CE 411: ENGINEERING HYDROLOGY

M. tech 1st Semester

Hydraulics & Water Resources Engineering
Instructor: Dr. Pramod Soni
Department of Civil Engineering
UNIT HYDROGRAPH
GENERAL HYDROLOGIC
SYSTEM MODEL
Linear System in Continuous Time
RESPONSE FUNCTIONS OF
LINEAR SYSTEMS
Impulse Response Function
Step Response Function
Pulse Response Function
Linear System in Discrete Time
Linear System in Discrete Time
Discrete Pulse Response Function
Discrete Pulse Response Function
Discrete Pulse Response Function
 Example
• Determine the impulse, step and pulse
response functions of a linear reservoir with
storage constant k (S = kQ)
 dS
S = kQ; = I − Q;
dt
t
dQ I
k = I −Q e Q − Q0 =  e
t /k t /k
dt
dt 0
k
t
dQ Q I I
+ = Q (t ) = e −t / k
Q0 + e −t / k
e
t /k
dt
dt k k 0
k
t / k dQ t/k Q t /k I
t
I ( )
e +e =e Q (t ) = e −t / k
Q0 + e −t / k
 e
 /k
d
dt k k =0
k
I ( )
( e dQ ) = e
t
d t/k t /k I
Q (t ) = e −t / k
Q0 +  e
( −t ) / k
d
dt k =0
k

d ( e dQ ) = e
t/k t /k I
dt
k
 t
I ( )
Q (t ) = e −t / k
Q0 +  e
( −t ) / k
d
=0
k
t
I ( )
Q (t ) = e −t / k
Q0 +  e
−( t − ) / k
d
=0
k

t
Q (t ) =  I ( ) u (t − ) d
=0

I ( )
I ( ) u ( t −  ) d = e −( t − ) / k
d
k
−( t − ) / k
e
u (t − ) =
k
 −( t − ) / k t

u (t − ) =
e g ( l ) =  u ( l ) dl
k 0

−( l ) / k t
e
−( l ) / k

u (l ) =
e g (l ) =  dl
k
k 0
t
−( l ) / k
e 1 
g (l ) =   
 k ( −1/ k )  0
g ( l ) =  −e −( l ) / k
t

0
g ( l ) = −e
−( t ) / k
+1

g (l ) = 1 − e
−( l ) / k
 −( t − ) / k
e h (t ) =
1
( g ( t ) − g ( t − t ) )
u (t − ) = t

( )
k 1 
h (t ) = 1 − e −( t ) / k
 − 1 − e −(t −t ) / k 
t    
−( l ) / k
u (l ) =
e h (t ) =
t
e(
1 −( t −t ) / k −(t ) / k
−e )
k e −(t ) / k t / k
h (t ) =
t
( e − 1)
Linear System in Discrete Time
Linear System in Discrete Time
Linear System in Discrete Time
Discrete Pulse Response Function
Discrete Pulse Response Function
Discrete Pulse Response Function
 UNIT HYDROGRAPH
• A Unit Hydrograph (UH) is defined as a direct runoff hydrograph (DRH)
resulting from a catchment subjected to a unit effective rainfall (ER) of 1
cm (or 1-inch, 1-mm) occurring uniformly over space and time for a
specified duration (D-hours).
• D-hour UH, where D represent the time for which the effective rainfall
occurs.
• Uniformity of space means the value of rainfall is same everywhere in the
catchment; while the uniformity over time means that the intensity of
rainfall is same over the entire duration of D-hours.
• Since 1 cm of ER occurs over D-hours, the intensity of rainfall will be
equal to 1/D cm/h, which is assumed to be constant for the entire duration
 Numerical
• The UH of a catchment is triangular in shape
having time base of 10 hours and peak
discharge of 20 m3/s. How much is the
drainage area at the outlet of the catchment?
 Theory and Assumptions
• Linear Response:
– The principle of proportionality
– The principle of superposition
• Time invariant: K=constant with time
• Time bases of all the DRHs resulting from different magnitudes of ERs, but
having the same duration, will be same
• Ordinates of different DRHs having a common time base will be directly
proportional to the runoff volumes represented by the respective DRHs
• The DRH response from a catchment represents unchanging characteristics
of the catchment
• The UH theory is applicable to rainfall only
• The UH theory is limited to catchments with drainage areas ranging from
approximately 2 km2 to 5,000 km2.
• No storage components (either manmade, in the form of reservoirs, or
natural, in the form of lakes and ponds) in the catchment.
DERIVATION OF UNIT
HYDROGRAPH
 Baseflow Separation
• Straight Line Method
 Baseflow Separation
• Fixed Base Method
 Baseflow Separation
• Variable Slope Method
 Effective Rainfall and Direct
Runoff Hydrograph
• The effective rainfall
hyetograph is determined by
subtracting losses due to
infiltration and other initial
losses.
• This can be done either by
using conceptual or
empirical equations for
infiltration, or ϕ-index
 Derivation of UH from an Isolated
Storm
1. DRH from the storm is computed by separating baseflow
using one of the methods discussed above.
2. The volume of direct runoff is determined by estimating the
area under the DRH curve.
3. The volume of runoff is divided by the drainage area (A) to
determine the depth of runoff from the catchment.
4. This is equal to the depth of effective rainfall for the storm,
say x cm.
5. The ordinates of the DRH found in step 1 are divided by x to
determine the ordinates of the D-hour UH from the
catchment.
6. Best fit curve is obtained to determine a representative D-
hour
Derivation of UH from a Complex
Storm
S-HYDROGRAPH
 UNIT HYDROGRAPH OF
DIFFERENT DURATIONS

• UH of Different Durations by Method of

Superposition
• UH of Different Durations by S-Hydrograph
Method
UH of Different Durations by S-
Hydrograph Method
SYNTHETIC UNIT HYDROGRAPH
• Snyder’s Synthetic Unit Hydrograph
• SCS Dimensionless Synthetic Unit
Hydrograph
Snyder’s Synthetic Unit Hydrograph
Snyder’s Synthetic Unit Hydrograph
SYNTHETIC UNIT HYDROGRAPH
SCS Dimensionless Synthetic Unit
Hydrograph
SCS Dimensionless Synthetic Unit Hydrograph
SCS Dimensionless Synthetic Unit Hydrograph
 Numerical
• Rainfall Hyetograph and total discharge for a basin A that has an area of about 650
km2 is shown below. The baseflow recession curve is given by 𝑄𝑏 = (20 +
0.01Q)𝑒 0.05𝑡 , where t is time in hours since 8:00 AM and Q is in Cumec, (14.384 km
radius)
Time Rainfall (cm) Time Q (Cumec)
10:00 AM 42
8:00 AM 1.9
1:00 PM 122
9:00 AM 2.1 4:00 PM 337
10:00 AM 2 7:00 PM 1067
11:00 AM 4.7 10:00 PM 1783
1:00 AM 841
12:00 PM 5.2 4:00 AM 244
1:00 PM 5.1 7:00 AM 119

• It is required to compare the DRH response of this catchment

due to 1 cm rainfall occurring for a period of 4.5 hrs with a
nearby basin having a triangular shape shown below (length is
in m). However, in the absence of known discharge data over
nearby basin B, it was decided to prepare the Synthetic Unit
Hydrographs (Snyder and SCS) and find a average response for
comparison.
 Numerical

Nearby Basin B
Average Slope S = 0.0001
Numerical
Solution
Numerical
Solution
Solution
Numerical
S Hydrograph
UH of Different Durations by Method of
Superposition
Numerical
Numerical
THANK YOU