Application of Engineering Hydrology

CLASSIFICATION OF HYDROLOGY
• Scientific Hydrology
– The study of water which is concerned chiefly with
academic aspects

• Engineering Hydrology
– a study concerned with Engineering application

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ENGINEERING APPLICATIONS
It is an applied science and deals with
those segments of the field pertinent to
planning, design, and operation of
engineering projects, such as
 Water supply,
 Irrigation,
 Hydropower,
 Highway
 Flood control,
 Navigation
 ……………….. etc

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• Flood Control :
– analyze statistically the probable frequency of floods of various
magnitudes so that potential future flood losses may be predicted.
– "design flood" must be synthesized and a variety of preliminary plans
prepared for works that might protect against it.
– flood control Closely allied flood prediction ( forecast ), which
achieve a remarkable high degree of accuracy
• Power :
– Hydro-logic studies are essential to the planning of hydropower
development and operating existing plants, which dependent upon a
perpetual hydro-logic inventory and prediction system.
– To determine the feasibility of a "run of river" plant, estimate flow to
address the peak demand hours, absolute minimum daily flow that
may be expected to exist.
– For the "Storage Plant", to determine the prime power possibilities of
the site and relative economics of various heights of dam and
capacities of turbine generator units.
• Navigation :
– If the system is no-alluvial, the hydro-logical studies are relatively
simple and consist mainly of hydraulic computations to determine
the effect of the proposed improvements or water surface profiles
for various rates of flow streams carrying sediments pose much more
complex problems.
• Irrigation :
– The hydro-logic problems in irrigation are similar to those in water
supply but on a large scale.
– Today we increasingly find ourselves confronted with limiting
conditions because with more ambitious program of irrigation,
complexities of the problems increase correspondingly.
– On some river requirement of water to irrigate the available
cultivable land far exceeds the total flow (as for example in the valley
of river Krishna) and the downstream project have to depend on "
return flow" from upstream projects.
– More and more the hydro-logists are called upon to evaluate new
projects in areas where the margin of safety is already low or to
discover new sources of water for projects in difficulty or to develop
more economical methods of water use.
• Structural and Hydraulic Design :
– In any type of reservoir, provision must be made for passing flood
flows over or around the dam. The spillway section capacity, the
height if dam, downstream protection works etc. depend on the
correct assessment of flood flow and routing. An under-estimate may
result in an unsafe design and an over estimate may lead to
unnecessary expenditure.
• Erosion control :
– Erosion control is basically allied to the sedimentation of reservoirs,
the problem which effects reservoir operation and its life.

• Pollution abatement :
– The enormous growth of population and large scale industrialization
in many countries of the world have bought about many public health
problems not the least important of which is the pollution of stream.
Many rivers downstream from cities have become open sewers
dangerous to public health and destructive of fish and other wild life
and natural beauty. Complete prevention of steam pollution, although
possible on some stream, is not economically feasible. A complete
stream pollution control study must include an investigation of stream
flow, particularly the magnitude and duration of low flows. In some
important to the control of stream pollution as have investments in
additional sewage treatment plants.

• Municipal and Industrial water supply :

– The location and development sources adequate to the needs of
urban areas and industries is a matter of increasing concern. This
concern is being felt even in India in most of the cities and great
efforts are made to obtain water supply even from great distance e.g.
Chennai-400 km from Krishna river, Rourkela-150 Km from a reservoir.
 ENGINEERING HYDROLOGY
In general it deals with:
• Estimation of water resources availability

• Estimation and reduction of hydrological risks

• Development of hydrological scenarios

• Ensure proper information to decision makers

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 …APPLICATIONS
In all hydrological study of a project should or it
involves the collection of relevant data and analysis
of the data by applying the principles of hydrology
to seek solutions to practical problems.

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Process of Precipitation data
 Rainfall data from: Rain Gauges
KEY STRENGTHS :
“True” measurement of rain
KEY LIMITATIONS:
• No coverage over oceans or remote regions
• Point measurement not representative of area
• Different gauge designs
•There about 1260

•Regional office
• Adam Jijiga
• Hawasa Assosa
• BahirDar Mekele
• Kombolcha etc ….

Belete Berhanu (PhD) Hydrologist/Water Resources modeler

 Rainfall data from: RADAR
KEY STRENGTHS :
• Excellent space and time resolution
• Observations in real time
KEY LIMITATIONS:
• Little coverage over oceans or remote regions

• Signal calibration

• Corrections required for beam filling, bright band,

anomalous propagation, attenuation, etc.

• Z-R relationship

• Expensive to operate
Belete Berhanu (PhD) Hydrologist/Water Resources modeler
 Rainfall data from-Model
KEY STRENGTHS :
• Excellent space and time resolution

• Estimates in real time

• Includes meteorological context from other model

fields
KEY LIMITATIONS:
• Forecast, not observation

• Model does not represent processes perfectly

Belete Berhanu (PhD) Hydrologist/Water Resources modeler

Rainfall data from:
Geostationary Satellite (IR)
KEY STRENGTHS :
• Good space and time resolution
• Observations in near real time
• Samples oceans and remote regions
• Consistent measurement system

KEY LIMITATIONS:
• Measures cloud-top properties instead of rain
 May mistake cirrus for rain clouds
 Does not capture rain from warm clouds

Belete Berhanu (PhD) Hydrologist/Water Resources modeler

Rainfall data from:
Polar Orbiting Satellite (Passive Microwave)
KEY STRENGTHS :
• Samples remote regions
• Consistent measurement system
• More physically based, more accurate than VIS/IR
estimates
KEY LIMITATIONS:
• Poorer time and space resolution (~3 hr, ~5-50 km)
• Not a direct measurement of rain
• Beam filling
• Does not capture rain from warm clouds over land

Belete Berhanu (PhD) Hydrologist/Water Resources modeler

 Satellite Data set (RFE and TERMM)
Rainfall Data Source
Rainfall estimates (RFE) - FEWS NET Data Portals – USGS
• http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/fews/rfe.shtml
• Starts from 2001
• Spatial Resolution 8km
• Temporal data set (Daily, Decadal, monthly and Annually)

Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM)

• http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/airquality/services/opendap/TRMM/t
rmm.shtml
• Starts from 1998
• Spatial Resolution 8km
• Temporal data set (Daily, Decadal, monthly and Annually)
CMORPH=CPC MORPHing technique
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Belete Berhanu (PhD) Hydrologist/Water Resources modeler
Rainfall data from:
ATMOSPHERIC REANALYSIS
KEY STRENGTHS :
• Consistent spatial and temporal resolution over 3 or more decades
• model resolution and biases have steadily improved
• enabling a number of climate processes to be studied
• Reanalysis data sets are relatively straightforward to handle from a
processing standpoint (although file sizes can be very large)

KEY LIMITATIONS:
• Observational constraints, and therefore reanalysis reliability, can
considerably vary depending on the location, time period, and variable
considered
• The changing mix of observations, and biases in observations and models,
can introduce spurious variability and trends into reanalysis output
• Diagnostic variables relating to the hydrological cycle, such as precipitation
and evaporation, should be used with extreme caution

Belete Berhanu (PhD) Hydrologist/Water Resources modeler

 Rainfall
Optimum number data
of rain Processing
gauges
Region Range of norms for min Range of provisional norms in
Type network [km2/gauge] difficult conditions [km2/gauge]
I 600 – 900 900 – 3000
IIa 100 – 250 250 – 1,000
IIb 25
III 1500 – 10,000

• The optimum number of rain gauges (N) can be obtained using

statistical methods :
Where: Cv = Coefficient of variation of rainfall
based on the existing rain gauge
stations;
E = Allowable percentage error in the
estimate of basic mean rainfall

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Belete Berhanu (PhD) Hydrologist/Water Resources modeler
 Rainfall
Optimum number data
of rain Processing
gauges

Example 3.1:
There are four rain gauge stations existing in the catchment of a
river. The average annual rainfall values at these stations are
800, 620, 400 and 540 mm respectively.
(a) Determine the optimum number of rain gauges in
the catchment, if it is desired to limit error in the
mean value of rainfall in the catchment to 10%.
(b) How many more gauges will then be required to be
installed?

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Belete Berhanu (PhD) Hydrologist/Water Resources modeler
Estimation of Missing data
Arithmetic Mean Method Px 
1
P1  P2  P3 ....  Pm 
M

Nx  P1 P2 P3 Pm 
Normal-Ratio Method Px     .......  
M  N1 N 2 N 3 Nm 

n
Px   wi pi
1 d i2
Inverse Distance Method where wi  4
1 1 d
1
i
2

Multiple Regression : Develop fitting equation with different stations in

the same rainfall regimes Equating

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Belete Berhanu (PhD) Hydrologist/Water Resources modeler
 Data Inconsistency Test
Procedure
 The mean annual (monthly) data of the
station X and the average rainfall of the base
stations covering a long period is arranged
in the reverse chronological order
 The accumulated rainfall of the station X
(i.e., ƩPx) and the accumulated values of the
average of the base stations (i.e., ƩPav) are
calculated starting from the latest record.
 Plot the accumulated values of Station X
against the accumulated value of base
stations
 A break in the slope of the resulting plot
indicates a change in the precipitation
regime of station X.
 The precipitation values at station X beyond
the period of change of regime is corrected
by using the relation Mc
Double Mass Curve Pcx  Px
Ma

Belete Berhanu (PhD) Hydrologist/Water Resources modeler 20

 Data Inconsistent
RainfallTestdata Processing
Example
Test the consistency of the 10 year data of annual rainfall
measured at station A. Rainfall data for the station A and
the average annual rainfall measured at group of Eight
stations located in the meteorologically homogonous
region are given below in the table.

Year 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Rainfall
Station A (mm) 1880 1850 1720 1550 1480 1420 1400 1300 1370 1300 1630
Avg. Rainfall of
8 Stations (mm) 1640 1550 1430 1150 1350 1580 1550 1430 1500 1450 1610

February 12,
2020
Belete Berhanu (PhD) Hydrologist/Water Resources modeler 21
 Data Inconsistent Test : Solution
Year PA(mm) PAvg. (mm) acc. Pavg acc. PA Cor.PA acc_PAC
2010 1630 1610 1610 1630 1630 1630
2009 1300 1450 3060 2930 1300 2930
2008 1370 1500 4560 4300 Mc = 0.9 1370 4300
2007 1300 1430 5990 5600 1300 5600
2006 1400 1550 7540 7000 1400 7000
2005 1420 1580 9120 8420 k 0.75 1420 8420
2004 1480 1350 10470 9900 1103 9523
2003 1550 1150 11620 11450 Ma 1.21 1155.2 10678
2002 1720 1430 13050 13170 1281.8 11960
2001 1850 1550 14600 15020 1378.7 13339
2000 1880 1640 16240 16900 1401.1 14740

Belete Berhanu Hydrologist/Water Resources modeler February 12,

22 2020
Area rainfall
• Proximity approach
• Thiessen polygons
• Deterministic Interpolations
• IWD Methods
• Geostatistical interpolations
• Kriging and Co-Kriging
• Orographic Influences and their analysis

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Belete Berhanu (PhD) Hydrologist/Water Resources modeler
 Deterministic Interpolations
• Use mathematical functions to calculate the values at
unknown locations based either on the degree of
similarity or the degree of smoothing in relation with
neighboring data points

• Examples include:
– Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW)
– Radial Basis Functions (RBF)

Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW)

• IDW interpolation explicitly relies on the First Law of
Geography. To predict a value for any unmeasured
location,

• IDW will use the measured values surrounding the

prediction location.
 Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW) ….
• Measured values that are nearest to the prediction location
will have greater influence (i.e,weight) on the predicted
value at that unknown point than those that are farther away

• Thus, IDW assumes that each measured point has a local

influence that diminishes with distance (or distance to the
power of q > 1), and weighs the points closer to the
prediction location greater than those farther away,

• the name inverse distance weighted also derived from it

widely used interpolator Inverse Squared Distance (i.e., q=2)

• As a result, it is common practice to limit the number of

measured values that are used when predicting an unknown
value for a location by specifying a search neighborhood.
 Geostatistical Interpolation
• Involve a set of statistical techniques called Kriging (there are a
bunch of different Kriging methods)

• Kriging is named after Danie Gerhardus Krige, a South African

mining engineer who presented the ideas in his masters thesis in
1951.

• These ideas were later formalized by a prominent French

mathematician Georges Matheron

• Kriging has two parts: the quantification of the spatial structure in

the data (called variography) and prediction of values at unknown
points

• Different types of Kriging

– Punctual/ordinary kriging
– Simple kriging
– cokriging
– universal kriging
 Design Storm
• Design storm:– precipitation pattern defined for use in
the design of hydrologic system serves as an input to
the hydrologic system

• It Can by described by:

1. Hyetograph (time distribution of rainfall)
2. Isohyetal map (spatial distribution of rainfall)
 Design Point Storms
• Historic data of precipitation is available

• Precipitation data are converted to different durations

• Annual maximum precipitation for a given duration is

selected for each year

• Frequency analysis is performed to derive design

precipitation depths for different return periods

• The depths are converted to intensities by dividing by

precipitation durations
 IDF curves
• An IDF is a three parameter curve, in which intensity of a
certain return period is related to duration of rainfall even

• An IDF curve enables the hydrologists to develop hydrologic

systems that consider worst-case scenarios of rainfall
intensity and duration during a given interval of time

• For instance, in urban watersheds, flooding may occur such

that large volumes of water may not be handled by the storm
water

• system appropriate values of precipitation intensities and

frequencies should be considered in the design of the
hydrologic systems

• Different relationships of IDF

 IDF development in Ethiopia

Cherkos TeJera, Muluneh Yitaye and Ylema Seleshi 2006

30 February 12,
Belete Berhanu (PhD) Hydrologist/Water Resources modeler
2020
 IDF development in Ethiopia

Works of Felek & moges (2007)

Belete Berhanu (PhD) Hydrologist/Water Resources modeler February 12,

2020
IDF development Ethiopia
Arnold and Williams (1989) proposed a statistical disaggregating method,
proposed by is applied to disaggregate

α0.5= 1-exp(-125/(RdayT +5)).

(1  exp(2Tc * ln(1   0.5))) * RdayT

lT 
Tc
Belete Berhanu (PhD) Hydrologist/Water Resources modeler
IDF development Ethiopia

Belete Berhanu (PhD) Hydrologist/Water Resources modeler

IDF development Ethiopia
 Probable Maximum Precipitation
• Probable maximum precipitation
– Greatest depth of precipitation for a given
duration that is physically possible and reasonably
characteristic over a particular geographic region
at a certain time of year
– Not completely reliable; probability of occurrence
is unknown
• Variety of methods to estimate PMP
1. Application of storm models
2. Maximization of actual storms
3. Generalized PMP charts
 Probable Maximum Storm
• Probable maximum storm
– Temporal distribution of rainfall
– Given as maximum accumulated depths for a
specified duration
– Information on spatial and temporal distribution of
PMP is required to develop probable maximum
storm hyetograph
 Review Paper

Comparison of Rainfall Interpolation Methods in a

Mountainous Region of a Tropical Island

Alan Mair and Ali Fares

JOURNAL OF HYDROLOGIC ENGINEERING/ APRIL 2011 © ASCE