CE3012 HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING II

Course outline:
River Hydraulics Steady Non-Uniform Flow in Open Channels;
Hydrology Surface Water and Groundwater Hydrology hydrological cycle,
hydrological processes, water balance; precipitation forms and types,
measurement, analysis of rainfall data; Hydrological zones and river basins of
Sri Lanka; Runoff, infiltration loss rates; Rational method of flood estimation;
stream flow measurement; flow through aquifers.
Coastal hydraulics; Introduction to Coastal Environment and Processes; Linear
Wave Theory and its applications; Nearshore processes.

Hydrologic Cycle
-Hydrologic balance
-Types of water resources
-Water consumption and issues

Hydrologic Cycle

Essential to maintain
Balance between and within each portion of this cycle
AndQuality depending on the usage
3
(Source: Environment Canada, 2004)

Hydrologic Balance
Atmospheric Water

Soil Water

Surface Water

Groundwater
Input

Output

SYSTEM
Change of
Storage = Inflow - Outflow

S
= I O
t

The Watershed, Catchment or Hydrographic Basin

Area of land that drains to a single outlet and is separated from other
watersheds by a drainage divide.
Rainfall that falls in a watershed will generate runoff to that
watershed outlet.
Topographic elevation is used to define a watershed boundary
5

Watershed water balance

P
ET

S
= P + Gin ET Gout O
t

Gin

O
S
Gout

Example: On November 1st in a certain year, water level of Kandalama tank is

174.1 m MSL. During November, average inflow (due to catchment runoff) and
outflow (mainly for irrigation) of the tank are 6 m3/s and 5m3/s. Monthly average
rainfall and evaporation in November are 400 mm and 120mm. Assuming
negligible seepage loss and groundwater inflow into the reservoir, calculate the
tank water level at the end of the month.
Area capacity curve of Kandalama tank
Storage (MCM)

Write the water balance equation for the

tank,
Inflow-outflow=change in the storage
(runoff+rainfall) (outflow+evaporation)
= storage change

{(6 3600 24 30) + (400 10

)} {

5.4 10 6 (5 3600 24 30 ) + 120 10 3 5.4 10 6

)}

= storage change

{(15.55 + 2.16) (12.96 + 0.65)} 10 6 = storage

change

4.10 10 6 = storage change

End of the month storage = 4.10 + 19.99 = 24.09 MCM
At 24.09 MCM water level is 174.8 m MSL

Major Hydrologic Processes

Precipitation (measured by radar or rain gauge)
Evaporation and Transpiration (loss to atmosphere)
Infiltration (loss to subsurface soils)
Overland flow (sheet flow towards nearest stream)
Stream flow (flow in streams and rivers)
Groundwater flow and well mechanics
Water quality and contaminant transport

Units of measurement in Hydrology

Precipitation is normally measured in inches, mm or cm
Precipitation rate or intensity in inches/hr, mm/hr or cm/hr
Infiltration is measured in inches/hr or mm/hr, cm/hr

Evaporation is measured in in/day or mm/hr, cm/month, cm/year, etc

Interception is measured in in or mm per storm
Stream flow is measured in cfs or m3/s
Groundwater flows are measured as ft3/day or m3/day
9

Types of Water Resources

Atmosphere:
atmospheric water vapor
rain, drizzle
snow, glaze (rain below 0C), sleet (frozen rain drops, transparent) , hail (large ice particles)

Surface waters: rivers, lakes, oceans, ice caps, glaciers

Groundwater: soil moisture, aquifers, vadose water (water existing
above the water table)

10

World-Wide Water Consumption

73%-agriculture purposes
21%-industrial
6%-domestic

Sri Lanka
140 litres (Rural)
185 litres (Urban)
(NWS&DB design
guidelines)

11
(Source: World Commission on Water, 1999)

Issues related to water

Too Dirty

Too Much

12

Too Little

PrecipitationFormation, Measurement and Analysis

13

Precipitation various forms

Rain (most important)

Snow (significant in cold countries)

Hail (confined to short periods)

14

Precipitation mechanisms

Condensation occurs when relative humidity reaches

100 %
A condensation nucleus is needed
Mechanism of cooling is essential

15

Climatic Controls

Continentality
Direction of prevailing storm systems
Topography
Orientation of Topography
Altitude
Location with respect to the jet stream

16

Types of precipitation

Orographic precipitations - lifting over mountain ranges

Convective precipitation - heating at or near surface, common in hot days
Frontal precipitation due to hot/ cold air masses
Cyclonic precipitations Frontal, low pressure systems

17

Frontal Precipitation

In this figure, the storm is moving toward the right and is being continually
supplied with warm, moist, low-level air at its leading edge. In the updraft fed
by this inflow, condensation produces rain above the freezing temperature
and snow at lower temperatures. To the rear of the storm, dry middle-level
air flows into the storm. As evaporation of rain cools this air, it becomes
negatively buoyant and sinks. When the resulting downdraft reaches the
ground, it spread out and forms the gust front.
18

Hurricane, Typhoon or Cyclone

Counterclockwise rotation
(N hemisphere) and
vice-versa in S

Tornado
Short-lived
Wind velocity up to 800 km/h!!!

19

MEASUREMENT AND ANALYSIS OF THE

PRECIPITATION DATA

20

Average seasonal
rainfall in Sri Lanka

21

Measurement of rainfall
Parameters
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Depth of precipitation (in, cm or mm)

Duration (min, hrs)
Rainfall intensity (in/hr, cm/hr)
Time distribution of precipitation
Space distribution of precipitation

Types of Recordings
Point measurements (Localized)
Non-recording (standard) gauges measure only (1)
Recording gauges tipping bucket, weighing-type, float recording-type
- measure (1) to (4)

Area measurements (over a certain area)

Radar measurements (LIDAR, NEXRAD)
Gauge network - measure (1) to (5)

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Tipping Bucket Rain Gauge

Recording gauge
Collector and Funnel
Bucket and Recorder

23

0.00

12/26/57
6:00 AM

12/26/57
12:00 AM

12/25/57
6:00 PM

12/25/57
12:00 PM

12/25/57
6:00 AM

12/25/57
12:00 AM

Rainfall (mm)

A rainfall record (event: 25th Dec 1957 at Anuradapura)

60.00

50.00

40.00

30.00

20.00

10.00

24

Gauge Network

25
(Source: Rice Univ. - 2001)

Rainfall measurement - Radar

26
(Source: National Weather Service - US, 2000)

Rainfall measurement - Radar

1. Recent Innovation
2. Digital data is recorded every
5 min over each grid cell as
storm advances (eg: 4 km x 4
km cells)
3. The radar data can be
summed over a storm to
provide total rainfall depths
by sub-areas
4. Accurate to 150-250 km2
5. Provides spatial detail better
than gauges
27

28

Mean areal precipitation (from point measurements)

1. Arithmetic Mean
Method
N

P=

P
i =1

2. Thiessen Polygon

Ai
P = Pi
i =1
AT
N

3. Isohyetal Method

Ai
P = Pi
i =1
Aw
N

HIGHER ACCURACY

29

Thiessen Polygons
Average
precipitations

1.

Connect gauges with lines

2.

Form triangles as shown

3.

Create perpendicular bisectors

of the triangles

4.

Each polygon is formed by lines

and catchment boundary
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Preparation of Hydrologic Data:

1. Rainfall

Estimation of missing data

Consistency Checks

2. Discharge Data

Data Extraction

1. Rainfall Data
Estimation of Missing rainfall data:
P1 P2 P3 Px .Pm (Daily rainfall values at station 1 to m on a particular day)
N1 N2 N3 .. Nx .Nm (Long term average daily rainfall values at station 1 to m
averaged over a long period)

Method 1:
If N1 N2 N3 Nm are close to (within approximately 10%) Nx, the missing value Px can
be taken as the average of P1, P2, P3..Pm.
31

Method 2:
If the data do not satisfy the above condition, an average based on the weighted
rainfall figures of the neighboring stations is used.
Ratio of P1 to average rainfall N1

= P1/N1

Ratio of P2 to average rainfall N2

= P2/N2

Ratio of Pm to average rainfall Nm

= Pm/Nm

Average ratio of P1, P2Pm to N1, N2.Nm = { P1/N1+ P2/N2+. Pm/Nm} / (m-1)
Assuming the same average ratio would apply for the missing value,
Px / Nx = { P1/N1+ P2/N2+. Pm/Nm } / (m-1)

Consistency of rain-gauge records and corrections for inconsistencies:

If the conditions relevant to the recording at the rain gauge have undergone a
significant change during the period of record, inconsistency would arise in the
rainfall data of that station.

32

Some of the causes for inconsistency are;

1. Changing the location of the rain gauge
2. Neighborhood of rain gauge undergone a significant change
3. Change of ecosystem due to large scale forest fires, land slides etc.
4. Occurrence of an observation error from a certain date.

Inconsistency can be found by the double mass curve technique.

Assume,
P

- Reading at the station under consideration

Pav

- Average of corresponding readings at surrounding stations

The values of P and Pav are summed up as cumulative totals in the reverse
chronological order (ie, first (old) reading last and last (new) reading first)

33

Old records

New records

Pav
Old records are brought to new regime by,
Pcorrected = Precorded x { corrected slope / original slope }

34

2. Stream Flow Data

hi

35

Vi = (V0.2 + V0.8 ) 2
n

Q = Vi iWi
i =1

36

Estimation of streamflow - Slope-area method

In certain cases (floods), it is difficult to measure velocity.
For some sections one can measure the geometrical characteristics of crosssectional area and channel slope and use Manning equation to obtain the
streamflow, Q.
Mannings Equation used to estimate flow rates

Q = (1/n) A R 2/3 S 1/2

Where

Q = flow rate (m 3/s)

n = Manning roughness coefficient (empirical)
A = cross sectional area (m 2)
R = hydraulic radius = A / P (m)
S = Slope (head loss per unit length of channel)

37

Relating river stage (level) to streamflow (discharge)

The water level (stage) is recorded during the measurement of the
stream flow
With enough measurements, we can construct a stage-discharge
relationship for a particular site
Based on this relationship, we only need to monitor the river stage
(level) in order to obtain instantaneous discharge values
However this method has limitations in extreme flows as the rating
curves may not cover flood water levels
A typical rating curve for a
large river at a gauging
station

38

Infiltration

39

Factors affecting the infiltration rate

40

Measurement of the infiltration rate

35 cm
23 cm

1.Split (double) ring infiltrometer

Shown to represent Horton parameters fairly well
Measure the rate of vertical movement from center ring
Exterior ring is to offset lateral movement of moisture
Change in elevation measured at selected time intervals
Actually measures maximum infiltration capacity because excess water is available.

2. Sprinkler infiltrometer (rainfall simulators)

Catch and measure runoff rate
Infiltration rate = rainfall rate - runoff rate
Usually have high application rate therefore
approaching maximum infiltration rate

12

Measure runoff
41

Estimation of the infiltration rate

A. Hortons Infiltration Concept
Horton (1933) developed an empirical relationship for the infiltration rate, f, when
the rainfall rate exceeds the infiltration rate
f(t) = Rate of water loss into soil

f (t)= f c + (f o - f c )e-kt
fc = final rate value
fo = initial rate value
k = decay rate
Can integrate to get
F(t) = Total volume of infiltration
Advantage:
simple and fits well with experimental data
extremely popular and extensively used

42

B. The Index (Infiltration Index) Method One of the simplest methods but probably
not used quite as much any more. Most applicable to large events, on wet soils, when
infiltration is a small percentage of the rainfall and runoff.

Assumes that infiltration occurs

at some constant or average rate
throughout the storm.
In comparison, initial rates are
under estimated and final rates
are over estimated.
For an individual storm, , is
calculated as the total storm
volume losses;
Vol. losses = Vol. rain - Vol.
runoff
For general applications, must
be correlated with basin
characteristics.
43

Example of Index method

Direct runoff due to a 12 hour storm (described in the graph) is 4.9
inches. Calculate the average infiltration rate for the same 12 hour
period.

44

Example of Index

Set up a general Eqn for index

2(1.4 - ) + 3(2.3- ) +2(1.1- )
+3(0.7- ) + 2(0.3- ) =(?) 4.9

Find by trial and error by assuming a value and solving

Try = 1.5 in/hr
it only accounts for 2.4 inches of direct runoff
Try = 0.5 in/hr
it yields 9.0 inches of direct runoff - too much direct runoff
Try = 1.0 in/hr or 2(0.4) +3(1.3)+2(.1) = 4.9 inches

45

Hydrologic Design
Hydrologic design is the process of assessing the impact of hydrological events on
a project and choosing values for the key variables of the project so that it will
function properly throughout its design lifetime.
Hydrologic designs are done for two types of projects;
1. Water Control Projects
Ex: Drainage and flood control, salinity and sediment control etc.
2. Water Use Projects
Ex: Water supply systems, irrigation, hydropower generation etc.
In both types of projects, main task is to determine a design flow to,
1. route the flow through the system
2. check whether the discharge values are satisfactory
Design for water control is concerned with extreme events of short duration, such as
instantaneous peak discharge during a flood (to assess the capacity of structures
etc.) or the minimum flow over a period of few days during a dry period (to ensure
sediment control)
Design for water use is concerned with the complete flow hydrograph over a period
46
of several years.

Design Storms:
A design storm is a predetermined rainfall event used in the hydrological analysis.
Usually the design storm serves as the system input where the flow rates through the
system are calculated using rainfall-runoff and flow routing procedures.

A design storm can be a

1. Rainfall depth over a
known period at a given
location
2. Hyetograph specifying the
time distribution of rainfall
during a storm
3. Isohyetal map showing the
spatial distribution of rainfall

47

Design hyetographs from IDF curves

1. Alternating block method

RAINFALL INTENSITY DURATIOIN FREQUENCY CURVES

STATION COLOMBO

350.00

Select a time interval t and find the ordinates

of hyetograph at 1t, 2t, 3t,nt.
Where n t is the total duration of the
hyetograph.

300.00
Rainfall Intensity (mm/hr)

Design return period and the total duration of

the rainfall should be selected first. Hyetograph
ordinates are obtained from the IDF curve.

250.00

200.00

I1
150.00

Time

Intensity

Hyetograph ordinates

1t
2t
3t
.
.
nt

I1
I2
I3

H1 = I1 t
H2 = I2 2t - I1 t
H3 = I3 3t I22 t

I2
100.00

50.00

Duration (min)
0.00

In

10

20

30

40

2Yr

50

60

70

10Yr

80

90

100 110 120

50Yr

100Yr

1t 2t

48

Rainfall
depth

Ordinates are
arranged
alternatively on
either side from the
peak at the center

H1
H2
H3
H4
H5

H6
Time

nt

0.5nt

2. Design Hyetographs from Observed Storms

100%

Rainfall
depth

% Rainfall
Plot the
measured
hyetographs in
normalized axis

Time
Rainfall
depth
Fit a trend line
Time
Rainfall
depth

0%
0%
Time

% Time

100%
49

Plot all available extreme event storms in normalized axis and fit a trend line. This
trend line gives the shape of the design storm. However the magnitude of the design
storm should be calculated separately. Cumulative rainfall depth of the design storm
can be calculated using a statistical method (ex. Gumbels method) with daily rainfall
values. Spread this cumulative value in the hyetograph using the shape established
by the trend line.
Design Discharges
1. RATIONAL METHOD
where:
Q = peak runoff rate, m3/s
C = runoff coefficient, non-dimensional
I = rainfall intensity, mm/hr
A = area, km2
I can be read from the IDF curves. C is given in text books. This is the easiest method
to calculate discharge for a known rainfall intensity.

Q=CIA

Assumptions:
Rainfall occurs uniformly over the entire watershed.
Rainfall occurs with a uniform intensity for a duration equal to the time of
concentration for the watershed.
The runoff coefficient, C, is dependent upon physical characteristics of the watershed,
50
e.g. soil type.

51

Weaknesses of the Rational Method:

Reflects only the peak and gives no indication of the volume or the time distribution of
the runoff.
Lumps many watershed variables into one runoff coefficient.
Lends little insight into our understanding of runoff processes - Beware of cases where
watershed conditions vary greatly across the watershed.
This method is a great oversimplification of a complicated process; however, the method
is considered sufficiently accurate for runoff estimation in the design of relatively
inexpensive structures where the consequences of failure are limited.
Application of rational method is normally limited small catchment areas.
2. HYDROLOGIC MODELS
Design Rainfall
Hyetograph

Hydrologic
Model

Design Discharge

Catchment
Characteristics

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