Kwame Nkrumah University of

Science & Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

CE 355
HYDROLOGY
Prof. Kwaku Amaning Adjei
&
Dr. Charles Gyamfi
Dept. of Civil Engineering
KNUST
•rebrand.ly/LNCE355

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 UNIT 6

UNIT HYDROGRAPH

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 Learning Outcomes
At the end of this lecture, you should be able to:
• perform hydrograph analysis.
• explain hydrograph and the theory of unit hydrograph and
recall the related basic terms.
• calculate unit hydrographs for different precipitation
durations.
• Derive flows runoff hydrograph from rainfall hyetograph
using the unit hydrograph concept
• find flow using precipitation data by unit hydrograph
method.
• Explain direct runoff and total runoff
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 Introduction
• A hydrograph represents the runoff rate (discharge) as it
varies over time at a particular location within a
watershed.
• The integrated area under a hydrograph represents the
volume of runoff.
• Base flow, if present, represents subsurface flow from
groundwater that discharges into the conveyance channel.

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 Hydrograph Development Process

Runoff hydrograph

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 Base Flow Separation

N = 0.83 A0.2
N = days after the peak
A= area of catchment in km2

D
A
B
C
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 Base Flow Separation
• Method 1. The simplest method is to join the beginning
of the direct runoff (point A) to the end of direct runoff
(point B) by a straight line. If point B is not well defined,
draw a horizontal line from point A.
• Method 2. Extend the recession curve before the storm
to point C beneath the peak. Connect point C to point D
by a straight line. Point D on the hydrograph represents N
days after the peak, given by the formula
• Method 3. Draw a line from the beginning of the direct
runoff (point A) to point D by a straight line. Point D on
the hydrograph represents N days after the peak, given by
the formula 11

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 Storm Hydrograph

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 Definitions

• Lag Time (tlag): The time from the center of mass of

the rainfall excess to the peak of the hydrograph
• Time of rise or peak (Tp): The time from the start of
rainfall excess to the peak of the hydrograph
• Time of Concentration (tc) : the time for water to
propagate from the most distant point in the watershed
to the outlet. One estimate is the time from the end of
the rainfall excess to the inflection point of the
hydrograph
• Time base (Tb): the total duration of the Direct
Runoff hydrograph

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 Unit Hydrograph
Definition:
The storm hydrograph that results from 1 unit (1 cm) of rainfall excess (runoff)
that occurs uniformly over a watershed during a duration T.
– Derivation of the UH
– Application of the UH
– Translation or Transformation of the UH

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 Definition of Unit Hydrograph
The DRO hydrograph that results from 1 cm of rainfall
excess , occurring uniformly over the basin at a uniform rate
during a specified duration of time.

1cm

1 cm

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 Unit Hydrograph Assumptions
1. The effective rainfall is uniformly distributed within its duration
2. The effective rainfall is uniformly distributed over the whole drainage basin
3. The base duration of direct runoff hydrograph due to an effective rainfall
of unit duration is constant.
4. The ordinates of DRH are directly proportional to the total amount of DR
of each hydrograph (principles of linearity, superposition, and
proportionality)
5. For a given basin, the runoff hydrograph due to a given period of rainfall
reflects all the combined physical characteristics of basin (time-invariant)
6. The watershed characteristics do not change with time.
7. The unit volume under the UH is equal to 1.0

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 Derivation of the UH

• Separate the base flow to determine

the storm hydrograph.
• Determine the volume of the storm
hydrograph in depth (cm) by
dividing the total runoff by the
watershed area.
• Convert total rainfall into rainfall
excess such that excess rainfall =
DRO and evaluate duration D of
the excess rainfall that caused the
DRO.

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 Derivation of the UH

• Divide the ordinates of the DRO

hydrograph by the depth (cm) of
the DRO to get the ordinates of the
UH.
• The duration of the UH is the
duration of the rainfall excess
hyetograph.

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 Example

The runoff data at a stream gauging station for a

flood are given below. The drainage area is 40 km2.
The duration of rainfall is 3 hours. Derive the 3-
hour unit hydrograph for the basin and plot the
same

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 Date Time TRO1 BFO2 DRO3(2)-(4) UGO4 Time from
beginning of
(hr) m3/s m3/s m3/s (5)÷Pnetm3/s Surface runoff
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1/5/2022 2 50 50 -
5 47 47 0 0 0
8 75 46 29 1.09 3
11 120 45 75 2.82 6
14 225 45 180 6.77 9
17 290 45 245 9.23 12
20 270 46 224 8.44 15
23 145 48 97 3.65 18
2/5/2022 2 110 50 60 2.26 21
5 90 53 37 1.39 24
8 80 54 26 0.98 27
11 70 57 13 0.49 30
14 60 60 0 0 33
17 55 55 -
20 51 51 -
23 50 50 -
∑DRO = 986 m3/s 20
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Proportionality of runoff response

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 Superposition of runoff response

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 Transformation of UH

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 Transformation of UH
Time 1st 2-hr 2nd 2-hr 3rd 2-hr 4th 2-hr
0 0 0
1 100 100
2 250 0 250
3 200 100 300
4 100 250 0 350
5 50 200 100 350
6 0 100 250 0 350
7 50 200 100 350
8 0 100 250 350

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 1st lag 2nd 2-hr 3rd 2-hr 4th 2-hr s-curve
400

350

300
DISCHARGE (M3/S)

250

200

150

100

50

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
TIME HR

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 Transformation of UH
Time S-hyd. Lag-hyd. Diff. 3-hr UH
0 0 0 0
1 100 100 67
2 250 250 167
3 300 0 300 200
4 350 100 250 167
5 350 250 100 67
6 350 300 50 33
7 350 350 0 0

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 Runoff from complex storms

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 Unit hydrograph
Time index 1 2 3 4 5
UH ordinate [m3/s/cm] U1 U2 U3 U4 U
5
Excess rainfall hyetograph
Time period 1 2 3
Depth [cm] R1 R2 R3

Time interval for rain must correspond to UH

duration D

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 Runoff from complex storms

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 Application of the UH
• Divide the runoff hyetograph
into time increments equal to D.
• Multiply the runoff amount for
the first increment by each
ordinate of the UH to produce
the first incremental hydrograph
• Lag the computations by one
time increment and repeat step 2
for each runoff increment
• Sum the individual incremental
hydrographs to get the
composite storm hydrograph

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 Spreadsheet Calculations
Rainfall Excess (Runoff)
Unit Hyd R1 R2 R3 Total
2 4 1
U1 4 8 8
U2 3 6 16 22
U3 2 4 12 4 20
U4 1 2 8 3 13
U5 0 0 4 2 6
0 1 1
0

R2*U1 + R2*U2 + R2*U3 + R2*U4 + R2*U5

4*4 + 4*3 + 4*2 + 4*1 + 4*0

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 Unit Hydrograph From Complex Storms
• Unit hydrographs from complex storms, involving
varying intensities of rain can be obtained by considering
the complex storm as successive unit storms of different
intensities and the runoff hydrograph (due to complex
storm) as the result of superposition of the successive
storm hydrographs.

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 • The stream flows due to three successive storms of
2.9, 4.9 and 3.9 cm of 6 hours duration each on a
basin are given below. The area of the basin is 118.8
km2. Assuming a constant base flow of 20 cumec,
derive a 6-hour unit hydrograph for the basin. An
average storm loss of 0.15 cm/hr can be assumed.

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