Chap 6 HYDROGRAPH

Unit Hydrograph

CED-309
Engineering Hydrology

Engr. Abid Latif

Department of Civil engineering
University College of Engineering & Technology
Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan.
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Group Members
 2005-CE-44
 2005-CE-07
 2005-CE-27
 2005-CE-36
 2005-CE-46
 2005-CE-51
 2005-CE-52
 2005-CE-60
 2005-CE-62

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Unit Hydrograph
It is the hydrograph of direct run-off
resulting from one unit depth(1 cm) of
rainfall excess occurring uniformly over
the basin and at a uniform rate for a
specified duration.(D hours)
 Purpose
 Meaning of Unit
 Duration

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Unit Hydrograph
The definition implies that,

 1. It represents the lumped response of the

catchment to a unit rainfall excess of D-h
duration to produce a direct run-off
hydrograph.

 2. The volume of the water contained in unit

hydrograph must be equal to rainfall excess.

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Unit Hydrograph
 3.Average intensity of excess
rainfall is considered to be 1/D
cm/hr .
 4. Distribution of the storm is
uniform all over the catchment.

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Unit Hydrograph
Assumptions:

There are two basic assumptions ,

 1. Time invariance
 2. Linear response

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Unit Hydrograph
1. Time invariance

 Direct run-off response to a given effective

rainfall in catchment is time invariant.

2. Linear response

 The direct run-off response to the rainfall

excess is assumed to be linear.

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EXAMPLE 6.4
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EXAMPLE 6.5

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SOLUTION:

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Applications of Unit
Hydrograph
 It can easily calculate the DRH (direct-
runoff hydrograph)

 Consider figure in which a sequence of

M rainfall excess values R1, R2, …,Ri…
Rm each of duration D-h is shown.

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Applications of Unit
Hydrograph
 Direct runoff due to R1 at time t,
Q1=R1.u[t]
 Direct runoff due to R2 at time (t-D) is,
Q2=R2.u[t-D]
Similarly ,
Qi=Ri.u[t-(i-1)-D]
&
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Applications of Unit
Hydrograph
 Qm=Rm.u [ t - (M - 1) - D]

 Thus at any time t the total direct

runoff

 Qt=∑Qi= ∑ Ri.u[t-(i-1)-D]

Where,

 1≤i≤m

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EXAMPLE 6.6

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Derivation of flow
Duration Curve
 A Number of isolated storm
hydrographs caused by short spells
of rainfall excess, each of
approximately same duration [0.90
to 1.1 D h] are selected.
 Area under each DRH is evaluated.
 Volume of the direct runoff is
divided by the catchment.

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Derivation of flow
Duration Curve
 It gives the depth of ER.
 Flood hydrographs with the
following features should be
selected for the analysis;
 1.Storms should be isolated
storms.
 2.Rainfall should be fairly uniform.
 3.Duration of the rainfall should be
1/5 to 1/3 of the basin lag.
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Derivation of flow
Duration Curve
 4.Rainfall excess of the selected
storm should be high.

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EXAMPLE 6.7

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EXAMPLE 6.8

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 ND
E E
T H
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