CE323-T RAINFALL RUNOFF

DEFINITION
Hydrology RELATION

2 3

Runoff Component parts of runoff Component parts of runoff

It may be referred to as stream flow, river discharge, a. Direct Precipitation on the stream channels c. Interflow
or catchment yield. Total runoff is divided into four - A small percentage of total volume of water - water which infiltrates the soil surface and then
component parts: flowing in the streams moves laterally through the upper soil horizons
a. Direct precipitation on the stream channels b. Surface Runoff towards the stream channels above the main
b. Surface runoff - Has two components: groundwater table
c. Interflow 1. Overland flow - small and the flow is taken to be - Also known as subsurface runoff, subsurface
d. Groundwater flow in laminar regime storm flow, storm seepage, secondary base flow
2. Open channel flow - are in turbulent regime

4 5 6

Component parts of runoff Type of Precipitation

d. Groundwater flow
- The infiltrated water which percolates deeply
becomes groundwater and when groundwater
table rises and intersects the stream channels of
the basin, it discharges into streams as the
groundwater runoff
- Occurs either as rainfall or as snowfall
- Precipitation falling as rain contributes directly
FACTORS AFFECTING THE to runoff
- Precipitation falling as snow will not contribute
DISTRIBUTION OF RUNOFF to runoff until melting occurs

- Also known as base flow, dry weather flow,

effluent seepage

7 8 9
 Rainfall Intensity
- Heavy rain falling in excess of the infiltration
capacity of the soil will largely contribute to
surface runoff
Rainfall Duration
- The longer the rain continues, the smaller
will the infiltration capacity become, and the
greater the amount of surface runoff is likely
to be
Rainfall Distribution
- A uniform distributed rainfall volume may
lead to delayed runoff then the same volume
falling over a localised part of catchment

10 11 12

Catchment Factors Slope of the Catchment Area Geology

- Factors such as shape, topography, and soil - If the slope of catchment area is large, water - Coarse textured, sandy soils will tend to give
type remain constant over long periods moves faster over the surface and channel rise to little runoff
towards the stream channel. Hence, runoff - Fine grained compacted clay soils will tend to
peak comes early yield more surface runoff

13 14 15

Vegetation Hydrograph
- Most important effect of the vegetal cover is - A plot of the discharge in a stream plotted
to slow down the movement of water over the against time chronologically
surface after rainfall, thus, allowing more
time for infiltration to take place. HYDROGRAPH

16 17 18
 Annual Hydrograph Monthly Hydrographs
It shows variations of daily or mean flow of any It shows the variations of daily mean flow over a
number of successive days over a year month

TYPES OF HYDROGRAPH

19 20 21

Seasonal Hydrographs Flood Hydrographs

It shows the variations of the discharge in a
particular season such, as the monsoon season
or dry season.
22
23
It shows stream flow due to a storm over a
catchment. It is used to study the flooding
characteristics of a stream. It is a short term
study.
FORMULAS TO CALCULATE
Unit hydrograph is a direct runoff hydrograph
RUNOFF
resulting from one unit (one inch or one cm) of
constant intensity uniform rainfall occurring
over the entire watershed.
24

Rainfall Runoff Relationships Rainfall Runoff Relationships Rainfall Runoff Relationships

The equation for straight line regression
between runoff R and rainfall P is given by:
R=CP+d
Where the values of coefficients C and d are
given by:
25
The formula for coefficient of correlation is For large catchments, it is found advantageous
given by: to have an exponential relationship:
Convert this to logarithmic equation:
The value of r ranges from 0 to 1.0
A good correlation ranges from 0.6 to 1.0
The coefficients are calculated using the same
26
formulas for C and d.
27
 Assignment 4
Given below are the monthly
rainfall P and the corresponding
runoff R values covering a period
of 18 months for a catchment.
Develop a correlation equation
between R and P
Hint: Use the formulas for linear
regression. Create a table with Month,
P, R, P2, R2, and PR.
28
Empirical Equation: Khosla
Developed for a time period of a month.
The relationship is given by:
Where:
Rm is the monthly runoff in cm
Pm is the monthly rainfall in cm
Lm is the monthly losses in cm
29Tm is the mean monthly temperature of the catchment
Empirical Equation: Khosla
For Tm ≤4.5 deg cel, the monthly loss is assumed as:
Khosla’s formula is indirectly based on the
water-balance concept and the mean monthly
catchment temperature is used to reflect the losses
due to evapotranspiration
30

Assignment 5 Water Budget Method

For a catchment in UP, The hydrological water-budget equation for
India, the mean monthly the determination of runoff for a given
rainfall and temperature
period is:
are given. Calculate the
ΔS = Inflow - Outflow
annual runoff coefficient
by Khosla’s formula.
Questions?
Hint: The annual runoff
coefficient is annual run
off over annual rainfall
31 32 33