ECW 557/ECW558:

ENGINEERING HYDROLOGY/ HYDROLOGY

& WATER RESOURCES

EVAPORATION & INFILTRATION

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WEEK 3 – EVAPORATION &
INFILTRATION
LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of the week, students should
be able to:
o identify and explain various components of
hydrological losses (CO1);
o estimate evaporation losses using data from
evaporimeter (CO2);
o estimate infiltration losses using phi-index method
(CO2).
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 Losses
The precipitation which is not available as surface
runoff is defined as LOSSES.

P–L=R (assuming S=0)

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 Runoff Processes
i
Rainfall input
i = i1 + i2 + i3 + i4

i1 i2 i3 i4
Depression
Interception storage Infiltration Overland
flow
t t t t

i3 Q
Soil moisture
Runoff
Interflow
Groundwater flow hydrograph

t t
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 Category of Losses/ Abstraction
• Evaporation
Evapotranspiration
• Transpiration
• Depression storage
• Interception

• Infiltration

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 Evaporation, E
The process whereby liquid change to gaseous state at
the free surface below boiling point.
The rate of evaporation (pg 59) depends on:
• vapor pressure at water surface
• air and water temperature
• atmospheric pressure
• quality of water
• size of water body
• surface area
• wind speed

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 Estimating Evaporation
• Evaporimeters (measurement)
• Empirical equations
• Analytical methods

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 Evaporimeters
• A water-containing pan, exposed to the atmosphere,
and the loss of water by evaporation measured at regular
interval.
•Generally,
meteorological
data must also be
collected
simultaneously:
humidity, wind
movement, water
temperature,
precipitation.
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http://www.crida.ernet.in/inaris/images/Slide6.JPG
 Types of Evaporimeters
• Class A Evaporation Pan
D

US Class A Pan: D=1.21 m, H=255 mm

British Standard: D=1.83 m, H=610 mm

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 Types of Evaporimeters

• ISI Standard Pan @ Modified Class A Pan

•Colorado Sunken Pan
•US Geological Survey Floating Pan

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 Empirical Equations
• Most formulae are based on the Dalton-type equation
in the form of (to estimate lake evaporation):
EL = K f(u) (ew – ea)
• EL = lake evaporation (mm/day)
• ew = saturated vapour pressure at water surface temperature
• ea = actual vapour pressure of overlying air at the height where
wind speed is taken
• f(u) = wind speed correction function
• K = coefficient
where ew and ea are in mm of Mercury @ mm of Hg
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Meyers’s Formula (1915) & Rohwer’s Formula (1931); page 63
 Analytical Method
• Water-budget method (law of conservation of
energy)
• simplest, least accurate
• Mass-transfer method
• sophisticated and expensive
• Energy-balance method
• gives satisfactory results in the order of 5% for
period less than a week

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 Energy-balance Method (pg 66)
• The energy available for evaporation is determined by
considering the incoming energy, outgoing energy and
energy stored in the water body over a known time
interval.
Hn = Hc( 1 - r ) - Hb = Ha + He + Hg + Hs + Hi

• Hn = net heat energy received by water surface

• Hc(1-r) = incoming solar radiation, r = surface reflection coeff.
• Hb = back radiation from water body
• Ha = sensible hear transfer from water surface to air
• He = heat energy used up in evaporation
• Hg = heat flux into the ground
• Hs = heat stored in water body
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• Hi = net heat conducted out of the system by water flow
 Energy-balance Method
• Evaporation in mm/day is thus given by
Hn  H g  H s  Hi
EL 
L(1   )

where  = density of water, L = latent heat of evaporation

p a (Tw  Ta )
and   6.1x10 4
= Bowen’s ratio
(e w  e a )
Tw & Ta are temperature of water surface and the air (C),
pa is the atmospheric pressure in mm of Mercury

Hs and Hi may be negligible for short time period.

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 DIY ACTIVITY:
A class A pan is located in an open field. In a
particular week (7 days) of observation, the initial
depth of water in the pan was 100 mm. Rainfall was
observed in Day 2 (5 mm) and Day 6 (8 mm). In the
end of Day 3, 3 mm of water was added to the pan to
maintain the water level at 100 mm deep. At the end
of the week, the water depth was recorded at 95 mm.
What is the total evaporation of the week?

Answer; E = 21 mm & 14.7 mm if using coefficient

Problem Solving Q153.2
 Evapotranspiration, ET
• Transpiration is the process by which water leaves the
body of a living plant and reaches the atmosphere as
water vapour.
• It occurs during day time only i.e. growth period of the
plant (whereas evaporation occurs continuously)
• Transpiration is affected by:
• atmospheric vapour pressure
• temperature
• wind
• light intensity
• plant characteristics
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 Estimating Evapotranspiration
• Field plot (water-budget method)
• Lysimeters
-A watertight tank which reproduce the soil
condition, moisture content, type and size of the
vegetation of the surrounding area
-ET estimated in terms of amount of water required
to maintain constant moisture conditions within the
tank (volumetrically/ gravimetrically).
-Time-consuming and expensive

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 Initial Losses
• Interception
Pg 79
• Depression storage

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 Interception
• Interception is the volume of
water caught by the vegetation
during precipitation.
• Interception loss is solely due to
evaporation and does not include
stemflow and throughfall.
• Interception loss is difficult to
quantify. It depends on:
- vegetation species
- vegetation density
- storm characteristics
www.epa.gov
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 Interception
• Interception loss typically
ranges 10-20%
• Loss in small storm is
relatively large; loss in large
storm approaches a constant
irrespective of storm
intensity.
• For catchment
characterized by frequent,
small storm, annual
interception can be as high as
25% of total precipitation.
www.geog.ouc.bc.ca
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 Estimating Interception
• For a given storm:
Interception loss I = S +KEt (mm)
• S = interception storage (0.25-1.25 mm) depending on the nature of
vegetation
• K = ratio of vegetal surface area to its projected area
• E = evaporation rate (mm/h)
• t = duration of rainfall (h)

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www.fhsu.edu
 Depression Storage
• The volume of water trapped in
ground surface depressions.
• It depends on:
- type of soil/ surface
- condition of surface
- slope of surface
- antecedent condition http://piru.alexandria.ucsb.edu/~geog3/concept_illus/675_ex.jpg

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http://www.geographypages.co.uk/kesice.jpg
 Category of Losses/ Abstraction
• Evaporation
Negligible during storm event
• Transpiration
• Depression storage
Relative small
• Interception

• Infiltration

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 Infiltration, I
• The volume of water that seeps into the soil through
the ground surface.
• The seepage volume contributes to soil moisture and
groundwater recharge.
• Infiltration rate depends on:
-Infiltration capacity of soil
-Soil characteristics
-Surface type
-Fluid characteristics
-Antecedent condition

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 Estimating Infiltration
• Flooding Type Infiltrometers
•Measurement of Subsidence of free water in a large
basin
•Rainfall Simulator
•Hydrograph Analysis

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 Estimating Infiltration
• Flooding-type infiltrometer
- metal cylinder driven into ground and filled
with water.
- water level is maintained until uniform
infiltration rate is obtained.
- use of ring infiltrometer to prevent spreading
out of infiltering water.

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 Estimating Infiltration
•Rainfall simulator
- series of nozzle over a
small plot of land

- surface runoff measured

from varying simulated
duration and intensity

- infiltration calculated http://www.kuleuven.be/geography/frg/staff/19722/

from water-budget eq.
example of a rainfall
simulator

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 Infiltration Capacity
• Decay of infiltration capacity f with time t is given by
(Horton’s Equation (1933)
fct = fcf + (fco – fcf) exp(-Kht) 0 < t < td

• where the subscripts mean:

fct = value at any time t from start of rainfall
fcf = final steady state value
fco = initial value
td = rainfall duration
Kh = soil/vegetal cover characteristics constant

e.g. clay 0.15 cm/h, bare sandy area 1.2 cm/h 28

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 Rainfall Excess Hyetograph

_
Total Rainfall Infiltration = Rainfall excess
P L R

rainfall rainfall rainfall

Rainfall excess

Rainfall excess
Infiltration

time time time

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 Infiltration Index

Method 1:-index Method 2 : W-index

rainfall rainfall

Rainfall excess Rainfall excess

Constant loss rate

Infiltration Initial loss Infiltration

time Lag time time

 -index is average rainfall above the constant loss rate which the rainfall volume is =
runoff volume)
W - index is average value of infiltration rate where initial losses are separated from the
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total abstractions.
 Measuring Phi - Index

Condition 1; Tabulation Method

Condition 2; Trial & Error Method

EXAMPLE 3.10 page 93

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Phi-Index Method:

Condition 2; If rainfall hyetograph and Rd given, phi-index

can be determined by trial & error procedure:
1) Assume out of given N pulses, M number of pulses have
rainfall excess (M ≤ N)
2) Find value of phi by Rd
3) Using phi value from step 2, find Mc = number of pulses
with rainfall intensity ≥ phi
4) If Mc = M, phi value in step 2 is correct. If not, repeat step
1 with new value of M until get Mc = M.

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Example 3.10: A storm with 10cm of precipitation produced a
direct runoff of 5.8 cm. The duration of the rainfall was 16
hours and its time distribution is given below. Estimate the
phi-index of the storm.

Δt = time interval
N = Number of Pulses
D = Rainfall event duration @ D = Δt . N
Rd = Total Runoff Depth
M = Number of Pulses having rainfall excess/effective rainfall
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 Example; (use Tabulation Method)
R=P-L
Time (h) P (cm) I (cm/h) L (cm)
(cm)
P = 10cm 0 0
1 0.4 0.4 0.525 -0.125
R = 5.8cm 2 0.9 0.9 0.525 0.375
3 1.5 1.5 0.525 0.975
4 2.3 2.3 0.525 1.775
L=P–R 5 1.8 1.8 0.525 1.275
6 1.6 1.6 0.525 1.075
= 4.2cm 7 1.0 1.0 0.525 0.475
8 0.5 0.5 0.525 -0.025

=L/D 2.5

= 4.2cm / 8h 2
Intensity (cm/h)

1.5
= 0.525cm/h
1
-index = 0.525cm/h
0.5

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Time (h)
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 Example; (use Tabulation Method)
L = 4.2 cm
R=P-R
Time (h) P (cm) I (cm/h) L (cm)
L’ = L – 0.4 – 0.5 (cm)
0 0
(within the period) 1 0.4 0.4 0.4 0
2 0.9 0.9
= 3.3 cm 3 1.5 1.5
4 2.3 2.3
’ = L’ / D’ 5 1.8 1.8
6 1.6 1.6
7 1.0 1.0
= 3.3 cm / 6 h 8 0.5 0.5 0.5 0

= 0.55 cm/h

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Example; (use Tabulation Method)
R=P-R
Time (h) P (cm) I (cm/h) L (cm)
(cm)
0
1
0
0.4 0.4 0.4 0
Problem Solving:
2 0.9 0.9 0.55 0.35 Q 3.18, 3.19
3 1.5 1.5 0.55 0.95
4 2.3 2.3 0.55 1.75
5 1.8 1.8 0.55 1.25
6 1.6 1.6 0.55 1.05
7 1.0 1.0 0.55 0.45
8 0.5 0.5 0.5 0
5.8

2.5

2
Intensity (cm/h)

1.5

1 ’ = 0.55cm/h
0.5
 = 0.525cm/h
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Time (h)
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