Unit Hydrograph Analysis

Unit Hydrographs (UH)

Definition and Introduction of UHs

Assumptions of UHs
Limitations of UHs
Derivation of Measured UH

Unit Hydrograph (UH) - Introduction

Definition It is the surface or direct runoff

hydrograph which would be generated from a unit
depth (1 inch, 1 mm, 1 cm) of effective rain
uniformly distributed over the watershed area and
occurring within specified duration of time (i.e.
duration of precipitation)
Traditional method to evaluate watershed runoff
response to rainfall input
The concept of the unit hydrograph is based on
the idea that similar storms will produce similar
direct runoff hydrographs because the
characteristics of the watershed remain relatively
constant.

Unit Hydrograph - Introduction

The UH is based on effective rain, that is the

portion of rain remaining after all
abstractions/losses (infiltration, detention
storage, etc.) are accounted for.
The UH is the surface or direct runoff, so the
base flow must be abstracted from the total
runoff hydrograph
Generally the method is applicable to basins
ranging from 100-2000 square miles (260 to
5200 km2)

Unit Hydrograph - Introduction

The UH is based on effective rainfall (ER)

occurring over a set period of time. The UNIT in
Unit Hydrograph refers to the rainfall amount, not
the duration of the ER
As soon as rainfall duration changes, so does the
UH. Therefore for the same watershed we can
have as many UH as periods of ER. Can have
any length of time of interest; 1 hour ER, 6 hour
ER, 12 hour ER or 24 hour ER UHs
The period of time can be any finite duration up to
the time of concentration.
The concept is based on one unit depth of ER falls
over the chosen period of time of ER (i.e. 1 cm ER
over 1 hour (1 cm/hr), or 1 cm ER over 4 hour
(0.25 cm/hour), etc.)

Unit Hydrograph
Introduction

The ER may be any specified amount,

measured as depth on the watershed area,
usually 1 mm or 1 cm or 1 inch. A unit
value is convenient for when determining
effect of different depths of rain
proportioning with a unit value is simpler.
The unit ER then in turn transforms to
surface runoff in the UH.
As such the area under the curve defined
by the UH (which is equal to the total
volume of runoff) should be equal to the
unit depth of ER over the area of the
watershed.
Remember Area under a hydrograph is
equal to volume and in the case of the UH
which is direct runoff this will be equivalent
to the depth of ER.

Unit Hydrograph - Introduction

Overall objective
in developing
UHs is that
once developed
the UH can be
used to estimate
storms of other
proportions to
determine runoff
response.

Unit Hydrograph - Introduction

The UH for a watershed can be developed using a

number of methods. These methods depend on
the type of data available.
A UH can be developed from hydrometeorlogical
data (runoff and rainfall) for gauged watersheds
If data is not available it can be generated using
synthetic UHs based on watershed physiographic
features (area, length, slope and shape).
Today we will look at deriving UH based on
guaged data. Next week we will look at synthetic
UHs

Unit Hydrograph Assumption 1

The basis of the UH is based on 3 main

assumptions (Note that Assumptions 1 and 2
together make up the principle of proportionality
and Assumption 3 is the principle of
superposition):
1. For a given drainage basin, the duration of surface
runoff is essentially constant for all uniform
intensity storms of the same length, regardless of
the differences in the total volume of surface
runoff
What does this mean? The time base of the unit
hydrograph is constant for a given ER duration.
Therefore when you are using a UH (based on 1 cm ER
over 2 hours) to determine the response of your
watershed to a 5 cm ER over 2 hours, the time base
remains the same for the response even though the
volume of rainfall is increased.

Unit Hydrograph Assumption 2

2. For a given drainage basin, if two uniform intensity
storms of the same length (but different
intensities) produce different total volumes of
surface runoff, then the rates of surface runoff at
corresponding time, t, after the beginning of two
storms, are in the same proportion to each other
as the total volumes of surface runoff.
What does this mean? Since the time base of the unit
hydrograph is constant for a given ER duration a
proportionally larger volume of runoff must be generated
for more intense storms. Therefore when you are using
a UH (based on 1 cm ER over 2 hours) to determine the
response of your watershed to a 5 cm ER over 2 hours,
the runoff volume at a given time is proportionally
higher. For this situation at each time interval the runoff
hydrograph would be 5 times higher of a value than the
UH.

Unit Hydrograph Proportionality

(Assumption 1 and 2)

Example 1

Unit Hydrograph
Proportionality
(Assumption 1 and 2)
Example 2

Unit Hydrograph Assumption 3

3. The time distribution of surface runoff from a
given storm period is independent of
concurrent runoff from antecedent storm
periods.
What does this mean? The resulting
hydrograph from continuous and/or isolated
periods of ER can be summed together by
considering them individual hydrographs from
each ER condition

Unit Hydrograph Superposition

(Assumption 3)
Example 1

Unit Hydrograph
Superposition
(Assumption 3)
Example 2

Unit
Hydrograph

Assumptions

UH Derivation from Measured Data

UHs for a watershed are derived either from

runoff (stream guage) and rainfall data for a
gauged watershed OR by developing
synthetic UHs for ungauged watersheds.
This week we will focus on deriving UHs
from gauged data, the following unit we will
look at synthetic methods
So how do we develop a unit hydrograph
from gauged data?

UH Derivation from Measure Data

Step 1 obtain effective rainfall amount

Step 2 obtain effective rainfall duration
Step 3 separate total hydrograph into
direct runoff hydrograph and baseflow
hydrograph
Step 4 divide the ordinates of surface
runoff hydrograph by the amount of effective
rainfall to obtain corresponding ordinates of
the UH of the duration of the effective
rainfall

3 hr UH Example
1.

2.

3.

4.

Baseflow
separated to
provide direct
runoff hydrograph
Effective rainfall
duration is
provided and UH
will be a 3 hour UH
Effective rainfall
amount not
provided but can
be solved from
direct runoff values
Divide ordinates of
runoff hydrograph
by effective rainfall
depth to obtain
ordinates of 3 hour
UH

UH Example

Solution

Unit Hydrograph Limitations

Limitations exist for UHs and these should be

understood by those using the methods
Space Invariance of Effective Rainfall.

Rainfall is assumed to be distributed in the same spatial

(space) pattern for all rainfall storms occurring over the
entire watershed
ER of specified duration seldom occurs uniformly over a
watershed of reasonable size.
Therefore spatial invariance of ER is an assumption not
a reality and becomes less ideal with larger watersheds
One method to reduce the amount of errors due to non
uniform rain across a watershed is by subdividing your
watershed into smaller subwatersheds which are more
likely to have more uniform conditions.

Unit Hydrograph Limitations

Time Invariance of Effective Rainfall.

Rainfall is assumed to be distributed in the same

temporal (time) pattern for all rainfall storms occurring
over the entire watershed
ER usually does not occur uniformly WRT time and
rainfall intensity can and typically does vary with time.
However, the level of impact of variations or rainfall with
time is dependant on the size of the watershed.
Short duration high intensity rainfall may show
significant variance on runoff from small watersheds but
may not even be noticed in larger watersheds.

Unit Hydrograph Limitations

Validity of Linearity

In order for concepts of superposition and

proportionality to work, systems must be linear.
Watersheds are not linear.
It is common for storms of same duration to have
different time bases, and their ordinates are not in
proportion to their volumes
Watershed conditions can be variable and impact the
response such as:

Soil AMC or frost conditions

Forest growth active or dormant
Water levels within lakes and available watershed storage
Snow coverage

Having different unit hydrographs for a range of

conditions (such as intensity) is one method to assist in
overcoming these limitations.

Representative UH

Despite the assumptions of linearity and rainfall

spatial and temporal distribution the UH method is
still valuable.
Given the limitations of the assumptions how do
we manufacture a representative UH?
The procedure to develop a UH of desired rainfall
duration is to select a number of isolated rainfall
storms of desired duration and assess their
corresponding runoff hydrographs
Each UH would have a unique form based on
variations within the system and rainfall.
Therefore an average UH is usually developed
based on a number of storms and runoff
responses.

Representative UH

The procedure to compute an average peak flow

and an average time to peak based on all the
uniquely shaped UHs available.
The average UH can then be graphically sketched
to conform to the shapes of other unit hydrographs
such that it passes through the computed average
peak flow at a location equal to the average time
to peak.
The unit hydrograph then must be constructed
such that the area under the graph is equal to a
unit volume of runoff over the watershed area (i.e.
1, 1 cm, 1 mm, etc.).

Representative UH

The average peak flow at a location equal to average time to peak is

not calculated from an arithmetic averaging.
Since the peaks may not exist at the same time the simple averaging
procedure may reduce the overall peak.

Representative UH Suitable Storms

Storms should be restricted to:
1. Storms should be of approximately same
duration within +/- 10%
2. Storms should be isolated and occur
individually
3. Storms are approximately uniform during
their duration of effective rainfall and
spatially over the watershed.

Representative UH Suitable Storms

1.

A screening process should be applied to selecting suitable rainfall

storms to determine the most suitable UH
Duration of the selected rainfall storms should be 10 to 30% of the
watershed lag time.

Representative UH Suitable Storms

2. Storms should be flood producing storms such
that surface runoff hydrographs for the selected
rainfall storms in Step 1 should range from 1 to 5
cm.
3. A suitable number of rainfall storms and
corresponding surface runoff hydrographs be
analyzed to develop the most representative UH,
5 storms is sometimes suggested but if more is
available, they should also be used.
4. Surface runoff ordinates of each rainfall storm
hydrograph should be reduced (i.e. changed to
UH ordinates) such that each event represents 1
or 1 cm or 1 mm of surface runoff.
5. The final UH is then obtained by averaging a
number of UHs for the specific time duration

Representative UH Complex Storms

Often simple suitable storms are not available. It

is then may be necessary to use complex storms
This requires a separate procedure than that
described previously
If the storm pattern is such that it can be
separated into isolated periods of rainfall, then
UHs can be derived for all the periods using
hydrograph separation
These can be combined in a suitable manner to
obtain a single average UH.
However, complex storm often consists of
consecutive periods of varying rainfall amounts

Representative UH Complex Storms

Methods exist for separating complex storms to

derive unit hydrographs
These methods are beyond the scope of this
course.

Representative UH Uses

Once a representative UH has been

developed from streamflow data for a
watershed, it can be used to estimate runoff
from virtually any rain event.
Methods are used to lag the hydrograph
such that a UH can be adjusted for storms
of any duration.
These methods will be introduced in the
next lecture.