SULTAN QABOOS UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL AND ARCHITECTURAL

ENGINEERING

CIVL 3066
Engineering Hydrology

Hydrologic Cycle

Dr. Luminda Gunawardhana

Hydrologic Science

Hydrology
Hydro logy

The science of water

Hydrology is the science dealing with the occurrence, distribution,

movement and properties of the earths waters.
Hydrologic Cycle Processes

Precipitation

Evaporation

Transpiration

Infiltration

Groundwater Flow

Surface Runoff

Condensation
Hydrologic Cycle
Where does surface runoff come from?
 Figuring It Out
da Vinci and Palissy (16th cent.)
linked underground water to rainwater
infiltrating into the soil and then to
stream flow

Perrault (French, 17th cent)

measured rainfall in the Seine River
watershed and showed precipitation to
be six times more than the river flow
proving that the source of water in
rivers is precipitation falling on soil
(he didnt take into account
consideration of evapotranspiration or
infiltration)

Halley (English, 1656-1742)

evaporation experiments, investigated
the water balance of the Mediterranean

19th Century
Dalton -Evaporation
Darcy - Groundwater flow
Manning - Open channel flow
 Units

in. of rain falls 10 mm of rain falls

uniformly over 1 sq. mi. uniformly over
What is the equivalent 259 hectares
volume of water? What is the
1ft
0.5 in * * (1mi * 5280 ft/mi )2 equivalent volume
12 in
= 0.0416 ft * 27 ,878 ,400 ft 2
of water?
= 1,161,600 ft 3
8.67 million gallons
 More Units

1 ft = 0.3048 m
1 m3 = 28.3168e-3 ft3
1 m3 = 35.3147 ft3
1 ha = 10,000 m2
1 acre = 43,560 ft2
= 0.4047 ha
= 4047 m2
1 gal = 3.785x10 -3 m3
= 3.785 L
The Watershed or Basin
The Watershed or Basin
The Watershed or 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 (land survey).
Other names: Watershed, Catchment, Basin,
Drainage area
 Watershed Characteristics
Divide

Size
Slope Reservoir

Shape 1 mile Natural

stream

Soil type
Urban

Storage capacity Concrete

channel
The Watershed or Basin

Size
Shape
Watershed Shapes
Soil type Slope
Watershed Shapes
 Watershed Response -Hydrograph
As rain falls over a watershed area, a certain portion will infiltrate
the soil. Some water will evaporate to atmosphere.

Rainfall that does not infiltrate or evaporate is available as

overland flow and runs off to the nearest stream.

Smaller streams then begin to flow and contribute their load to the
main channel.

As accumulation continues, the stream flow rises to a maximum

(peak flow) and a flow moves downstream through the main
channel.

The flow eventually recedes or subsides as all areas drain out.

 Watershed Response -Hydrograph
Tributary

Precipitation over the area

Portion Infiltrates the soil
Portion Evaporates Reservoir

Remainder - Overland Flow Natural

stream

Overland flow - Channel flow

Urban

Final Hydrograph at Outlet

Concrete
channel

T
T
 Watershed Response -Hydrograph

Hydrograph:

It is the hydrologic response of rainfall at the outlet of an area as it is a

plot of discharge in the channel versus time.

Qp = C An , Qp = peak flow, A = watershed area, C & n = regression constants.

Example: (Al-Rawas, Ghazi A. and Valeo, Caterina (2010). Relationship between wadi drainage characteristics
and peak-flood flows in arid northern Oman', Hydrological Sciences Journal, 55: 3, 377 393)
Watershed Example
Residence Time

The residence time, Tr , is the average duration for a water molecule to

pass through a subsystem of the hydrologic cycle.

V
Tr =
Q
where,
V = Volume of Water in storage
Q = Flow Rate

Examples:
Atmosphere : few days
Rivers : about 20 days
Groundwater : hundreds to thousands of years
Glaciers : 10,000 years
Residence Time

Example:
Estimate the residence time of atmospheric moisture

Total atmospheric water = 12,900 km3

Total annual precipitation = 458,000 (Oceans) + 119,000 (Land)

= 577,000 km3/yr

Tr = V/Q
= V/Q = 12,900/577,000 = 0.022 yrs = 8.2 days (on average)

This explains why weather forecasts are not accurate to more than a
few days ahead.
 Residence time:
Global Water Cycle Average travel
time for water
through a
subsystem of the
hydrologic cycle

Tr = S/Q
Storage/flowrate

Principal
sources of
fresh water
for human
activities
(44,800
km3/yr)
 Water Budget

Input (precipitation, groundwater)

Storage
(soil, Output
Surface waters (evapotranspiration
Groundwater) Streamflow,
Groundwater flow)

Mass Balance
Water Balance: Input Output = Change in Storage
Water Budget

Conceptualize the hydrologic system to consist of three parts: the

input, the output, and the transfer function.

Input Transfer Function Output

dS S S 2 S1
I O = I O = =
dt t t 2 t1

P E T F R = S for a time period

Runoff Coefficient

Runoff coefficient can be defined as the ration R/P for any

watershed.

Assuming that infiltration I is a loss from the surface system and a

gain to ground water (this cancels out the overall budget).

Typical units:

Flow rate cfs or m3/s

Time seconds, days, months
Depth in or mm
Area acres, sq mi, sq km
Mannings Equation

A A A

P = Wetted Perimeter Pipe P = Natural Channel

Circum.
An empirical formula for open channel flow, or free-surface flow driven by gravity. It
was first presented by the French engineer Philippe Gauckler in 1867, and later re-
developed by the Irish engineer Robert Manning in 1890. The GaucklerManning
formula states: