CE-405 – HYDROLOGY  Distribution of rainfall in a catchment

may vary and runoff also vary

Reviewer  More rainfalls closer to the outlet, peak
flow occurs quickly
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 Direction of prevailing wind
 If the wind direction is towards the flow
Lecture 9: Runoff
direction, peak flow will occur quickly
Runoff  Other climatic factors
 Temperature, wind velocity, relative
 The draining of flowing off of precipitation
humidity, annual rainfall etc. affect initial
from a catchment area through a surface
loss of precipitation and thereby affecting
channel.
runoff
 The portion of rainfall which flows through the
 Physiographic factors
rivers, streams, etc.
 Physiographic characteristics of watershed
and channel both
 Size of watershed
 Larger the watershed, longer time
needed to deliver runoff to the outlet
 Small watersheds dominated by overland
flow and larger watersheds by runoff
 Shape of watershed
 Fan shaped, fan shaped (elongated) and
broad shaped
 Fan shaped runoff from the nearest
tributaries drained out before the floods
of farthest tributaries. Peak runoff is less
 Broad shaped –all tributaries contribute
runoff almost at the same time so that
Types of Runoff peak flow is more
 Surface runoff  Orientation of watershed
 Portion of rainfall (after all losses such as  Windward side of mountains get more
interception, infiltration, depression storage rainfall than leeward side
etc. are met) that enters streams immediately  Landuse
after occurring rainfall  Forest –thick layer of organic matter and
 After laps of few time, overland flow joins undercover – huge amounts absorbed to
streams soil – less runoff and high resistance to
 Sometime termed prompt runoff (as very flow
quickly enters streams)  barren lands – high runoff
 Subsurface runoff  Soil moisture
 Amount of rainfall first enter into soil and  Runoff generated depend on soil
then flows laterally towards stream moisture – more moisture means less
 without joining water table infiltration and more runoff
 Also take little time to reach stream  Dry soil –more water absorbed to soil
 Base flow and less runoff
 Delayed flow  Soil type
 Water that meets the groundwater table and  Light soil (sandy) –large pores and more
join the stream or ocean infiltration
 Very slow movement and take months or  Heavy textured soils –less infiltration
years to reach streams and more runoff
 Topographic characteristics
Factors affecting runoff  Higher the slope, faster the runoff
 Climatic factors  Channel characters such as length,
 Type of precipitation shape, slope, roughness, storage, density
 Rain and snow fall of channel influence runoff
 Rainfall intensity
 High intensity rainfall causes more Natural Flow
rainfall  Runoff representing the response of a catchment
 Duration of rainfall to precipitation reflects the integrated effects of
 When duration increases, infiltration a wide range of catchment, climate and rainfall
capacity decreases resulting more runoff characteristics.
 Rainfall distribution  True runoff is therefore streamflow in its natural
condition (without human intervention) such
 stream flow unaffected by works of man, such
as reservoir and diversion structures on a
stream, is called natural flow or virgin flow.

Rational Method

Time of Concentration (Tc)

 Time required to reach the surface runoff from
remotest point of watershed to its outlet
 At Tc all the parts of watershed contribute to the
runoff at outlet
 Have to compute the rainfall intensity for the
duration equal to time of concentration

Runoff Volume
Yield – The total quantity of surface water that can
be expected in a given period from a stream at the
outlet of its catchment is known as yield of the
catchment in that period.

Curve Number Method

 Calculates runoff on the retention capacity of
soil, which is predicted by wetness status
(Antecedent Moisture Conditions [AMC]) and
physical features of watershed
 AMC - relative wetness or dryness of a
watershed, preceding wetness conditions
 CN depends on land use pattern, soil
conservation type, hydrologic condition,
hydrologic soil group