Prepared by: Birhanu W.

1
2. Stream flow hydrograph

Hydrological response of a catchment

2
 Hydrograph
 Discharge in a stream plotted against time chronologically is
called Hydrograph
• Depending upon the unit of time involved, we have:
I. Annual hydrographs showing the variation of daily or
weekly or 10 daily mean flows over a year;
II. Monthly hydrographs showing the variation of daily mean
flows over a month;
III. Seasonal hydrographs depicting the variation of the
discharge in a particular season such as the monsoon season
or dry season; and
IV. Flood hydrographs or storm hydrographs is due to a storm
representing stream flow due to a rain fall over a catchment.
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 Hydrograph
• applications, I&II hydrographs are
a) calculating the surface water potential of stream,
b) reservoir studies and
c) drought studies.
applications, III Flood hydrographs are essential in
analyzing stream characteristics associated with
floods.
• A study of the annual hydrographs of streams
enables one to classify streams into three classes as
(i) perennial, (ii) intermittent and (iii) ephemeral.
4
 Cont…

Typical annual Hydrograph

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 Types of Streams
Hydrograph is a result of a particular effective Perennial rivers
rainfall hyetograph as modified by basin flow
characteristics.

• Perennial stream is one which always caries some

flow, there is considerable amount of groundwater
flow throughout the year.
• Even during dry seasons the water table will be able
to reach the bed of the stream.
• Intermittent stream has limited contribution from
Ephemeral the groundwater.
• During the wet season the water table is above the
streambed and there is a contribution of the base
flow to the stream flow. which can produce a short-
duration flow, the stream remains dry for the most
part of the dry months.
• Ephemeral stream is one, which does not have any
base-flow contribution.
• The annual hydrograph of such a river show series
of short duration peaks marking flash flows in 6
response to storms.
 tc

tp

7
 Base Flow Separation
Total runoff consists of direct runoff and base flow.
There are several methods of base flow
separation:
• Straight-line method
• Fixed base (Concave )Method
• Constant slope method
• Variable slope Method IV

8
Method description

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 Description of the Methods
• Method 1- for preliminary analysis
Tangential drawing for both rising and recession limb

• Method 2 - mostly used

Use of the equation to find Point E, and connecting to point D (extension
of the initial base flow contribution up to the peak)

• Method 3
Connecting point A and E

• Method 4- mostly for significant & immediate contributing base flow

geology
I is the inflection point
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 Factors Affecting Runoff
Physical characteristics: Climatic Characteristics:
Basin characteristics 1. Storm characteristics:
• shape precipitation: intensity, duration,
• size magnitude and movement of
• slope storms
• nature of the valley 2. Initial losses
3. Evapotranspiration
• elevation
• drainage density
Channel characteristics:
Infiltration characteristics • cross-section,
• land use and cover •roughness and storage capacity
• soil type and geological
conditions
• lakes, swamps and other 11
storages
 2.1Unit Hydrograph
• It is flood hydrograph resulted from unit depth of rain
fall excess of certain duration over uniformly
distributed rain fall.
• It is a the unit pulse response function of a linear
hydrologic system
• First proposed by Sherma (1932)
• Unit hydrograph is simple linear model that can be used
to drive the hydrograph resulting from any amount of
excess rain fall.
• The unit hydrograph is a “transfer” mechanism for
transforming excess precipitation into stream flow.
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 Unit Hydrograph Principles
 Time invariant; the effective rainfall-surface
runoff relationship does not change with Time.
Irrespective of when it happens ,D hr UH of a
catchment is invariant.
 Linear response the base of the DRH will be the
same as that of the unit hydrograph
 Law of superposition
• If there is a continuous storm and/or isolated
storms of uniform intensity net rain, the ordinates
added with the appropriate time lag to get the
combined hydrograph.
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 The basic assumption constitute the
foundation for UHG
The excess rain fall has a constant intensity
with in the effective duration
The effective rainfall is uniformly distributed
through out the catchment
The base time (duration) of direct runoff
hydrograph resulting from an excess rainfall
of given duration is constant.
The ordinates of all direct runoff hydrographs
of a common base time are directly Propo-
rtional to the total amount of direct runoff
represented by each hydrograph.
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Law of proportionality

Law of superposition

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 Uses of UH
• Computation of flood hydrograph for design of
structure(PMP/PMF)
• Flood forecasting and extension of flow records at
a site.
• Comparing the catchment characteristic

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 Application of UH
 The development of flood
hydrograph for extreme rainfall
magnitudes for use in design of
hydraulic structures

 Extension of flood-flow
records based on rainfall
records
 The development of flood
forecasting and warning
systems based on rainfall.
 Collect, transfer, analyze and
forecast flood data in order to
maximize warning time for
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occupants
 Application of UH
• From a unit hydrograph of a known duration to
obtain a unit hydrograph of the desired duration,
either by the S-curve method or by the principle
of superposition.
• From the unit hydrograph so derived, to obtain
the flood hydrograph corresponding to a single
storm or multiple storms.
• For design purposes, a design storm is
assumed, which with the help of unit
hydrograph, gives a design flood hydrograph.

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 Limitation of UH
• The maximum area UH could be applicable is up to
[Link] this the basic assumption of UH
,having uniformly distributed rain fall over the
catchment may be violated.
• The application of UH is not suitable for long basin
• The lower limit for application of UH should be
preferably more than 2 km2
• When larger portion of the basin is covered with snow
UH theory should not be applied
• UH should not be derived from a catchment where
large storage exist
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2.2.1 Derivation of UH from single storm
• Ideally UH are derived from simple isolated storm
• Collect the rain fall data preferably have nearly
equal duration of storm
• Separate base flow and find DR
• Determine the depth

• The ordinate for UH is obtain by dividing the

ordinate of surface hydrograph to the effective
runoff 20
 Derivation of the TUH
from Single Storms
1. the rainfall records are scanned to find a storm of desired duration that gives a fairly
uniform distribution in time and space. The hyetograph of this storm is constructed using
a convenient uniform interval of time.
2. Separate the base flow from the hydrograph
3. determined the depth of the surface runoff as a depth unit , d
4. divided the ordinates of the direct runoff hydrograph by the depth d
5. check the derived UH area to be unity. (the enclosed volume is equivalent to unit
effective rainfall over the area of catchment).

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Example: The runoff data at a stream gauging station for a flood are given below. The drainage
area is 40 km2. The duration of rainfall is 3 hours. Derive the 3-hour unit hydrograph for the basin
and plot the same.

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Solution

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 UH from complex storm
• On events of non availability of isolated storm
producing single peaked hydrograph of a basin, the
available complex storm have to be used.
• The procedure of deriving a storm hydrograph from
an excess rainfall hyetograph using a given unit
hydrograph
1) Multiply unit hydrograph ordinates by rainfall
excess.
2) Lag by the duration of unit hydrograph.
3) Add.
• Add and lag multiple hydrographs in sequence to
obtain storm hydrographs
• The discrete convolution equation allows the
computation of direct runoff for excess rainfall Pm and
the unit hydrograph 24
Method I . Convolution Method

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• Rain fall records R1,R2,R3… varying excess
rain fall but duration of D-hr in(ERH
divided it to D block each).
• The rain fall excess in each D-h duration is
then operate up on the UH successively to
get the various DRH curve)
• Take the complex hydrograph and plot ERH
by separating base flow. The discharge is
taken at D-h interval Q1,Q2,Q3….
• Let the UH ordinate be U1,U2,U3…
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 Example 2.2:
Find the half-hour unit hydrograph using the excess rainfall
hyetograph and direct runoff hydrograph given in the table.
Time (1/2hr) Excess Rainfall Direct Runoff
Solution. (in) (cfs)
1 1.06 428
The ERH and DRH in table have 2 1.93 1923
M=3 and N=11 pulses 3 1.81 5297
respectively. 4 9131
5 10625
Hence, the number of pulses in
6 7834
the unit hydrograph is N- 7 3921
M+1=11-3+1=9. 8 1846
9 1402
Substituting the ordinates of the
10 830
ERH and DRH into the equations
11 313
in table yields a set of 11 27
simultaneous equations.
 Q1 428
U1    404 cfs / in
P1 1.06
Q2  P2U1 1,928  1.93x404
U1    1,079 cfs / in
P1 1.06
Q  P U  P U 5,297  1.81x404  1.93x1,079
U3  3 3 1 2 2   2,343 cfs/in
P1 1.06

9,131 1.81x1,079  1.93x2,343

U4   2,506cfs /in
1.06
10,625  1.81x2,343  1.93x2,506 7,834  1.81x2,506  1.93x1,460
U5   1,460 cfs/in U6   453 cfs/in
1.06 1.06
3,921 1.81x1,460  1.93x453 1,846  1.81x453  1.93x381
U7   381cfs/in U8   274 cfs/in
1.06 1.06

1,402  1.81x381 1.93x274

U9   173 cfs /in
1.06
Unit hydrograph
n 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Un (cfs/in) 404 1,079 2,343 2,506 1,460 453 381 274 173
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Method II. Using matrix

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 2.3 Changing duration of UH
• There are two methods to change duration of UH
1. By superposition method
2. By S-Curve method
[Link] position method
The principle of superposition is applied…
U(T1,t)⇒U(T2,t)
U(T1,t) refers( 1/T1 )Unit depth of excess rain fall intensity
for T1 duration
U(T2,t) refers( 1/T2) Unit depth of excess rain fall intensity
for T2 duration
If T1 is multiple of T2
Example if T2=3T1 (T1is one) then obtain the ordinate by
superposition of three U(T1,t) Shifted/lagged by
T1time 30
• That is U(T1,t) ,U(T1,t-T1), U(T1,t-2T1)the
cumulative depth will be 3unit depth forT2
duration.
• By applying proportionality law divide the depth
by 3 unit and obtain unit depth ordinate for T2

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Time(hr) 1-h UH Lagged 1-h Lagged 2-h 2-h UH 3-h UH
0 0 0 0
1 100 0 50 33.3333
2 200 100 0 150 100
3 400 200 100 300 233.333
4 800 400 200 600 466.667
5 700 800 400 750 633.333
6 600 700 800 650 700
7 500 600 700 550 600
8 400 500 600 450 500
9 300 400 500 350 400
10 200 300 400 250 300
11 100 200 300 150 200
12 0 100 200 50 100
0 100 0 33.3333
0 0 0
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 Example 2.4:

• The above table show ordinate of 3-hr unit hydrograph

prepare 6hr UH for the catchment

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Do for 9 hr UH for the catchment 34
 S-Curve method
• S curve is a hydrograph produced by a continues
effective rainfall at a constant rate for an infinite period.
• It is a curve obtained by summation of an infinite serious
of X hr UH’s spaced X-hr
• The curve is very steep initially and reaches equilibrium
Qp=2.78A/D
The S-curve is computed using the following scheme:
S1 = u1
S2 = u1+u2 = u2+S1
S3 = u1+u2+u3 = u3 +S2
Sn = u1+u2+u3+…+un = un+Sn-1
So, generally;
Si = ui+Si-1 for i = 1,…,n
Si = Si-1 for i >n
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S-CURVE 36
 Steps to convert X hr UH to Y hr UH
1. Determine X hr S curve hydrograph. The X hr S-
hydrograph is derived by cumulative of infinite X
hr UH ordinate at interval of equal to X hr
2. Lag X hr S-hydrograph by a time interval equal to
Y hr
3. Subtract ordinates of the two previous S-
hydrograph
4. Multiply the resulting hydrograph ordinate by
X/Y to obtain the Y-hr unit hydrograph

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 Example 2.5:
• A 4 hr UH ordinate are given below . if 2hr 6 hr
and 12 hr of unit hydrograph is required for
convolution determine using S- curve
Time 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 2

Q(m3/s) 0 30 110 170 210 180 110 80 40 35 30 15 5 0

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 S-curve S-curve lagged lagged
additio ordinat lagg by Diff. by Diff. by
Time O-4h n e(4-hr) 2hr X(4/2) 6hr X(4/6) 12hr
0 0 0 0 0.0
2 30 30 0 60 10.0
4 110 0 110 30 160 36.7
6 170 30 200 110 180 0 66.7
8 210 110 320 200 240 30 96.7
10 180 200 380 320 120 110 90.0
12 110 320 430 380 100 200 76.7 0
14 80 380 460 430 60 320 46.7 30
16 40 430 470 460 20 380 30.0 110
18 35 460 495 470 50 430 21.7 200
20 30 470 500 495 10 460 13.3 320
22 15 495 510 500 20 470 13.3 380
24 5 500 510 510 0 495 5.0 430
510 510 510 0 500 3.3 460
505 510 510 0 510 0.0 470
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 S-curve
S-curve ordinate(3- lag by Diff.
Time O-3h addition hr) 6hr X(3/6)
0 0 0 0
3 1.5 0 1.5 0.75
6 4.5 1.5 6 0 3
9 8.6 6 14.6 1.5 6.55
12 12 14.6 26.6 6 10.3
15 9.4 26.6 36 14.6 10.7
18 4.6 36 40.6 26.6 7
21 2.3 40.6 42.9 36 3.45
24 0.8 42.9 43.7 40.6 1.55
27 43.7 43.7 42.9 0.4
30 43.7 43.7 43.7 0
33 43.7 43.7 43.7 0
Example 2 of superposition
Using S curve example of superposition 40
 Exercise 1:
• Ordinate of an1-hr unit hydrograph at 1-hr
interval are 0,5,8,5,3,and1m3/s calculate
Watershed area coverage by the UH
S-Curve hydrograph derived from this unit
hydrograph
3-hr unit hydrograph
Hint
𝑼𝑯∗𝒕∗𝟔𝟎∗𝟔𝟎
1 cm =
A∗10^4

41
Exercise 2:
•The ordinates of a 4-hour unit hydrograph for a particular
basin are given below. Derive the ordinates of (i) the S-
curve hydrograph, and (ii) the 2-hour unit hydrograph, and
plot them, area of the basin is 630 km2.
Time (hr) Discharge (m3/s)
0 0
2 25
4 100
6 160
8 190
10 170
12 110
14 70
16 30
18 20
20 6
22 1.5
24 0 42
2.4 Instantaneous Unit Hydrograph
 UH are named according to their duration of rain
fall excess.
 As the value of duration decrease the UH become
more skewed
 In limiting case the duration of rain fall excess of
1cm/mm/in becomes infinitesimally small the
resulting UH is called IUH
 IUH is a fictitious, conceptual UH which represent
the direct run off from the catchment due to an
instantaneous ppt of the 1unit rain fall excess
43
Important properties of IUH

44
 2.5 Un-gauge catchment
• To develop UH to a catchment require detail
information about the rainfall and the resulting
flood hydrograph .
• How ever such information may not be available
due to technically or economically pertaining
reasons.
• In order to construct UH for such area empirical
equations w/c relates the salient hydrograph
characteristics and basin characteristics are
available
• UH derived from such cases are known as
Synthetic UH
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• Deriving a unit hydrograph for an un-gauged requires a
relation between the physical geometry of the area and the
resulting hydrographs.
• Basin characteristics formulas usually pertain to time of
peak, peak flow, and time base of the unit
hydrograph.
• When these features are established, the hydrograph can
be sketched to provide the necessary unit volume.
• Synthetic unit hydrographs, once developed for a watershed
area, can be used with historical or design rainfalls to
produce storm hydrographs at the outlet of the watershed.
• As the watershed changes over time, the UH can be
updated to better represent land use and channel alterations.
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 Synthetic-UH
Unit Hydrograph:
developed from rainfall and stream flow data on a watershed applies
only for that watershed and for the point on the stream where the
stream flow data were measured.
Synthetic Unit Hydrograph:
Synthetic unit hydrograph procedures are used to develop unit
hydrographs for other locations on the stream in the same watershed
or for nearby watersheds of a similar character.
There are three types of synthetic unit hydrograph:
Those relating hydrograph characteristics (peak flow rate, base
time, etc.) to watershed characteristics. (Snyder, 1938)
Those based on a dimensionless unit hydrograph. (Soil
Conservation Service, 1972)
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Those based on models of watershed storage. (Clark, 1943)
Synthetic unit hydrograph can be derived
[Link]’s Method
•Based on large number of catchment in Applaloachian high
land of east United State a set of empirical equation. Developed
for those area with some modification these equation can be
used for many countries.
•With some modification applicable to many other country. Con
• Snyder ‘s Synthetic Unit Hydrograph
•Lag time ; the time difference between centroid of ERH and
DRH.
The mean travel time of water from all parts of the catchment to
the basin outlet for a storm
•The Snyder’s equation relates the basin lag tp ,to the of unit
hydrograph to the basin characteristic.
•ERH duration related to the catchment lag time by
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 Ct =regional constant representing of basin
t p  Ct LLc 
tp 0.3
tr  slope and storage
5.5 L=length of the main stream from the outlet
tr =Snyder standard duration
to the divide
Lc=length along the main stream to a point
nearest the watershed centroid

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 Qp=peak discharge of the unit hydrograph (m3/s),
2.78c p A A =drainage area (km2),
Qp  Cp=storage coefficient ranging from 0.4 to 0.8where the
tp larger
values of Cp are associated with smaller values of Ct

If non standard duration is considered the lag time

is affected so need modification
2.78c p A
t  t p  0.25(t r ´t r ) then , Q p 
'
p
tp'
Linsly et al (1958) proposed
CtL and n are basin constants. (n= 0.38 and CtL = 1.715, 1.03, 0.50 for
mountainous, foot-hill and valley drainages of USA) Standard
duration of effective rainfall, tr (in hours)

50
This equation gives reasonable estimates of time base for large
catchments; it may give excessively large values of time base for
small catchments. Taylor and Schwartz recommend
5.556
𝑇𝑏 = Whre Tb is base time and qp is specific discharege
𝑞𝑝
To assist in the sketching of unit hydrographs,

2.14 W50 = width of unit hydrograph in hour at 50% peak.D

𝑊50 = 1.08
𝑞′ W75 = width of unit hydrograph in hour at 75% peak .D
q = Qp/A = peak discharge per unit
1.22 catchment area in m /s/km
3 2

𝑊50 = 1.08
𝑞′

51
52
 Example 2.6:
• For a basin of 198km2 ,construct a 4 hr unit
hydrograph from the following data.

• The length of the main channel=21km

• Length from the centroid to the out let of the

basin along the stream=12km

• Ct for the neighboring catchment if found to be

1.5 and take Cp as 0.59
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Solution
t p  Ct LLc  =1.5*(21.6*11.2)0.3=7.78h
0.3

tp
tr  = 7.8/5.5=1.41=4h
5.5
Since the desire duration of rain fall excess is 4hr tp’
t 'p  t p  0.25(t r ´t r ) =7.78+0.25(4-1.41)=8.42h
2.78c A 3/s
then , Q 
p
t '
p
= (2.78*0.59*198)/8.42=38.57m
p

q = Qp/A = 38.57/198= 0.1948m3/s/km2

5.556 =28 h
𝑇𝑏 =
𝑞𝑝

54
 2.14 ⇒2.14/(0.1948)1.08 =12 h
𝑊50 = 1.08
𝑞′

1.22 ⇒1.22/1.75 = 7.7 h

𝑊50 = 1.08
𝑞′
Synder’s UH
45

40

35

30

25

20

15

10

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30

55
 Example 2.7:
• UH is to be developed for Ungauged catchment for
which there is no information of any kind. An
adjoining catchment is thoroughly gauged. It has 3-
hr UH with peak of 140m3/s appearing 37 hr from
the start of rain fall excess. Determine the Snyder’s
coefficient of the hydrograph to be used for the
adjoining un gauged catchment for formulation of 3
hr UH
• Area basin (gauged ) 2718km2
• length along the river 148km
• Centroid length along the river 76km
56
Solution
• Rain fall excess tr=3hr
• Time to peak from beginning of storm=37h
• 37=tr/2+tp ⇒tp’=35.5h
tp
t  t p  0.25(tr ´t r )  35.5  t p  0.25(3 
'
p )
5.5
 36.4h 2.78c p A
then , Q p 
t p  Ct LLc  tp'
0.3

36.4 35.5 x140

Ct  0.3
 2.22 cp   0.658
(148 x76) 2.78 x 2718
Therefore can be Ct=2.22,Cp=0.658 taken for adjoining
un-gauged catchment to drive 3h synthetic UH 57
2. SCS Dimension less UH method
• The dimension less UH used by SCS was
developed by Victor Mockus
• The unit hydrographs were averaged and the final
product was made dimensionless by considering the
ratios of q/qp (flow/peak flow) on the ordinate axis
and t/tp (time/time to peak) on the abscissa.
• Thus if qp and tp are known, the entire UH can be
constructed from the standard ratio between q/qp
&t/tp

58
• UH were evaluated for large number of actual
water shed and made dimensionless by dividing all
discharges ordinate by peak discharge all time by
the time to peak. Average of this UH was
computed.
• the time base of dimensionless UH was
approximately 5 times the time to peak and 3/8
of the total volume occurred before the time to
peak.
• the inflection point on the recession limb occurred
approximately 1.7 times the time to peak
• The curvilinear UH can be approximated by
triangular UH that has similar characteristics
59
60
 Dimensionless UH(SCS)
The figure shows a dimensionless hydrograph, prepared from the unit
hydrographs of variety of watersheds. The values of qp and Tp may be estimated
using a simplified model of triangular unit hydrograph.
SCS suggests the time of recession may be approximated as
1.67Tp(triangular).As the area under the unit hydrograph should
be equal to a direct runoff of 1 cm
Tp = peak time, hr
CA qp = peak discharge, m3/[Link]
qp 
Tp c = 2.08
A = the drainage area, [Link].

tr
Tp   tp
2
61
 Example 2.8:
• Obtain a 30 min UH for a basin of [Link] the
time concentration can be taken as 2.5 h
Solution
• The rain fall excess 30min⇒0.5hr
• Tp=tr/2+tl
• Where tl=o.6tc 1.5h
• Tp=1.75
• Qp=2.08*A/tp=14.84m3/s
• the multiply the peak with the SCS standard
values to get the synthetic UH
62
63
 SCS Dimensionless UH
16.0

14.0

12.0

10.0

8.0

6.0

4.0

2.0

0.0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

64
‘’

65
66
SCS Example 2.9:
Let's look at an example of the computations. The
pertinent data for a watershed is given in the table
below: Develop a 1-hour unit hydrograph using the
SCS method and the SCS lag equation for lag time.
Use the triangular approach for the final shape.

Average Slope 1.34%

67
• SOLUTION
• The value S is 1000/CN - 10 which is found to be 1000/70 -
10 = 4.28.

Compute a lag time of 4.8 hours with the above equation.

The time to peak would now be found from:
where D = the duration which was given as 1 hour.
Therefore, the time to peak = 1/2 + 4.8 = 5.3 hours.
• The peak flow would now be obtained from:
• And would be computed as 8,218 cfs/inch.
Recall that A is the drainage area and Q = 1 inch.

• The time base would be 2.67 x 5.3 hours = 14.15 hours.

• The triangular unit hydrograph would now be:

68
69
 Flow Duration Curves(FDC)
Flow-duration curves display the relationship between stream
flow and the percentage of time it is exceeded or equaled.
FDC can be used for:

[Link] the percentage of time a stream flow

will provide adequate dilution for industrial wastes
or sewage,
[Link] the feasibility of hydropower stations
[Link] irrigation and water supply capacities
[Link] environmental flow requirements
70
 Constructing FDC
Step 1: Sort (rank) average daily discharges for period of record from the
largest value to the smallest value, involving a total of n values.

Step 2: Assign each discharge value a rank (M), starting with 1 for the
largest daily discharge value.

Step 3: Calculate exceedence probability (P) as follows:

P = 100 * [ M / (n + 1) ] … plotting position.

P = the probability that a given flow will be equaled or exceeded (% of

time)
M = the ranked position on the listing (dimensionless)
n = the number of events for period of record (dimensionless)
71
 Hydrology of Ungagged Catchments
Regionalization
is the process of transferring information from comparable
/similar catchments to the catchment of interest.

1. spatial proximity
this method is based on the rationale that catchments that
are close to each other will likely have a similar runoff
regime since climate and catchment conditions will often only
vary marginally in space. Can only be used in the presence
of a nearby gauged catchment.
2. similarity of catchment characteristic
(can be used in many range of catchments)

72
73
 Regional Estimation Methods
1. Areal Ratios
For ungauged sites, rough estimates of the mean annual flow
can be made from nearby gauged sites simply by adjusting for
the difference in area,

where
• x1 mean annual flow (volume units) for the ungauged site, x2
mean annual flow (volume units) for the gauged site,

• A1 and A2 are the areas of the ungauged and gauged

catchments, respectively and,
• a is a coefficient mostly less than 1
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 2. Multiple Regression Analysis
estimating stream flow measures from relationships between gauged data and
measures obtained from maps or field measurements.
• Some of the factors which have been considered include: catchment area, channel
slope, drainage density, elevation, stream length, mean annual precipitation, mean
summer air temperature and percentage of the area covered by forest, swamps,
lakes or permeable rock
Many of the factors are intercorrelated, and often the equation is ‘boiled down’ to a
few representative variables such as catchment area, precipitation and
hydrogeology.
• A regression analysis provides insight about which factors have the most influence on
flow attributes.
The coefficients obtained will be specific to the hydrologically homogeneous area
from which they were derived. Their reliability for predicting ungauged flow
parameters can be tested by collecting a range of actual stream flow measurements at
an ungauged the site.

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 …Regression
For example, in a study of 81 catchments smaller than 250 km2 in southeastern
Victoria, Australia, Gan et al. (1990) found that a regression equation based on
catchment area and mean annual rainfall explained 97% of the variance in mean
annual stream flows. The equation they established was

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 3. FDC method
1. Plot flow duration curves for the “similar” gauged sites.
2. From the flow duration curves, develop parametric flow duration
curves
(flow is plotted against the average annual runoff, R or annual
discharge, Q at the respective gages for several exceedence interval
percentages. A separate curve is developed for each exceedence
interval used. A correlation analysis is then performed to obtain the
best-fitting curve for the data taken from the measured records of
stream flow.)

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 For the ungauged catchment
With the AVERAGE ANNUAL RUNOFF DISCHARGE estimate
it is possible to enter the parametric flow duration curve
and determine values of flow for different exceedence
percentages for which the parametric flow duration curve
has been developed.

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 Example 2.10:
A drainage basin has a power plant site located at the mouth
of the catchment. An upstream reservoir regulates the flow at
the upper portions of the drainage. The area of the hydrologic
map representative of the drainage basin below the reservoir
has been planimetered and given in table A below. A runoff
coefficient for the basin on the annual basis is 0.65. The
historic monthly flows of a nearby stream gauge on the
downstream side of the stream are presented in table B. The
gauge records are considered to be a good representation of
seasonal variation of runoff for the un-gauged portion of the
river drainage basin. The outflows from the reservoir are
given in table C. Using the information provided compute the
river flow at its mouth that would be useful for the
hydropower study. Scale of the isohyetal map is 1:400,000.
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Solution

Step 2: Compute yearly runoff from the representative gauge

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Step 4 & 5: Compute the flow duration curve

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The firm flow = 1.32 m3/sec

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Thank You !!!

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