler and Brater, 1967.1 t o develop an arbitrary
time-intensity pattern for a one-year rain at Cincinnati, Ohio. This rain falls on the standard
intensity-duration curve No. 1.1. From this curve it can be seen that the probable average
intensity during the maximum 60 minutes of a one-year rain would be 1.10 inches per hour, for
the maximum 9 0 minutes, 0.80 inches per hour, and so on. The maximum 60 minutes of rain
include the maximum 30 minutes of rain, as well as the second largest 30-minute period. The
computations for the derivation of the intensities are shown in table 4. The arrangement of the
derived time-intensity pattern is arbitrary. Therefore, the intensities obtained can appear in any
order. In figure 4 this arbitrary time-intensity pattern is plotted in such a way as to best fit the
corresponding one-year synthetic rainfall pattern of the 13/40 advanced type. The agreement is
perfect as should be expected.

CONCLUSIONS

Deterministic mathematical models simulating urban runoff resulting from a given rainfall
can be used successfully in sewer system design and analysis only if the proper synthetic
hyetograph pattern for a desired design frequency is used as input.
A synthetic storm pattern for a one-year design frequency has been derived from the
corresponding intensity-duration curve for a Cincinnati, Ohio urban watershed. The antecedent
precipitation immediately preceding the maximum period of three selected durations was
obtained from rainfall records at three locations in the Cincinnati area and was used to calculate
the advancement of the design storm pattern. The same approach can be used for any desired
design frequency.

TABLE 4. Time-Intensity Pattern of One-Year Frequency

(Standard Intensity-Duration Curve No. 1.1) for Cincinnati, Ohio

AverageI
Accumulated Intensity
Time td Intensity Recip. (in.) At AP (in/hr)
(min.) i, (in/hr) P=iavtd/60 (min.) (in.) during increment
i=60 A P/ A t
0 0
5 0.375 4.50
5 4.50 0.375
5 0.207 2.4 8
10 3.50 0.582
5 0.118 1.42
15 2.80 0.700
5 0.100 1.20
20 2.40 0.800
5 0.075 0.90
25 2.10 0.875
5 0.050 0.60
30 1.85 0.925
10 0.075 0.45
40 1.50 1 .ooo
10 0.060 0.36
50 1.27 1.060
300 Preul and Papadakis

10 0.040 0.24
60 1.10 1.100
10 0.040 0.24
70 0.98 1.140
10 0.020 0.12
80 0.87 1.160
10 0.040 0.24
90 0.80 1.200
10 0.030 0.18
100 0.70 1.170

Figure 4. Comparison of the 1-Year Synthetic Rainfall Pattern

and the 1-Year Typical Time-Intensity Pattern for the Cincinnati Area, Ohio

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This study was supported by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, Water Quality Office, under
Research Grant 1 1 024 DQU.

LITERATURE CITED

Bandyopadhyay, M. 1972. Synthetic Storm Pattern and Runoff for Gauhati, India. Journal of the Hydraulics
Division, Proceedings of the American Society of Civil Engineers, HY5: 845-857.
Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army, 1945. Engineering Manual. Part XIII, Chapter 1, Fig. 2.
Keifer, C. J. and Chu, H. H. 1957. Synthetic Storm Pattern for Drainage Design. Journal of the Hydraulics
Division, Proceedings of the American Society of CEvil Engineers, HY 4: 1332-1 to 1332-25.
Preul, H. C. and Papadakis, C. N. 1972. Urban Runoff Characteristics. Final Report No. 11024 DQU.
Environmental Protection Agency, Water Quality Office, Water Pollution Control Research Series.
Sherman, C. W. 1931. Frequency and Intensity of Excessive Rainfalls in Boston, Mass, Transactions of the
American Society of Civil Engineers 95: 951.
Weather Bureau, U. S. Department of Commerce, 1963. Rainfall Frequency Atlas of the United States,
Technical Paper No. 40. Washington, D. C.
Wider, C. 0. and Brater, E. F. 1967. Hydrology. John Wiley and Sons, pp. 86-96.