Flood Routing – Part 1

Reservoir Routing

Prepared By: Prof. Ashraf Al-Mostafa

Professor of Engineering Hydrology,

Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University

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Flood Waves
• The flood hydrograph is in fact a wave.

• The stage and discharge hydrographs represent the passage of

waves of stream depth and discharge respectively.

• When a flood wave passes through a reservoir its peak is

attenuated and the time base is enlarged due to effect of storage.

• The reduction in the peak of the outflow is called attenuation.

• The time difference between the peaks of inflow and outflow

hydrographs is known as lag. 2
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Changes in Flood Wave

Lag in time:

The flood wave moves without changing its shape. This tendency
is dominant in steep, straight streams. Flow velocities are high
and relatively constant.
Discharge

Time
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Changes in Flood Wave

Attenuation:

The wave is attenuated by storage within the channel and the

valley floor. A reservoir is a good example. Most natural rivers
have both tendencies.
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Flood Routing

• Procedure to determine the Q

flow hydrograph at a point

t
on a watershed from a
Q
known hydrograph
upstream t
• As the hydrograph travels, it Q

o attenuates
o gets delayed t
Q

t
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Why route flows?

Flood routing is used in:

• Flood forecasting

• Flood protection

• Reservoir design

• Design of spillway and outlet structures

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Routing Techniques

Hydrologic routing
– Flow is calculated as a function of time alone at a particular
location.

– Governed by continuity equation and flow/storage relationship.

Hydraulic routing:
– Use continuity equation along with the equation of motion of
unsteady flow (St. Venant equations).
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Hydrology Routing Types
Reservoir Routing:
• Reservoir Routing is used to determine the peak-flow
attenuation that a hydrograph undergoes as it enters a
reservoir or other type of storage pool.
• Input data needed for storage routing include the inflow
hydrograph and reservoir characteristics (storage and outlet
facilities).
Channel routing:
• Channel Routing is used to analyze the effects of a channel
on a hydrograph's peak flow and travel time.
• Input data needed for channel routing include the inflow
hydrograph and the channel characteristics. 8
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Hydrology Routing Techniques

Reservoir routing:
1) Inflow-Storage-Discharge (ISD) method
2) Modified pul's method

Channel routing:
1) Wedge storage and prism storage
2) Muskingum method
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Reservoir Routing (General Form)

Reservoir routing can be solved easily using mass equation:

∆S
= − − . + . − −
∆t

I = The average inflow to the reach during ∆t

S = Storage within the reach
Q = The average outflow from the reach during ∆t
= Evaporation rate
= Precipitation rate
= Infiltration rate
. = Plan area
= Lateral area of infiltration

Storage, Surface and lateral Area are not constant “by changing the depth”.
Hence, relation functions may be required to solve this issue.
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Inflow Storage Discharge (ISD) Method

• The passage of a flood hydrograph through a reservoir or
a channel reach is a gradually varied unsteady flow.
• If we consider some hydrologic system with input I(t),
output Q(t), and storage S(t), then the equation of
continuity in hydrologic routing method can be expressed
as follows:

dS
 I (t )Q (t )
dt
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Inflow Storage Discharge (ISD) Method

Discharge I (t ) Discharge
Inflow Transfer Q(t )
Function
Outflow

I (t )  Inflow Q (t )  Outflow
Upstream hydrograph Downstream hydrograph

Input, output, and storage are related by continuity equation:

dS S S S _ _ (I  I ) (O  O )
 I (t )  Q(t )  2 1  I O  1 2  1 2
dt t t t 2 2
2 1
Q (outflow) and S (Storage) are unknowns. Yet, Storage can be expressed as a
function of I(t) or Q(t) or both
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Reservoir (Area-Capacity) Relation
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Example
A reservoir has the following elevation - storage relationship:
When the reservoir level was at 100.50m,
Elevation Storage
the following flood hydrograph entered
(m) (Million m3)
the reservoir. Time Inflow
(h) (m3/s) 100.00 3.350
The dam has a bottom outlet 0 10
100.50 3.472
(gate) at level (100 m) with a 6 20
12 55
flow rate of (25 h0.50) m3/s 18 80
101.00 3.830
24 73 101.50 4.383
30 58
36 46 102.00 4.882
Route the flood and obtain 42 36 102.50 5.370
48 55
(i) the outflow hydrograph 54 20 102.75 5.527
and 60 15
66 13 103.00 5.856
(ii) the reservoir elevation vs
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time curve during the
passage of the flood wave.
 Thanks for your Attention

Prof. Ashraf M. Elmoustafa

ashraf_elmoustafa @eng.asu.edu.eg