BAE450

Environmental Hydrology

Routing
Module 2
To become familiar with a simple method to
route water through a reservoir
Start Audio Lecture!

BAE450: Environmental Hydrology

Reservoir Routing
We will apply the Storage-Indication
method for reservoirs that have a
spillway.
* we assume that storage (S) = 0 when
no overflow occurs (surcharge storage)
* we assume we do not know S=f(O)
* we will apply this to an ungated
spillway like a weir, outlet discharge
pipe, or gated spillway with fixed
position
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BAE450: Environmental Hydrology

Reservoir Routing
We will use a relationship between outflow (O)
and elevation head (H). For example, for a
broad crested weir:
O = CLH3/2
H
where
O = discharge at the outlet (cfs)
C = discharge coefficient of weir (cfs)
L = length of crest (ft)
H = depth above spillway (ft)

BAE450: Environmental Hydrology

Reservoir Routing
Start with two relationships specific for
reservoirs:
1. Storage-head relationship

2. Outflow-head relationship

H
O

BAE450: Environmental Hydrology

Reservoir Routing
Next, we need:
an inflow hydrograph
a starting elevation above spillway

BAE450: Environmental Hydrology

Reservoir Routing

Use the continuity equation as: I O =

S
t

where

I = average inflow during t

O = average outflow during t
or

Ii + Ii +1 Oi + Oi +1 Si +1 Si

=
2
2
t

where subscripts denote the time interval

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BAE450: Environmental Hydrology

Reservoir Routing
Ii + Ii +1 Oi + Oi +1 Si +1 Si

=
2
2
t
For i=1, we know Ii and Ii+1, Oi (initially) and Si
(initially).
We do not know Oi+1 and Si+1.
So, we rewrite knowns = unknowns

Ii + Ii +1 +

2Si
2S
Oi = i +1 + Oi +1
t
t
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BAE450: Environmental Hydrology

Reservoir Routing
Ii + Ii +1 +

2Si
2S
Oi = i +1 + Oi +1
t
t

We can find Oi+1 if we have a relationship between term on

RHS and O. This is possible using the so-called storageindication curve:

2S
+O
t

O (cfs)
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BAE450: Environmental Hydrology

Routing Steps
1. set i=1, obtain initial head and inflow hydrograph
2. find initial outflow O1 corresponding to initial
head above spillway
2S2
3. find 2S/t from S(H) relationship
+ O2
t
4. from the continuity eqn., calculate:
5. enter storage-indication curve to find O2
2S2

6. calculate: 2S2

O2 =
+ O 2 2O 2
t

7. change i=2
2S3
8. from continuity eqn., calculate:
+ O3

repeat steps 4-7, and so on

BAE450: Environmental Hydrology

Estimation t
Preferably, t < tp/5, with tp equal to end of a t
interval.

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BAE450: Environmental Hydrology

Example
We consider routing an inflow hydrograph with
a time to peak of 5 hrs. The weir length is
50 ft, and the weir coefficient C = 3.0.
Storage characteristics (S(H)) are as follows:
Elevation above
spillway (ft)

Storage above
spillway (ac-ft)

200

10

500

15

900

20

1400
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BAE450: Environmental Hydrology

Example
Before we can apply steps 1-7, we develop the
storage-indication curve:
We use O = 3.0 * 50 * H3/2 = 150H3/2 to calculate
O(H).
We also convert S (ac-ft) to 2S/t (cfs) as follows:
ac-ft * 43560 ft2/ac /(3600 s/hr), where t = 1 hr.
So, we multiply S (ac-ft) by 24.2 to obtain 2S/t
(cfs)
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BAE450: Environmental Hydrology

Example
We apply these to our table:

storage-indication curve

H (ft)

S (ac-ft)

O (cfs)

2S/t
(cfs)

2S/t + O
(cfs)

200

1,677

4,840

6,517

10

500

4,743

12,100

16,843

15

900

8,714

21,780

30,494

20

1400

13,416

38,880

52,296
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BAE450: Environmental Hydrology

Example
I will complete this example using a narrated
excel spreadsheet. Please, review the
continuation of this example separately.

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