ECW 557/431:

ENGINEERING HYDROLOGY

PRECIPITATION

1
WEEK 2 – PRECIPITATION
LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of the week, students should be
able to:
 Calculate areal average rainfall
 check precipitation data for consistency and continuity
(CO2);
 convert data from mass curve into hyetograph (CO2);
 read and interpret moving average, IDF curve, PMP
and depth-area-duration curve (CO1, CO2);
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 Forms of Precipitation

• Rain
• Snow
•Sleet (partially
melted grain of ice)
•Hail (pellets of ice
or snow)
• Mist (fog)

3
 Types of Precipitation

• Tropical cyclone (a.k.a cyclone, hurricane, typhoon)

• Extra-tropical cyclone
• Anticyclone
• Convective precipitation
• Orographic precipitation

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 Convective Precipitation

Hot Surface on the earth surface

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 Orographic Precipitation

From sea

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Types of Precipitation

•Frontal precipitation
•Orographic/relief precipitation
•Convective precipitation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIiAeL5evN0
 Precipitation Measurement
• Raingauge (a.k.a pluvio-, ombro-, hyetometer)
- Recording (automated at regular time interval)
- Non-recording (manual)
• Telemetering raingauges
- For remote area: data transmission at regular
interval or on interrogation
• Radar measurement
- Cover large area, good accuracy

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 Rain Gauges
Automatic Recording

Interior

Exterior
Standard Garden Tipping Bucket
Rain Gauge Rain Gauge Rain Gauge
Notes: Rain gauges should be placed (to ensure that any effects caused can be
minimized):
• flat area,
• > 4 m from buildings/trees
• height must 75 cm from ground level 10
 Raingauge Network
•World Meteorological Organisation (WMO)
recommends:

Region Ideal Acceptable

(1 per) (1 per)
Flat area 600-900 km2 900-3000 km2

Mountainous 100-250 km2 250-1000 km2

area
Arid/ polar 1500-10,000 km2
zones

* 10% gauges should be self-recording to know intensities of rainfall

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 Analysis Rainfall
• Point rainfall – record at only 1 station/1 raingauge
within <50km2
• Areal rainfall – record at one area of location from
the collection of point rainfall.

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http://www.water.gov.my
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Daily Rainfall Data from DID

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http://slideplayer.com/slide/3413538/
http://slideplayer.com/slide/4856193/
 Data Preparation

Before using rainfall data, it must be checked for

• continuity, and
• consistency

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 Data Consistency

Inconsistency of data may be apparent under the

conditions such as:
• shifting of gauge location
• changes in the localized area
• changes to the ecosystem (eg: forest fires, land slides)
• occurrence of observational error from a certain date

Perform checking using double-mass curve technique

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22
 Double-mass Curve
Principle: When each recorded data comes from the
same parent population, they are consistent.
Procedure:
• identify problem station X and 5-10 neighboring base stations
• take annual/monthly mean rainfall (average for base stations)
• arrange rainfall data in reverse chronological order
• calculate accumulated precipitation for the mean rainfall in
station X (PX ) and the average rainfall in the base stations (Pav)
•plot PX vs Pav
•identify point of change at break of slope and perform correction
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of precipitation values at station X
Double-Mass Curve

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 The rainfall values at station X beyond the period of change
of regime is corrected using:

Mc
Pcx  Px
Ma
where
Pcx = corrected rainfall at any time period t1 at station X
Px = original recorded rainfall at any time period t1 at station X
Mc = corrected slope of the double-mass curve
Ma = original slope of the mass curve

Refer Example 2.3 25

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27
 Data Continuity

Continuity of record may be broken cause of missing

data (cause of damage @ fault in raingauge)
Missing data must be estimated and replaced based on
the normal rainfall of the neighbouring stations.
Normal rainfall (used as standard comparison) is the
average of rainfall at a particular date, month or year
over a specified 30-year period.

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 Data Continuity
(I) If the normal rainfall of neighbouring stations are
within 10% of the normal rainfall at station X, then
simple arithmetic average is used.
1
PX   P1  P2  ...  PM 
M

P = rainfall depth
M = number of neighbouring stations

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 Data Continuity
(II) If the normal rainfall N of neighbouring stations
vary considerably, then normal ratio method is used.

NX  P1 P2 PM 
PX     ...  
M  N1 N 2 NM 

where N is the normal annual precipitation

and M is the number of neighbouring stations

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 Example
Station D is not operational during a particular storm. It
is known that there are three neighboring stations A, B
and C which has a normal annual precipitation N of 118,
99 and 132 cm respectively. If ND = 106 cm, and the data
recorded by station A, B and C during the storm event
are 10.3, 9.2 and 10.9 cm respectively, determine the
missing rainfall data.

NX  P1 P2 PM 
PX     ...   Answer: 9.3 cm
M  N1 N 2 NM 

Problem Solving: Q 2.2, 2.3 31

 Precipitation Data Presentation

• Mass curve
• Hyetograph
• Moving average
• IDF curve
• Rainfall map

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 Mass Curve
•a plot of the cumulative precipitation versus time,
plotted in chronological order
• a.k.a. cumulative rainfall diagram

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Accumulated 7cm rainfall
rainfall (cm) = i = 1 cm/hr
7 hours
10

5cm rainfall
5 = i = 0.5 cm/hr
10 hours

Time (hour)
0
3 10 20 30

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** Useful to obtain duration & magnitude of a storm
 Hyetograph
• a plot of rainfall depth or intensity as a function of
time, derived from the mass curve and shown in the
form of a histogram
•the area under the hyetograph represents the total
rainfall in the time period specified.

Total Depth = 1.5 cm

1
Duration = 12 hr
Intensity (cm/h)

0.5

Time (hour)
0
3 6 9 12

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** derived from mass curve & represented as a bar chart
Mass Curve
12

Accumulated 10
rainfall (cm)
7
= i = 0.5 cm/hr
5
= i = 1 cm/hr

Time (hour)
0
3 10 20 30

Hyetograph Rainfall depth = i x D

1.0
1
Intensity (cm/h) = 1.0 cm/h x 7 h = 7cm
0.5
0.5
= 0.5 cm/h x 10 h = 5cm
Time (hour)
0
3 10 20 30

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Mass Curve
12
Accumulated 11
10
rainfall (cm)
7
5

2
Time (hour)
0
3 10 20 30

Hyetograph Rainfall depth, P = i x D

1.0
1
Intensity (cm/h) 0.8

= 0.8cm/h x 5 h = 4cm
= 1.0cm/h x 5 h = 5cm
0.5 0.4
0.2
= 0.4cm/h x 5 h = 2cm Time (hour)
0
5 10 15 20 25 30
Interval Duration = 5 hours
= 0.2cm/h x 5 h = 1 cm
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Tabulation Format
Time Cumm. 5h-Rainfall 5h-Intensity
(h) Rainfall (cm) depth (cm) (cm/h)
0 0 0 0
5 2 2 0.4
10 7 5 1
15 7 0 0
20 7 0 0
25 11 4 0.8
30 12 1 0.2

Time Cumm. 10h-Rainfall 10h-Intensity

(h) Rainfall (cm) depth (cm) (cm/h)
0 0 0 0.0
10 7 7 0.7
20 7 0 0.0
30 12 5 0.5

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Mass Curve

12
Accumulated
10
rainfall (cm)
7

Time (hour)
0
3 10 20 30

Hyetograph Rainfall depth = i x D

1
Intensity (cm/h)
0.7
0.5
0.5
= 0.7cm/h x 10h
= 7cm = 0.5cm/h x 10h = 5cm
Time (hour)
0
10 20 30
Interval Duration = 10 hours

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Time Cumm. 5h-Rainfall 5h-Intensity Time Cumm. 10h-Rainfall 10h-Intensity
(h) Rainfall (cm) depth (cm) (cm/h) (h) Rainfall (cm) depth (cm) (cm/h)
0 0 0 0 0 0
5 2 2 0.4 5 2
10 7 5 1 10 7 7 0.7
15 7 0 0 15 7 5 0.5
20 7 0 0 20 7 0 0.0
25 11 4 0.8 25 11 4 0.4
30 12 1 0.2 30 12 5 0.5

Time Cumm. 15h-Rainfall 15h-Intensity Time Cumm. 20h-Rainfall 20h-Intensity

(h) Rainfall (cm) depth (cm) (cm/h) (h) Rainfall (cm) depth (cm) (cm/h)
0 0 0 0
5 2 5 2
10 7 10 7
15 7 7 0.5 15 7
20 7 5 0.3 20 7 7 0.4
25 11 4 0.3 25 11 9 0.5
30 12 5 0.3 30 12 5 0.3

Time Cumm. 25h-Rainfall 25h-Intensity Time Cumm. 30h-Rainfall 30h-Intensity

(h) Rainfall (cm) depth (cm) (cm/h) (h) Rainfall (cm) depth (cm) (cm/h)
0 0 0 0
5 2 5 2
10 7 10 7
15 7 15 7
20 7 20 7
25 11 11 0.4 25 11
30 12 10 0.4 30 12 12 0.4
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 Categorization of Rainfall Intensity for Malaysia

Note: Convective rain more than 60 mm in 2 to 4 hours duration (typical) may cause flash flood.
(Source: DID)
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Daily Rainfall Data from DID

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Time series = Chronological data
Annual Series = Time series of annual observations

Annual
Rainfall

year
93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06

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 Moving Average (Progressive Mean)
Annual
Rainfall

3 2 3 4
5
1 4 1 5
2

…… year

Annual
Rainfall

Mov. Ave

year

** Technique to smooth out the high frequency 43

fluctuations for a time series & enable the plot trend.
 Moving Average (Progressive Mean)
Annual
Year Rainfall 3-yr Mov Ave 5-yr Mov Ave 7-yr Mov Ave 9-yr Mov Ave
1902 3228
1903 2687 2791
1904 2458 2437 2613
1905 2165 2384 2472 2664
1906 2529 2404 2547 2588 2704
1907 2519 2704 2595 2631 2682
1908 3063 2760 2759 2714 2702
1909 2697 2916 2861 2814 2778
1910 2989 2907 2930 2902 2785
1911 3035 2964 2946 2859 2863
1912 2867 3015 2851 2883 2885
1913 3142 2743 2900 2886 2872
1914 2220 2865 2835 2881 2573
1915 3234 2723 2853 2447 2241
1916 2714 2967 2224 2038 1903
1917 2953 1889 1780 1589 1585
. . . . . .
. . . . . .
. . . . . .
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** m = number of years data must be odd value
 3500

3000

1903
2500

2000
Rainfall (mm)

1500

1000
Annual Rainfall

500
3-yr Mov Ave

0
1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960
Year
45
 3500

3000

1904
2500

2000
Rainfall (mm)

1500

1000
Annual Rainfall

500
5-yr Mov Ave

0
1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960
Year
46
 3500

3000

1905

2500

2000
Rainfall (mm)

1500

1000
Annual Rainfall

500
7-yr Mov Ave

0
1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960
Year
47
 3500

3000

1906

2500

2000
Rainfall (mm)

1500

1000
Annual Rainfall

500
9-yr Mov Ave

0
1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960
Year
48
 Frequency
a.k.a Return Period (T= 1/P)
OR Annual Recurrence Interval (ARI)
** Considering of occurrence of a particular extreme rainfall events

P( x  xT ) = the probability of occurrence of an event x

of which the magnitude is equal to or in excess of a
specified magnitude xT
e.g. Event x = 24 h rainfall
Magnitude xT = 100 cm
 P = P( x  xT ) = P( 24 h Rainfall  100 cm )
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 Frequency
Return Period T = 1 / P

e.g. P = P( x  xT ) = P( 24 h Rainfall  100 cm )

Say P = 0.2
 T = 1 / P = 5 years
Hence xT = x5 = 100 cm

The likelihood that a 24 h rainfall exceeds 100 cm is 0.2.

The return period, T of a 24 h rainfall of 100 cm is 5
years @ rainfall of 100 cm in 24 hr is 5 years 50
 IDF Curve

• Intensity
T3 > T2 > T1
• Duration
I
• Frequency
T3
T2
T1

D
MSMA, DID, Malaysia
• Max IDF relationship , IM 51
Rainfall Intensity (mm/h) IDF Curve – Kuala Lumpur (MSMA)

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 dDF curve

• Depth T3
• Duration
d T2
• Frequency
T1

T3 > T2 > T1

MASMA, DID, Malaysia

• Max dDF relationship, Dm page 43 53
 Depth-Area-Duration Relationship page 37
For a rainfall of a given duration, the average depth decreases
with area exponentially:
P  P0 exp( KA n )

P = average depth over an area A (km2)

P0 = highest amount of rainfall at the storm centre

K and n are constants for the given region

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Depth-Area-Duration Curve

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 Probable Maximum Precipitation (PMP)
•important for design of major/ critical hydraulic structures, to
keep failure possibility to the minimum/=0
•PMP = the greatest rainfall for a given duration that is
physically possible over an area
• Statistically:
PMP  P  K
P = average of annual maximum rainfall
 = std deviation of annual maximum rainfall

K = frequency factor

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 Example

A major system in a proposed developed in KL is

to be designed using 50-year return period for a
rainfall duration of 60 min.
Determine the rainfall depth and the
corresponding design rainfall pattern.

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 Solution

Intensity = 100mm/h
Depth = 100mm
Rainfall Intensity (mm/h)

IDF Curve for KL 58

 Design Rainfall – Temporal Patterns
(MSMA Appendix 13.B)
No. of
Duration
Time Fraction of Rainfall in Each Time Period
(min)
Period
10 2 0.570 0.430
15 3 0.320 0.500 0.180
30 6 0.160 0.250 0.330 0.090 0.110 0.060
60 12 0.039 0.070 0.168 0.120 0.232 0.101 0.089 0.057 0.048 0.031 0.028 0.017
120 8 0.030 0.119 0.310 0.208 0.090 0.119 0.094 0.030
180 6 0.060 0.220 0.340 0.220 0.120 0.040
360 6 0.320 0.410 0.110 0.080 0.050 0.030

60-min Duration
0.250

0.200

0.150

0.100

0.050

0.000
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 59
 30-min Duration 120-min Duration

0.400 0.400

0.300 0.300

0.200 0.200

0.100 0.100

0.000 0.000
1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

180-min Duration 360-min Duration

0.400 0.500

0.400
0.300
0.300
0.200
0.200
0.100
0.100

0.000 0.000
1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6

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 Solution
Time Fraction of Rainfall Rainfall
(min) Rainfall Depth (mm) Intensity (mm/h)
5 0.039 3.9 46.8
10 0.070 7.0 84.0
15 0.168 16.8 201.6
20 0.120 12.0 144.0
25 0.232 23.2 278.4
30 0.101 10.1 121.2
35 0.089 8.9 106.8
40 0.057 5.7 68.4
45 0.048 4.8 57.6
50 0.031 3.1 37.2
55 0.028 2.8 33.6
60 0.017 1.7 20.4
100
300
Rainfall Intensity (mm/h)

250

200

150
Average I=100mm/h
100

50

0
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60
Time (min) 61
2-yr ARI Daily Rainfall Map (Figure 13.3, MSMA) 62
 1.0

0.8

Intensity-duration 0.6

relationship 0.4
Duration Maximum
(h) Intensity 0.2
5 0.8
10 0.7 0.0
15 0.5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
20 0.5
25 0.4
30 0.4 1.0
1 10 100

0.1
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