HYDROGRAPH ANALYSIS

River gauging produces discharge (flow) data of a crosssectional area of an outlet point of a watershed
Continuous recording of discharge data with respect to
time will produce a discharge-time (Q-t) relationship of the
watershed
HydrographA record and graphical representation of
discharge (Q) as a function of time (t) at a specific
location, for example, the discharge at a point in a river
or the discharge from a pumping well
Discharge of a river are fluctuated (up and down) due to
the rainfall condition. How river response to rainfall.
The shape of hydrograph is depending on the shape of
the watershed & the rainfall pattern

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Effect of Watershed shape on Hydrograph shape

A

B
B

Q
C

Different shape would produce different Tc

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Natural Hydrograph
A natural hydrograph: An
observed Q-t relationship of a
watershed due to rainfall event
A rainfall event produces a
single hydrograph
A natural hydrograph has
Q(m3/s)
important characteristics:
Rising point (abrupt) (a)
Rising limb (b)
a
Peak flow (c)
Falling limb (d)
Inflection point (e)

Time (hr)
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Main Component of Hydrograph

Direct flow (quick
flow, effective flow)
(Qe)That part of the flood

Effective Rainfall, Pe
i(mm/j)

hydrograph that represents

the fastest response to
rainfall and that is distinct
from the base flow.
Base flow (slow flow)
(Qb)That part of the
stream discharge that is not
Q(m3/s)
attributable to direct runof
from rainfall or melting
snow, it is usually sustained
by groundwater.
Basin lag (tL) The time
diference between the
centroids of rainfall excess
and its corresponding peak
ERT 246 Hydrology
and Water
surface runof produced
in
Resources
the watershed

tL

Indek

Qp
Qe
Baseflow line

QQb
b

t(jam)

Inflection
point

Base flow separation technique

Natural hydrograph consists of two main components, i.e. Direct flow, Qe

(quick flow) & Base flow (slow flow) (Qb).
The quantity of Qe is important to know because it represents the volume flood
and fresh water supply produced by individual rainfall
Therefore it is important to separate the base flow from the total flow
Various techniques.
N
Empirical formula: N = b A 0.2
A = area (km2)
b = constant = 0.8, depending on watershed
characteristics
N = time lag after Qp (day)

Qp

Q(m3/s)
Titik
infleksi

Constant-discharge method
Constant-slope
Master Depletion Curve
Digital filter for continuous hydrograph
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t(jam)

Master depletion curve method

use when the most accurate model of hydrograph recessions is needed
combine data from several recessions to make general recession model
from this an equation of the form can be derived, which gives discharge
at any time after discharge is measured

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Eg. Direct flow and base flow

16

Estimate the volume of direct flow

or fast flow (Qe) of a natural
hydrograph with coordinate below
if the watershed area is 100 Ha.
What is the effective rainfall
depth?
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
t (hr)

0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

12
10
8
Q (m3/s)
6
4

Qt (m3/s) Qb(m3/s) Qe(m3/s)

5
6
9
14
15
10
8
6
5

5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5

0
1
4
9
10
5
3
1
0

Natural Hydrograph

14

2
0
0

a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.

4
5
Time (Hr)

Draw the natural hydrograph

Separate its base flow
Obtain the ordinate of the baseflow (Col 3)
Obtain the ordinate of the Direct flow (Col 4)
Calculate the total depth of direct flow
Compute the total volume of direct flow

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Eg: Total volume of Effective Runoff =

Total Surface area under the curve
16
15
14
12
10
Q (m3/s)

10

10

8
6
5

4
2
0 0
0

III

II

I
1

IV
3

V
4

VI

0
6

Time (hr)

area= I+II+III+IV+V+VI
= (dt)(0+5)+(dt)(5+10)+(dt)(10+15)+(dt)(15+10)+(dt)(10+5)+(dt)(5+0)
= (dt){0+5+5+10+10+15+15+10+10+5+5+0}
=
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16

Natural Hydrograph

14

12

10

Q (m3/s)

Baseflow Separation line

Quick/fast/direct flow

Slow/base flow

0
0

Time (Hr)

Total Volume of direct flow = Total surface area

= Qe * dt
= 33 m3/s * 3600 s
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Unit Hydrograph (UH)

Hydrograph of one unit surface runoff
Unit hydrographThe discharge at a point, expressed
as a function of time, due to a unit of efective rainfall
that is applied uniformly over the contributing area
during a specified period of time (D).
Hydrograph resulted from one unit of efective rainfall
spread uniformly over the watershed for a given
duration
Assumptions:
Efective rainfall is directly proportional to direct
runof
2 Unit Efective rainfall will produce 2 unit
hidrograph
Superposition:
2 efective rainfall successively produce 2
successiveERT
UH
with time lag T
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Why need to establish
Resources Unit Hydrograph?

Establishing UH from Natural

Hydrograph
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Obtain a natural hydrograph from a known effective

rainfall (D) and duration (T)
Separate its base flow
Obtain the ordinate of the direct runoff
Compute the total volume (depth)of the direct runoff
Compute the ordinate of UH by dividing the ordinate of
direct runoff to that the total depth of direct runoff
Plot UH having 3 important parameters, Peak flow(Qp),
Time to peak (Tp), base time (Tb)
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Eg: Unit Hydrograph

Column (1) and (2) is the coordinate
of a natural Hydrograph generated
by 2 hour effective rainfall of 100 Ha
watershed. Establish its Unit
Hydrograph.
t (hr)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Qt (m3/s) Qb(m3/s) Qe(m3/s)

5
6
9
14
15
10
8
6
5

5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5

0
1
4
9
10
5
3
1
0

33
m3/s

UH
(m3/s/cm)
0.00
0.08
0.34
0.76
0.84
0.42
0.25
0.08
0.00

Natural Hydrograph

16
14
12
10
8
Q (m3/s)
6
4
2
0

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4 (Hr)5
Time

12

Eg: Unit Hydrograph

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

6.

Effective rainfall duration, T=2hr

Separate its baseflow (column 3)
Obtain ordinate of the effective
hydrograph (Column 4)
Compute total depth of runoff
(11.88 cm or 11.88 unit)
Compute the ordinate of UH by
dividing the ordinate of direct
runoff to that the total depth of
direct runoff
Plot UH having 3 important
parameters, Peak flow(Qp), base
time (Tb)

2Hr-UH
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
Q (m3/s/cm)

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0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0

Time (hr)

13

Changing the duration of UH

S-Curve method
The established T-UH is not always applicable
because of different duration of effective rainfall
S-Curve: method of deriving a UH for a desired
duration from one of another duration
Eg: 2Hr - UH to 3 Hr-UH
Procedures: An S-curve is constructed from a series of
UH of several T by the simple process of successive
displacement by T and summing up the ordinates

Why need to change the duration of UH?

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Eg: S-Curve method

Convert the 2Hr-UH in the

previous example (page 10) to
3Hr-UH, using S-Curve method
Steps (refer to Table pg.13):
Obtain the ordinate of the
original 2Hr-UH (column 2)
Lagged the 2Hr-UH ordinate
for 2 hours several times (column
3, 4, 5, 6, )
Summing-up all the ordinate
(column 2+3+4+..) to form Scurve ordinate (Column 6)
The plots of the lagged ordinates
and S-curve is shown in Figure.

2.50

S-Curve

Original Ordinate
UH-2Hr

2.00

1st 2Hr lag

Q (m3/s)

1.50
2nd-2Hr lag

1.00

3rd- 2Hr lag

0.50

4th 2-Hr lag

S-Curve Ordinate
(1)+(2)+(3)+

0.00
0

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Time (Hrs)

15

Eg: S-Curve method (cont.)

(1)

(2)

Original
Ordinate UH2Hr

Time(Hr)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

0.00
0.10
0.40
1.19
1.39
0.79
0.40
0.00

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

S-Curve
Ordinate
(1)+(2)+(3
1st 2Hr lag 2nd-2Hr lag 3rd- 2Hr lag 4th 2-Hr lag
)+
0.00
0.10
0.00
0.40
0.10
1.29
0.40
0.00
1.79
1.19
0.10
2.08
1.39
0.40
0.00
2.18
0.79
1.19
0.10
2.08
0.40
1.39
0.40
0.00
2.18
0.00
0.79
1.19
0.10
2.08
0.40
1.39
0.40
2.18
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Eg: S-Curve method (cont.)

Steps (Cont.) (Refer Table on the

right)
Obtain ordinate S-Curve (column
2)
Lagged ordinate S-curve 3 Hrs
(column 3)
Subtract ordinate S-curve to 3Hr
lagged Curve (Column 4=column
2- column 3)
Obtain a new UH-3Hr by
multiplying column 4 with 2/3
(column 5)
Plot the UH-2 Hr and UH-3Hr in
one graph to see the different

(2) (3)

(4)

(5)

S-Curve Lagged S-Curve New UHOrdinate

3Hr
Ordinate
3Hr
SCurve - Lagged
Time(Hr)
Ordinate
3Hrs
0
0.00
0.00
0.00
1
0.10
0.10
0.07
2
0.40
0.40
0.26
3
1.29
0.00
1.29
0.86
4
1.79
0.10
1.69
1.12
5
2.08
0.40
1.69
1.12
6
2.18
1.29
0.89
0.60
7
2.08
1.79
0.30
0.20
8
2.18
2.08
0.10
0.07
9
2.08
2.18
-0.10
-0.07
10
2.18
2.08
0.10
0.07

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2Hr-UH to 3Hr-UH
1.60
1.40
1.20
Q (m3/s)

2Hr-UH
- Qp=1.39
- Tb=7Hrs

2Hr-UH

1.00

3Hr-UH

0.80
0.60

3Hr-UH
- Qp=1.12
- Tb=8.5 hrs

0.40
0.20
0.00
0

Time (Hr)

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Obtaining natural hydrograph from

multiple rainfall from UH
Having UH, natural hydrograph from
multiple rainfall (many rainfall) can be
obtained
Eg. Using 1Hr-UH, obtain natural
hydrograph generated by 4 rainfall
events as shown below
Time (hr)
0
1
2
3
4

Rainfall
(cm)
2.5
4.5
0
1
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Time (hr)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

19

Ordinate
1Hr-UH
0
50
160
225
185
125
80
45
20
0

multiple rainfall from UH

Ordinate 2.5*UH 4.5*UH
Time (hr) 1Hr-UH
0
0
1
50
0
2
160
125
0
3
225
400
225
4
185
562.5
720
5
125
462.5 1012.5
6
80
312.5 832.5
7
45
200
562.5
8
20
112.5
360
9
0
50
202.5
10
0
90
11
0
12
13

0*UH

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0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

1*UH

0
50
160
225
185
125
80
45
20
0
20

Total
(Natural)
0
0
125
625
1282.5
1525
1305
987.5
657.5
377.5
170
45
20
0

4.5
2.5
1.0
0
1800
1600

Q (m3/s)

1400
1200

2.5*UH

1000

4.5*UH
0*UH

800

1*UH

600

Total (Natural)

400
200
0
0

9 10 11 12 13 14

Time (hr)

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Synthetic Unit Hydrograph

D
Tp

250

Qp

200
Q (m 3/s)

A make-up (artificial) UH based

on empirical relationship of key
UH parameters
Not all watersheds has their own
UH
Many watersheds are ungauged
(no flow data)
Many methods: Snyder, SCS,
Epsey
5 important key parameters: Qp
(peak flow), Tp (time to peak),
Tb (base time), D (duration of
rainfall)

150
100

Tb

50
0
0

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4
6
Tim e (hr)

22

10

a. Tempoh mencapai Qp, tp

tp = Ct (L*Lca)0.3
Ct = pekali empirikal (bergantung kepada
kawasan tadahan) 0.2 2.2
L = panjang sungai (km)
Lca = panjang sungai dari titik tumpuan ke pusat
graviti kawasan tadahan
c.g.
Lca

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b.

Tempoh hujan berkesan, tr

tr = tp/5.5

c.

Kadar alir puncak, Qp

Qp
Cp
A
tp

d.

=
=
=
=

Cp A/tp
pekali empirikal = 2.0 6.5
keluasan tadahan (km2)
tempuh puncak

Tempoh aliran dasar (base time), Tb

Tb = 3 + 3 (Tp/24) hari atau Tb = 5 Tp

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Synthetic Unit Hydrograph

(Snyder Method)

Qp = (640 Cp A )/Tp (cfs)

Tp = Ct (L Lc)0.3 (hr)
A = watershed area (mile2)
Tb = 3 + Tp/8 (days)
Cp = storage coefficient (0.4-0.8)
Ct = watershed coefficient (1.8-2.2)
Lc = length along channel to watershed centroid (miles)
L = length of main stream (miles)

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Problem Set
The 30-min Unit Hydrograph for a 2.25 km2 catchment is
given by:
Time

30

60

90

Runo
f
(m3/s
)

1.2

2.8

1.7

a.
b.
c.

12
0
1.4

15
0
1.2

18
0
1.1

21
0
0.9
1

24
0
0.7
4

27
0
0.6
1

30
0
0.5
0

33
0
0.2
8

36
0
0.1
7

39
0
0

Determine the S-hydrograph

Calculate the 40-min unit hydrograph
Verify that the 40-min unit hydrograph correspond to a 1-cm
rainfall excess

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