19‐May‐16

LECTURE 21

FLOOD ROUTING
Reservoir Routing

1
 19‐May‐16

Reservoir Storage Zone & Uses of Reservoir

2
 19‐May‐16

Reservoir Routing

Storage-Indication Method:
Apply the storage-indication method for
reservoirs that have a spillway.
Apply this to an ungated spillway like a weir,
outlet discharge pipe, or gated spillway with
fixed position
Assume that surcharge storage (S)=0 when
no overflow occurs.

Reservoir Routing

Use a relationship between outflow (Q) and

elevation head (H). For example, for a broad
crested weir:
Q=CLH3/2
Where
Q = Discharge at the outlet (cfs)
C = Discharge coefficient of weir (cfs)
L = Length of crest (ft)
H = Depth above spillway (ft)

3
 19‐May‐16

Reservoir Routing

Two relationships specific for reservoir:

• Storage-Head Relationship
• Outflow-Head Relationship

Need:
• An inflow hydrograph
• A starting elevation above
spillway

Reservoir Routing

S
Use the continuity equation as: I O 
t
Where
I = Average inflow during t
O = Average outflow during t

Ii  Ii 1 Oi  Oi 1 Si 1  Si
 
Or 2 2 t
Where subscripts denote the time interval

4
 19‐May‐16

Reservoir Routing

Ii  Ii 1 Oi  Oi 1 Si 1  Si
 
2 2 t
For i=1, we know Ii and Ii+1 (Initially) and Si
(Initially)
We do not know Oi+1 and Si+1
So, we rewrite “Knowns = Unknowns”

Reservoir Routing

We can find Oi+1, if we have a relationship

between term on RHS and O. This is possible
using the so-called Storage-Indication Curve.

5
 19‐May‐16

Routing Steps
1. Set i=1, obtain initial head and inflow hydrograph.
2. Find initial outflow O1 corresponding to initial head above
spillway, i.e. assume equal to initial inflow
3. Identify the elevation-discharge relationship for reservoir &
develop the elevation-storage curve for the structure 
develop storage-indication curve
4. Find 2S1/t for elevation-storage curve (i.e. H-S relationship)
2S2
5. From the continuity equation, calculate  O2
t
6. Enter storage-indication curve to find O2.
2S2 2S
7. Calculate  O2  [ 2  O2 ]  2O2
t t
8. Change i=2
3 2S
9. From continuity equation, calculate t  O3
10. Repeat steps 6-9, and so on…..

Example

Table 1 shows Inflow hydrograph entering a small

reservoir having a Ogee shaped overflow spillway.
The weir has a length of 3 m and coefficient of
discharge of 2.2. The weir crest is at elevation 104
m. When the inflow hydrograph enters the reservoir,
its water level is 104 m and Storage of 40000 m3.
The elevation versus surface area relationship is
given in Table 2. Route the inflow hydrograph
assuming no base flow.

6
 19‐May‐16

Table 1: Inflow Hydrograph (Known Information)
Time (h) Inflow (m3/s) Time (h) Inflow (m3/s) Time (h) Inflow (m3/s)
0 50 9 295 18 50
1 75 10 252 19 45
2 175 11 212 20 39
3 355 12 177 21 38
4 455 13 145 22 28
5 525 14 108 23 20
6 510 15 84 24 15
7 450 16 64 25 6
8 365 17 53 26 5

Table 2: Reservoir Surface Area (Known Information)
Water Elevation (m) Surface Area (m2) Water Elevation (m) Surface Area (m2)

104 41200 114 45700

106 42000 116 47200

108 42700 118 48700

110 43700 120 50200

112 44700 122 52700

Solution

The first step in flood routing is to establish a

relationship between reservoir water elevation
and storage of the reservoir. This can be done by
slicing the reservoir horizontally, determining
surface area by appropriate method e.g. by
planimetring or using computer program. The
volume of each slice can be computed using
formulae of solid geometry. The calculation of
volume of reservoir referred here as storage is
calculated in Table 3. The formula employed is ∆V
= (h/3)[A1+A2+√A1A2] where h is difference in
height between two consecutive slices/contours.
The calculations are shown in Table 3. The
elevation vs surface area is plotted in Figure 1.

7
 19‐May‐16

The next step is to calculate discharge using weir formula with

known coefficient of discharge and crest level of spillway. The
elevation is changed, net head over spillway found and
discharge calculated as shown in Table 4
Table 4 Discharge over Spillway

Water El. Head Above Crest, H Q = Cd B H3/2

(m) (m) (m³/s)
104 - -
106 2 18.66
108 4 52.80
110 6 97.00
112 8 149.34
114 10 208.71
116 12 274.36
118 14 345.73
120 16 422.40
122 18 504.03

8
 19‐May‐16

The routing interval is taken equal to

time interval of inflow hydrograph which
is 1.0 hour. The routing interval should
not be that large so as to miss the peak
flow observation. We now have in hand,
at a particular elevation storage and
outflow value which enables us to
calculate storage indication against each
elevation (Table 5). A curve is drawn
between storage indication and out flow
as shown in Figure 2.

Table 5 Storage Indication
Cumulative Storage
Outflo
Water El. Volume Indication
w 'O'
(Storage) [(2S/∆t) + O]
(m) (m³) (m³/s) (m³/s)
104 0 0
106 123,199 18.66 87.10
108 207,898 52.80 168.30
110 294,296 97.00 260.50
112 382,694 149.34 361.94
114 473,092 208.71 471.53
116 565,988 274.36 588.80
118 661,884 345.73 713.44
120 760,780 422.40 845.05
122 863,670 504.03 983.85

9
 19‐May‐16

Storage Indication vs Outflow

600

500

400
Outflow'm³/s'

300

200

100

0
0 200 400 600 800 1,000 1,200

Storage Indication [(2S/∆t)+O] 'm³/s'

Figure 2 ‐ Storage Indication vs Outflow Curve

The last step is to find outflow hydrograph which is

done in Table 6. The column‐4 shows sum of two
consecutive inflow values. In this example initial
level of reservoir is assumed flush with spillway
crest so initial value of outflow is zero. The first
value of storage is equal to reservoir volume up to
spillway crest. Both being known so [(2S/∆t) ‐ O] is
computed. The value of (I j+I j+1) is added to
[(2S/∆t)‐O] to get [(2S/∆t)+O]. Corresponding to
this value of storage indication outflow is read
from Figure 2. The outflow is subtracted twice
from storage indication to give next value of
[(2S/∆t)‐O]. The process is repeated to get all
values of outflow till values obtained are small
enough representing steady flow.

10
 19‐May‐16

Time
Step (j) Oj
Time Inflow, I j I j+I j+1 [(2S/∆t)-O] [(2S/∆t)+O] Outflow
number
(Hour) (m³/s) (m³/s) (m³/s) (m³/s) (m³/s)
1 0 50 - - 0 0
2 1 75 125 0 125 37
3 2 175 250 51 301 130
4 3 355 530 41 571 272
5 4 455 810 27 837 412
6 5 525 980 13 993 494
7 6 510 1035 4 1,039 519
8 7 450 960 2 962 478
9 8 365 815 6 821 404
10 9 295 660 13 673 326
11 10 252 547 21 568 271
12 11 212 464 27 491 230
13 12 177 389 31 420 193
14 13 145 322 35 357 159
15 14 108 253 38 291 125
16 15 84 192 42 234 94
17 16 64 148 45 193 73
18 17 53 117 47 164 58
19 18 50 103 49 152 51
20 19 45 95 50 145 47
21 20 39 84 50 134 42
22 21 38 77 51 128 38
23 22 28 66 51 117 33
24 23 20 48 51 99 24
25 24 15 35 52 87 17
26 25 6 21 53 74 10
27 26 5 11 54 65 5

600

500

400

300

200

100

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Inflow Hydrograph Outflow Hydrograph

Figure 3 ‐ Determining Reservoir Lag and Attenuation

11