Unit Hydrograph Derivation

The discrete convolution equation allows the computation of direct runoff Qn given excess rainfall Pm and the unit hydrograph Un-m+1.
n M

m =1

PmU

n m +1

The reverse process, called deconvolution, is needed to derive a unit hydrograph given data on Pm and Qn. Suppose that there are M pulses of excess rainfall and N pulse of direct runoff in the storm considered; then N equation can be written for Qn, n = 1,2,.,N, in terms of N M + 1 unknown values of the unit hydrograph. If Qn and Pm are given and Unm+1 is required, the set equations is overdetermined, because there are more equations (N) than unknowns (N M + 1).
n M

This table shows the set of equations for discrete time convolution n = 1, 2, , N
Q1 = Q2 = Q3 = .. QM = QM+1 = . QN 1 = QN = P1U1 P2U1 + P3U1 + PMU1 + 0+ P1U2 P1U2 + PM-1U2 + PMU2 P1U3 + + + + + + + + P1UM P2UM + P1UM+1

m =1

PmU

n m +1

0+ 0+

0+ 0+

0+ 0+

0+ 0+

+ + + +

PMUN-M +1 0

PM-1UN-M+1 PMUN-M+1

Lets do an example to illustrate this set of equations. Try to work it out on your own to cement this concept. Example 1. Suppose we have the observed hydrograph shown below. The time interval is 6 hours between readings. The excess rainfall is also shown.

Hour 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Excess Rainfall (inches) 0.5 1.2 0.9

Observed Direct Discharge (ft3/s) 5 35 90 203 816 1602 1138 302 275 158 65 47 12

This is the observed hydrograph for this event.

1800 1600
Observed Discharge (cfs)

1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 30 80 130 180 230 280 330 380
Time (30 minute interval)

Lets now derive the unit hydrograph for this watershed. Remember, the unit hydrograph is defined as a direct runoff hydrograph resulting from 1 inch of excess rainfall generated uniformly over the drainage area at a constant rate for an effective duration. 1st define our number of equations. There are 3 pulses of rainfall so M = 3. There are 13 pulses of observed direct runoff so N = 13. The total number of unit hydrograph ordinates are N M +1 == 13 3 + 1 = 11 ordinates. So we have to solve 11 linear equations. Lets set them up. Ill show the entire table to illustrate the matrix type approach this takes.

Q1 = Q2 = Q3 = Q4 = Q5 = Q6 = Q7 = Q8 = Q9 = Q10 = Q11 =

P1U1 P2U1 + P3U1 + 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+

+0 P1U2 P2U2 + P3U2 + 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+

+0 +0 P1U3 P2U3 + P3U3 + 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+

+0 +0 +0 P1U4 P2U4 + P3U4 + 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+

+0 +0 +0 +0 P1U5 P2U5 + P3U5 + 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+

+0 +0 +0 +0 +0 P1U6 P2U6 + P3U6 + 0+ 0+ 0+

+0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 P1U7 P2U7 + P3U7 + 0+ 0+

+0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 P1U8 P3U8 + P3U8 + 0+

+0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 P1U9 + P2U9 + P3U9 +

+0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 P1U10 P2U10 +

+0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 P1U11

Explanation of the Table What the unit hydrograph says is that each pulse of runoff (1-13 in this example) is generated by some linear combination of the excess rainfall. For example, the very first pulse of runoff (5 ft3/s) is caused by the very first pulse of rainfall (0.5 inches). Because it is the only rainfall that occurred during that time interval, it alone is responsible for the runoff that is occurring. Similarly, The second pulse of rainfall is caused by rainfall pulse 1 and 2 (0.5 and 1.2 inches) because they alone occurred during that time interval. So the unit hydrograph is merely a solution to a set of linear equations that determine the contributions of rainfall over time to the direct runoff hydrograph. The unit hydrograph becomes normalized during the deconvolution process to represent the flow that would occur from one unit of rainfall occurring during the 1st time interval. Now plug in the numbers and see what we get.
5 = 35 = 90 = 203 = 816 = 1602 = 0.5U1 1.2U1 + 0.9U1 + 0+ 0+ 0+ +0 0.5U2 1.2U2 + 0.9U2 + 0+ 0+ +0 +0 0.5U3 1.2U3 + 0.9U3 + 0+ +0 +0 +0 0.5U4 1.2U4 + 0.9U4 + +0 +0 +0 +0 0.5U5 1.2U5 + +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 0.5U6 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0

1138 = 302 = 275 = 158 = 54 =

0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+

0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+

0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+

0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+

0.9U5 + 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+

1.2U6 + 0.9U6 + 0+ 0+ 0+

0.5U7 1.2U7 + 0.9U7 + 0+ 0+

+0 0.5U8 1.2U8 + 0.9U8 + 0+

+0 +0 0.5U9 + 1.2U9 + 0.9U9 +

+0 +0 +0 0.5U10 1.2U10 +

+0 +0 +0 +0 0.5U11

We now have 11 linear equations with 11 unknowns. Each unknown is an ordinate of the unit hydrograph. We have to solve these in a step-wise fashion starting with U1. Lets work them out. EQ 1. 5 = 0.5 U1 U1 = 5/0.5 = 10 cfs direct runoff / inch excess rainfall rearrange and solve for U2 U2 = (35

EQ 2. 35 = 1.2 U1 + 0.5 U2 1.2 U1)/0.5 = (35 1.2(10))/0.5 = 46

EQ 3. 90 = 0.9 U1 + 1.2 U2 + 0.5 U3 = (90 0.9(10) 1.2(46))/0.5 = 51.6 EQ 4. 203 = 0.9U2 + 1.2U3 + 0.5U4 = (203 0.9(46) 1.2(51.6))/0.5 = 199.4 EQ 5. 816 = 0.9U3 + 1.2U4 + 0.5U5 = (816 0.9(51.6) 1.2(199.4))/0.5 = 1060.7

U3 = (90 0.9U1 1.2U2)/0.5 U4 = (203 - 0.9U2 - 1.2U3)/0.5 U5 = (816 -0.9U3 - 1.2U4)/0.5

EQ 6. 1602 = 0.9U4 + 1.2U5 + 0.5U6 U6 = (1602 - 0.9U4 - 1.2U5)/0.5 = (1602 - 0.9(199.4) 1.2(1060.7)/0.5 = 299.4 EQ 7. 1138 = 0.9U5 + 1.2U6 + 0.5U7 U7 = (1138 - 0.9U5 - 1.2U6)/0.5 = (1138 0.9(1060.7) 1.2(99.4)/0.5 = 128.2 EQ 8. 302 = 0.9U6 + 1.2U7 + 0.5U8 = (302 0.9(99.4) 1.2(128.2)/0.5 = 117.4 EQ 9. 275 = 0.9U7 + 1.2U8 + 0.5U9 = (275 0.9(128.2) 1.2(117.4)/0.5 = 37.5 EQ 10 158 = 0.9U8 + 1.2U9 + 0.5U10 = (158 0.9(117.4) 1.2(37.5)/0.5 = 14.7 EQ 11 54 = 0.9U9 + 1.2U10 + 0.5U11 = (54 0.9(37.5) 1.2(14.7) / 0.5 = 5.2 U8 = (685 - 0.9U6 - 1.2U7)/0.5 U9 = (275 - 0.9U7 - 1.2U8)/0.5 U10= (158 - 0.9U8 - 1.2U9)/0.5 U11= (54 - 0.9U9 - 1.2U10)/0.5

So the resulting unit hydrograph is shown below in tabular and graphical form. So remember that this hydrograph represents the flow that would result from 1 inch of rainfall occurring during the 1st time interval.
Time Interval (1/2 hr) Unit Hydrograph (cfs) 1 10 2 46 3 51.6 4 199.4 5 1060.7 6 299.4 7 128.2 8 117.4 9 37.5 10 14.7 11 5.2
Unit Hydrograph 1200 1000
Discharge (cfs)

800 600 400 200 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Time Interval (30 minutes)

Using the Unit Hydrograph to derive a direct runoff hydrograph

Now that we have developed the unit hydrograph, we can use it to determine the direct runoff hydrograph for any rainfall amount with any time distribution. The process is called convolution. Lets use the following rainfall distribution to calculate the direct runoff hydrograph.
Time Interval (1/2 hr) Rainfall (in) 1 1.3 2 0.5 Unit Hydrograph (cfs) 10 46

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

51.6 199.4 1060.7 299.4 128.2 117.4 37.5 14.7 5.2

We can derive a new design hydrograph from the unit hydrograph by setting up a table to help solve the 11 linear equations. The table looks like this.

Unit Hydrograph Ordinates Direct Runo Time Interval Rainfall U1 U2 U3 U4 U5 U6 U7 U8 U9 U10 U11 1 P1 P1U1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 P1U1 2 P2 P2U1 P1U2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 P2U1 + P1U 3 0 P2U2 P1U3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 P2U2 + P1U 4 0 0 P2U3 P1U4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 P2U3 + P1U 5 0 0 0 P2U4 P1U5 0 0 0 0 0 0 P2U4 + P1U 6 0 0 0 0 P2U5 P1U6 0 0 0 0 0 P2U5 + P1U 7 0 0 0 0 0 P2U6 P1U7 0 0 0 0 P2U6 + P1U 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 P2U7 P1U8 0 0 0 P2U7 + P1U 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 P2U8 P1U9 0 0 P2U8 + P1U 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 P2U9 P1U10 0 P2U9 + P1U 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 P2U10 P1U11 P2U10 + P1U 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 P2U11 P2U11

Here is the table with numbers plugged in. The sum of the columns equals the direct runoff hydrograph.

Time Interval (1/2 hr) Rainfall (in) 1 1.3 2 0.5 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

10 13 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

46 0 59.8 23 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Unit Hydrograph 51.6 199 1061 299 128 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 67.1 0 0 0 0 25.8 259 0 0 0 0 99.7 1379 0 0 0 0 530 389 0 0 0 0 150 167 0 0 0 0 64.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

117 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 153 58.7 0 0 0

37.5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 48.8 18.8 0 0

14.7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 19.1 7.35 0

5.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.76 2.6

Direct Ru (cfs) 13 64.8 90.08 285.02 1478.6 919.57 316.36 216.72 107.45 37.86 14.11 2.6

Here is the resulting graph shown the unit hydrograph and the storm event totaling 1.8 inches. Remember, the area under the unit hydrograph equals 1 inch of runoff and the area under the direct runoff hydrograph equals 1.8 inches of runoff.
1600 1400 1200
Discharge (cfs) Storm Unit Hydrograph

1000 800 600 400 200 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Time Interval (30 minutes)

Working with the unit hydrograph takes some practice and a spreadsheet like Excel is almost a must if you dont want to go crazy. These examples should be able to get you through your homework assignment.