WATER RESOURCES ENGINEERING

ASSIGNMENT

SUBMITTED BY
RITVIJ BHATI
2K14/CE/078

Assignment 1
Answer 1
FIRM YIELD The yield which corresponds to the worst or most critical year of rainfall on record.
SECONDARY YIELD- Water available in excess of the firm yield during years of higher inflows.
DESIGN YIELD-In order to obtain an agreement, a via media is generally adopted and an
intermediate dependability percentage value, such as 50%-75%, may be used to compute the
value of Design Yield.
Answer 2
RIGID MODULE OUTLET
As the outlet discharge of this type is independent of the difference of water levels of the parent
channel and field channel it is also called rigid module. Modular outlets may be constructed with
movable parts. But then the movable parts are liable to be damaged or choked. Hence, this type is
not used in practice. As a result modular outlets with immovable parts are evolved. They are Foote
module, Spanish module, Khannas module, Gibbs module, etc.
Gibbs module:
It is a modular outlet. Irrigation water is taken through an inlet pipe to a rising pipe. The rising
pipe is in the form of a spiral. Generally, it is semi-circular. The water when flows through it are
turned through 180. During the movement in the rising pipe vortex motion is developed. As the
flow is continuous angular velocity of the flow is same.
Angular velocity = v.r.
Where v is tangential velocity and r is radius of flow.
Obviously, the tangential velocity of flow at inner radius of the rising pipe is greater than that at
outer radius. Also there is centrifugal head impressed on the water. As a result depth of water at
outer radius is more than that at inner radius of the rising pipe.
The rising spiral pipe is connected to an eddy chamber. Figure shows the plan and longitudinal
section of Gibbs module. It gives clear idea about the arrangement of the component parts.

Answer 3
RIVER DRAINAGE WORKS FOR FLOOD CONTROL
1. Embankments:
The floods may be prevented from submerging the country by constructing earth embankments.
They are generally constructed up to a height of 12 m. They are designed and constructed in the
same way as an earth dam. The embankments are generally constructed parallel to the river
channel.
2. Guide Banks or Bells Bunds:
Guide banks are meant for guiding and confining the flow in a reasonable waterway at the site of
the structure. The design of the guide banks is based on the theory developed by Mr. Bells. Hence,
guide banks are also known as Bells bunds. This river training work has been devised from a
study of the natural river channel in alluvial reach.
The river has a tendency to meander over large width of low lying land thereby flooding it
occasionally. But it was observed that the same stream passes through narrow and deep sections
where high and stiff permanent banks are available on either side without appreciable afflux or
abnormal velocity.

The guide banks guide the river flow past a bridge or any other hydraulic structure without causing
damage to the work and its approaches. The guide banks are constructed parallel or
approximately parallel to the direction of flow. They extend both upstream and downstream of the
abutments of the hydraulic structure. The guide banks may be provided on either side of the
hydraulic structure or on one side as required.
3. Bed Pitching and Bank Revetment:
Sometimes to protect the bed and bank against action of water, protection is provided by laying a
closely packed stone blocks or boulders or even concrete blocks. This permanent revetment and
pitching counteracts the general tendency of the water to notch away the material from bed and
banks.
4. Dredging of River:
To improve navigability of the river channel the river section may need to be excavated. This
excavation is carried out to increase the depth of flow even when there is flow m the river. The
process of underwater excavation is termed dredging. The machinery used for the purpose is
called a dredger. Various types of dredgers are in use for example, dipper dredger, grab dredger,
bucket dredger, suction dredger etc. Figure 14.13 (a, b, c, d) shows various types of dredgers.

5. Spurs or Groynes:
They are the structures constructed transverse to the river flow. They extend from the bank into
the river.

Answer 4
Annual Benefits
Irrigation water sold to cultivators at R1. If m cumecs of water is saved per year , then money
saved by lining is mR1.
Lining will also reduce maintenance cost. Let the reduce be of p% of actual rate R2.
Then total annual benefits =mR1+pR2
Annual Costs
Let the total cost of lining be C and design period be y.
And also if r is the annual rate of annual simple interest, the average annual interest may be taken
as (C/2)(r/100).
Thus, total annual costs=(C/y)+(C/2)(r/100)
Therefore

BENEFIT COST RATIO = (Annual Benefits/Annual Cost)

The lining is economical if BCR >1
Answer 5
A drainage system is a system by which water is drained on or in the soil to
enhance agricultural production of crops. It may involve any combination of
stormwater control, erosion control, and watertable control.
Agriculture drainage is mainly of two types..
(1). Surface drainage
(2). Sub Surface Drainage.
However there are some other drainage systems also.
The function of the field drainage system is to control the water table, whereas the function of the
main drainage system is to collect, transport, and dispose of the water through an outfall or
outlet. In some instances one makes an additional distinction between collector and main drainage
systems.
Field drainage systems are differentiated in surface and subsurface field drainage systems.
Sometimes (e.g. in irrigated, submerged rice fields), a form of temporary drainage is required
whereby the drainage system is allowed to function on certain occasions only (e.g. during the
harvest period). If allowed to function continuously, excessive quantities of water would be lost.
Such a system is therefore called a checked, or controlled, drainage system. More usually,
however, the drainage system is meant to function as regularly as possible to prevent
undue waterlogging at any time and one employs a regular drainage system. In literature, this is
sometimes also called a "relief drainage system".
Answer 6
Unit hydrographs used in the analysis should be selected to meet the following desirable features
with respect to the storms responsible for them.
The storms should be isolated storms occurring individually.
The rainfall should be fairly uniform during the duration and should cover the entire catchment
area.
The duration of the rainfall should be 1/5 to 1/3 of the basin lag.
The rainfall excess of the selected storm should be high. A range of ER values of 1.0 to 4.0 cm is
sometimes preferred.
Answer 7
A data depicting the inconsistency of rainfall in India

A few heavy spells of rain contribute nearly 90% of total rainfall.

 While the average annual rainfall of the country is 117 cm, average annual rainfall varies from
10 cm in the western desert to 1100 cm in the North East region.
More than 50%, rain occurs within 15 days and less than 100 hours in a year.
More than 80% of seasonal rainfall is produced in 10- 20% rain events each lasting 1- 3 days.
Answer 9
DRH
The surface runoff hydrograph obtained after the baseflow separation is known as direct runoff
hydrograph (DRH).
UH
A unit hydrograph is defined as the hydrograph or direct runnoff resulting from one unitdepth (1
cm) of rainfall excess occurring uniformly over the basin and at a uniform rate for a specified
duration (D) hours.
SUH
To develop unit hydrographs of catchment detailed information about the rainfall and the resulting
flood hydrograph are needed. However, such information would be available only at a few locations
and in a majority of catchments. In order to construct unit hydrographs for such areas, empirical
equations of regional validity which relate the salient hydrograph characteristics to the basin
characteristics are available.
Unit hydrographs derived from such relationships are known as synthetic-unit hydrographs.
IH
The limiting case of a unit hydrograph of zero duration
is known as instantaneous unit hydrograph,ie.,D0.
Answer 10
STAGE DISCHARGE CURVE
With the exception of few occasions of severe floods the river normally maintains its section and
therefore the stage or water level of the river bears a definite relation with the river discharge. In
practice it is observed that the relation of stage to discharge is usually controlled by a sec ion or
reach of channel below the gauge. It is called station control. It eliminates the effect of all other
downstream conditions on the velocity of flow at the gauge.
The section control may be either natural or constructed. It may consist of a ledge of rock across
the channel, a boulder covered riffle, an overflow weir or any other physical feature capable of
maintaining a fairly stable relation between stage and discharge. Section controls are generally If
low discharges. At medium and high discharges channel control becomes effective. The channel

control consists of all physical features of the channel. These features include the size, shape,
alignment, expansions, constrictions and roughness of the channel.
Making use of the above fact a continuous record of the river discharge at a river gauging station
can be computed from the records of the stage and the stage-discharge rating for the channel.
The stage-discharge ratings at gauging stations are usually determined experimentally from
measurements of discharge and stage.

Answer 11
Depth-Area-Duration Curves:
Once the sufficient rainfall records for the region are collected the basic or raw data can be
analysed and processed to produce useful information in the form of curves or statistical values for
use in the planning of water resources development projects. Many hydrologic problems require an
analysis of time as well as areal distribution of storm rainfall. Depth-Area-Duration (DAD) analysis
of a storm is done to determine the maximum amounts of rainfall within various durations over
areas of various sizes.
The preparation of DAD curves is done in following steps:
1. Examine the rainfall records of the region in which catchment area under consideration is
located. Also consider records of meteorologically similar regions. From it prepare a list of most
severe storms with their dates of occurrence and duration.
2. For the listed severe storms prepare iso-hyetal maps and determine the rainfall values over the
area of each isohyet (rainfall contour).
3. Draw on a graph curves connecting area and rainfall values for different durations say 1 day
rainfall, 2 day rainfall, 3 days rainfall
Answer 12
PMP CURVE
It is the greatest or the extreme rainfall for a given duration that is physically possible over a
raingauge station or a basin. It is that rainfall over a basin which would produce a flood with no
risk of being exceeded

PMP can be statistically estimated as PMP=

are the mean of the annual maximum rainfall series, a frequency factor (that
depends on the statistical distribution of the series, number of years of record, and the return
period) and the standard deviation of the series respectively. K~ 15
Answer 13

Station Year Method

Method based on a combination of records from several independent stations, and their treatment
as a single record, the length of which is equal to the sum of the individual records (used in
frequency analysis).
Answer 16
Its a unit hydrograph where duration of rainfall is 6 hours.

Assignment 2

Answer 2
Max Depth Duration Curve
Once the sufficient rainfall records for the region are collected the basic or raw data can be
analysed and processed to produce useful information in the form of curves or statistical values for
use in the planning of water resources development projects. Many hydrologic problems require an
analysis of time as well as areal distribution of storm rainfall. Depth-Area-Duration (DAD) analysis
of a storm is done to determine the maximum amounts of rainfall within various durations over
areas of various sizes.
Answer 3
SUH
To develop unit hydrographs of catchment detailed information about the rainfall and the resulting
flood hydrograph are needed. However, such information would be available only at a few locations
and in a majority of catchments. In order to construct unit hydrographs for such areas, empirical
equations of regional validity which relate the salient hydrograph characteristics to the basin
characteristics are available.

Unit hydrographs derived from such relationships are known as synthetic-unit hydrographs.

Answer 4
i)

Moving Mean Method

Moving average is a technique for smothering out the high frequency fluctuations of a time
series and enables the trend, if any to be noticed. The basic principle is that a window of
time range 10 years is selected. Starting
From the first set of 10 years of data, the average of the data for m years is calculated and
placed in the middle year of the range m. The window is next moved sequentially one time
unit (year) at a time and the mean of the 10 terms in the window is determined at each
window location. The value of m can be 3 or more years; usually an odd value. Generally,
the larger the size of range m, the greater is the smoothening.

ii)

Station Year Method

Method based on a combination of records from several independent stations, and their
treatment as a single record, the length of which is equal to the sum of the individual
records (used in frequency analysis).

Answer 5
USES
i. The development of flood hydrographs for extreme rainfall magnitudes (for use in the design of
hydraulic structures)
ii. Extension of flood flow records based on rainfall records
Iii. Development of flood forecasting and warning systems based on rainfall
LIMITATIONS
Unit hydrographs assume uniform distribution of rainfall over the catchment and uniform intensity
during the duration of rainfall excess. In practice, these two conditions are never satisfied.
Under conditions of non-uniform areal distribution and variation of in intensity, the unit
hydrograph theory can still be used if the areal distribution is consistent between different storms.
The size of the catchment imposes an upper limit on the applicability of the unit hydrograph
theory (because the center of the storm can vary from storm to storm and each of these storms
can give a different DRH under otherwise identical conditions in very large basins).

 The upper limit for use of the unit hydrograph method is 5000km2
In the case of very large basins, the flood hydrographs can be studied by dividing it into a
number of smaller sub-basins, developing DRHs for these sub-basins by the UH method, and then
routing these DRHs through their respective channels to obtain the composite DRH at the
catchment outlet.
Answer 6
FACTORS AFFECTING DUTY
1) TYPE OF CROP
Different crops have different water requirements.
Hence a crop requiring more water will have less acreage for the same supply of water as
compared to the crop with less water requirements; hence duty of the former would be less.
2) CLIMATE AND SEASONS
Duty includes water lost in evapotranspiration and percolation.
3) USEFUL RAINFALL
If some of rainfall falling can be directly used for irrigation then the duty will increase.
4) TYPES OF SOIL
If permeability of soil is high, percolation would be more and duty will be less.
5) EFFICIENCY OF CULTIVATION METHOD
If method of cultivation is faulty, more water is wasted and hence duty would decrease.

Answer 7
Loss Due to Evaporation:
As canal water is exposed to the atmosphere at the surface, loss due to evaporation is obvious. It
is of course true that in most of the cases evaporation loss is not significant. It may range from
0.25 to 1% of the total canal discharge.
The rate of loss of water in the process of evaporation depends mainly on the following
factors:
i. Temperature of the region,
ii. Prevailing wind velocity of the region,
iii. Humidity,
iv. Area of water surface exposed to the atmosphere.
Generally it is considered that the rate of evaporation loss depends mainly on temperature. It is
not hundred per cent correct. The rate of loss also equally depends on the velocity of wind which
carries vapour from the water surface to the atmosphere. Loss due to evaporation is more for
shallow water depths. Many times it is observed that due to above mentioned factors the rate of
loss due to evaporation does not differ much for day and night periods.
Loss Due to Seepage:

The water lost in seepage may find its way finally into the river valley on enters an aquifer where
it can be utilized again. But many times the seepage water is not recoverable.
The loss due to seepage is the one which is most significant so far as irrigation water loss from a
canal is concerned.
The seepage loss depends mainly on the following factors:
i. Underground water table conditions,
ii. Porosity of the soil,
iii. Physical properties of the canal water for example its temperature and quantity of suspended
load carried by the water (turbidity of water).

Answer 8:
i.)

The velocity in of the water in a irrigation channel and the depth of the flow
decide the flow pattern in the channel. When the depth of flow in the channel is
less than the critical depth (hc), the flow is said to be super-critical flow or
shooting flow or torrential flow. For this type of flow the Froudes number is
greater than 1 i.e. Fe>1.0.
Here Fe=V/(gd)1/2

ii.)

Silt Control in Reservoirs: in order to increase the life of a reservoir, it is

necessary to control the deposition of sediment.
A. Pre-constructing Measure:
A1. The site for the reservoir should be selected in such a way as to exclude the run
off from easily erodible catchment.
A2. the life of the storage reservoir can be increased by building it in stages by first
building the lower portion of the dam and raising it subsequently when some of it
gets silted up.
A3. Building check dams across the river is effective to tackle sedimentation
problem.
A4. Use of vegetation screens help in trapping large amounts of sediment. Flood
water pass through the vegetation screens eventually trapping the coarser parts
from the water thus preventing sedimentation.
A5. Construction of under-sluice openings in the base to facilitate the draining of
silted water from the downstream section of the reservoir.
B. Post-constructing Measures:
B1. Flood water entering the reservoir should be removed as soon as possible since
they contain the maximum concentration of sediment.
B2. The deposited sediment is scoured and disturbed by mechanical means so as to
keep in a moving state, and thus, help in pushing it towards the sluices.
B3. Reduce soil erosion which further helps in bringing sedimentation under control.
Answer 9:

Soil moisture deficiency:

The water required to bring the soil moisture content of a given soil to its filed capacity is
called the field moisture deficiency of soil moisture deficiency.

Time factor:
The ratio of the actual operating period of distributary to the crop period is the time factor of
the distributary.
True Regime:
A channel is said to be in true regime if the following conditions are satisfied:
i. discharge is constant
ii. flow is uniform
iii. silt charge is constant
iv. silt grade is constant
v. Channel is flowing through a material which can be scoured easily as it can be deposited
and is of the same grade as is transported.
Field Capacity:
i. the water content which cannot be drained easily under the action of gravity is called the
field
capacity.
ii. The field capacity of water consists of two parts: capillary water and water retained via
chemical bonds.
Balancing Depth:
For a given cross section of a channel, there can be only one depth, for which a balance
between cutting and filling can be achieved and the depth for which the amount of
excavation equals the amount of filling is called the balancing depth for excavating channels.
Answer 10:
Irrigation area:
The area proposed to be irrigated in any one crop season, or over a given year, is called the
area to be irrigated of irrigation area.
Water course
They are small channels which are excavated and maintained by the cultivators at their own
costs, to take water from the govt.-owned outlet points, provided in the distributary or the
minor.
Irrigation channel:
An irrigation channel is an open channel that transports water in order to irrigate
agricultural land.

Types of irrigation methods used:

I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.

border flooding
Free flooding
check flooding
basin flooding
furrow irrigation channels
sprinkler irrigation
drip irrigation

Answer 11
Darcys law states that the discharge velocity is proportional to the first power of the
hydraulic gradient and is valid only where the flow is laminar.
For Re<1 laminar flow occurs but in most cases the Re value is >1 or even >10 and hence
Darcys law is not valid in such cases. The Re value is greater than 10 in vicinity of pumped
wells and hence Darcys law doesnt apply. Here Re is Reynoldss number
Re=PVD/N
Where, P=density of the liquid, V=velocity of flow, D=Diameter of the flow and N=viscosity
of the fluid.

Answer 12
Phi-Index
I.
II.
III.
IV.

The average rainfall above which the rainfall volume if equal to the runoff volume.
It is derived from the rainfall hyetograph with the knowledge of the resulting runoff
volume.
It is the average infiltration rate.
Rd=

Answer 13
I.
II.
III.
IV.

A canal irrigation system consists of main canal, branch canal, distributaries, minors
and watercourses.
The canal systems are further sourced via rivers and streams of the local areas.
The network formed by such canal irrigation systems is called canal network.
Faults in canal :
Faults in canal lead to losses of water in canals which is of two types:
Evaporation:
The water lost due to evaporation of water from the canal system comes under this
type and generally accounts for 2-3 percent of total losses.
They depend on factors like temperature, wind velocity, humidity, etc.

Seepage: The water lost due to percolation and absorption of water through the soil
layers underground come under this category.
Answer 14
Downstream cutoff walls are provided in dams and other hydraulic structures to prevent
water seepage from the upstream end to the downstream end. The downstream cutoff walls
prevent the building up of excess uplift pressure on the downstream end of the dam thus
protecting it from the seepage flow lines which degrade the subsoil structure leading to
subsidence of hydraulic structures.

Answer 15

Blighs Theory:
According to Bligh, Water from upstream percolates and creeps (or travel) slowly through
weir base and the subsoil below it. The head lost by the creeping water is proportional to
the distance it travels (creep length) along the base of the weir profile. The creep length
must be made as big as possible so as to prevent the piping action. This can be achieved
by providing deep vertical cut-offs or sheet piles.
According to Blighs theory, the total creep length for first drawing: L = B
drawing: L = B + 2(d1 + d2 + d3)

and for second

If H is the total loss of head, then the loss of head per unit length of the creep shall be

Bligh called the loss of head per unit length of creep as Percolation coefficient. The
reciprocal, (L/H) of the percolation coefficient is known as the coefficient of creep C.

Khoslas Theory:
The main principles of this theory are summarized below:
(a)
The seepage water does not creep along the bottom contour of pucca flood as started by
Bligh, but on the other hand, this water moves along a set of streamlines. This steady
seepage in a vertical plane for a homogeneous soil can be expressed by
Laplacian equation:

Where, = Flow potential = Kh; K = the coefficient of permeability of soil as defined by

Darcys law, and h is the residual head at any point within the soil.
The above equation represents two sets of curves intersecting each other orthogonally. The
resultant flow diagram showing both of the curves is called a Flow Net
Stream Lines:
I.
The streamlines represent the paths along which the water flows through the sub
soil.
II.
Every particle entering the soil at a given point upstream of the work, will trace out
its own path and will represent a streamline.
III.
The first streamline follows the bottom contour of the works and is the same as
Blighs path of creep.
IV.

The remaining streamlines follows smooth curves transiting slowly from the outline of
the foundation to a semi ellipse.

V.
VI.

Equipotential Lines:

i.)Treating the downstream bed as datum and assuming no water on thedownstream side, it can
be easily started that every streamline possesses a head equal to h1 while entering the soil;
and when it emerges at the down-stream end into the atmosphere, its head is zero.
ii.) Thus, the head h1 is entirely lost during the passage of water along the streamlines.
iii.) Further, at every intermediate point in its path, there is certain residual head (h) still to be
dissipated in the remaining length to be traversed to the downstream end. This fact is
applicable to every streamline, and hence, there will be points on different streamlines
having the same value of residual head h.
iv.) If such points are joined together, the curve obtained is called an equipotential line.
v.) Every water particle on line AB is having a residual head h = h1, and on CD is having a
residual head h = 0, and hence, AB and CD are equipotential lines.
vi.) Since an equipotential line represent the joining of points of equal residual head, hence if
piezometers were installed on an equipotential line, the water will rise in all of them up to
the same level as shown in figure below.