CVS 348: ENGINEERING HYDROLOGY

CHAPTER 8: FLOOD ROUTING

8.1. Introduction
 Flood routing is the technique of determining the flood hydrograph at a section of a river by utilizing the data of flood
flow at one or more upstream sections.
 The hydrologic analysis of problems such as flood forecasting, flood protection, reservoir design and spillway design
invariably include flood routing.
 In these applications two broad categories of routing can be recognized. These are:
1) Reservoir routing and,
2) Channel routing.

Reservoir routing
 In reservoir routing the effect of a flood wave entering a reservoir is studied.
 Knowing the volume-elevation characteristic of the reservoir and the outflow-elevation relationship for the spillways and
other outlet structures in the reservoir, the effect of a flood wave entering the reservoir is studied to predict the
variations of reservoir elevation and outflow discharge with time.
 This form of reservoir routing is essential
i. In the design of the capacity of spillways and other reservoir outlet structures, and
ii. In the location and sizing of the capacity of reservoirs to meet specific requirements.

Channel routing
 In channel routing the change in the shape of a hydrograph as it travels down a channel is studied.
 By considering a channel reach and an input hydrograph at the upstream end, this form of routing aims to predict the flood
hydrograph at various sections of the reach.
 Information on the flood-peak attenuation and the duration of high water levels obtained by channel routing is of
utmost importance in flood-forecasting operations and flood-protection works.

o A variety of routing methods are available and they can be broadly classified into 2 categories as:
 Hydrologic routing, and
 Hydraulic routing.
o Hydrologic-routing methods employ essentially the equation of continuity.
o Hydraulic methods on the other hand, employ the continuity equation together with the equation of motion of
unsteady flow. The basic differential equations used in the hydraulic routing, known as St. Venant equations afford a
better description of unsteady flow than hydrologic methods.

8.2. Basic Equations

 The passage of a flood hydrograph through a reservoir or a channel reach is an unsteady-flow phenomenon.
 It is classified in open-channel hydraulics as gradually varied unsteady flow.
 The equation of continuity used in all hydrologic routing as the primary equation states that the difference between the
inflow and outflow rate is equal to the rate of change of storage, i.e.

……………………………………………………………. (8.1)
Where I = inflow rate, Q = outflow rate and S = storage.
 Alternatively, in a small time ∆t the difference between the total inflow volume and total outflow volume in a reach is
equal to the change in storage in that reach:

……………………………………………………………… (8.2)
Where = average inflow in time ∆t, = average outflow in time ∆t and = change in storage.
 By taking
, , . With suffixes 1 and 2 to denote the beginning and end
of time interval ∆t, Equation 8.2 is written as:

……………………………… (8.3)
 The time interval ∆t should be sufficiently short so that the inflow and outflow hydrographs can be assumed to be straight
lines in that time interval. Further ∆t must be shorter than the time of transit of the flood wave through the reach.
 In the differential form the equation of continuity for unsteady flow in a reach with no lateral flow is given by:
1
 ……………………………………..……… (8.4)
Where T = top width of the section and y = depth of flow
 The equation of motion for a flood wave is derived from the application of the momentum equation as:

……………………….. (8.5)
Where V = velocity of flow at any section, S0 = channel bed slope and Sf = slope of the energy line.
 The continuity equation (Eqn 8.4) and the equation of motion (Eqn 8.5) are commonly known as St. Venant equations.

8.3. Reservoir Routing/Level Pool routing/ Hydrologic storage routing

 A flood wave I(t) enters a reservoir provided with an outlet such as a spillway.
 The outflow is a function of the reservoir elevation only, i.e. Q = Q (h).
 The storage in the reservoir is a function of the reservoir elevation, S = S (h).
 Further, due to the passage of the flood wave through the reservoir, the water level in the reservoir changes with time, h =
h (t) and hence the storage and discharge change with time (Fig. 8.1).

Fig. 8.1: Storage routing (Schematic)

 If an uncontrolled spillway is provided in a reservoir, typically:

Where H = head over the spillway, Le = effective length of the spillway crest and Cd = coefficient of discharge.

 For reservoir routing, the following data have to be known:

i. Storage volume vs elevation for the reservoir;
ii. Water-surface elevation vs outflow and hence storage vs outflow discharge;
iii. Inflow hydrograph, I = I(t); and
iv. Initial values of S, I and Q at time t = 0.
 There are a variety of methods available for routing of floods through a reservoir. All of them use Eqn 8.2 but in
various rearranged manners.
 As the horizontal water surface is assumed in the reservoir, the storage routing is also known as Level Pool Routing.
 Two commonly used semi-graphical methods and a numerical method are described below.

8.3.1. Modified Pul’s Method

 Equation (8.3) is rearranged as:

………………………………….. (8.6)
 At the starting of flood routing, the initial storage and outflow are known.
 In Eq. (8.6) all the terms in the LHS are known at the beginning of a time step ∆t. Hence the value of the function

at the end of the time step is calculated by Eq. (8.6). Since the relation S = S (h) and Q = Q (h)

are known, will enable one to determine the reservoir elevation and hence the discharge at the end of the

time step. The procedure is repeated to cover the full inflow hydrograph.
2
 For practical use in hand computation, the following semigraphical method is very convenient:
1. From the known storage-elevation and discharge data, prepare a curve of
vs elevation (Fig. 8.2). Here

∆t is any chosen interval, approximately 20 to 40% of the time of rise of the inflow hydrograph.
2. On the same plot prepare a curve of outflow discharge vs elevation (Fig. 8.2).
3. The storage, elevation and outflow discharge at the starting of routing are known.

Fig. 8.2: Modified Pul’s method of storage routing

For the first time interval ∆t, and are known and hence by Eq. (8.6) the term

is determined.
4. The water-surface elevation corresponding to
is found by using the plot of step (1). The outflow
2 ∆t is found from plot of step (2).
discharge Q at the end of the time step

5. Deducting Q2∆t from for the beginning of the next time step.
gives
6. The procedure is repeated till the entire inflow hydrograph is routed.

Example 8.1
A reservoir has the following elevation, discharge and storage relationships:

When the reservoir level was at 100.50 m, the following flood hydrograph entered the reservoir.

Route the flood and obtain;

3
 i. The outflow hydrograph and,
ii. The reservoir elevation vs time curve during the passage of the flood wave.
Solution
A time interval ∆t = 6 h is chosen. From the available data the elevation-discharge-
table is prepared.
6
∆t = 6 x 60x 60 = 0.0216 x10 s

A graph of Q vs elevation and vs elevation is prepared (Fig. 8.2). At the start of routing, elevation = 100.50
3
m, Q = 10.0 m /s, and

. Starting from this value of , Eq. (8.6) is used to get

at the end of
first time step of 6 h as:

Looking up in Fig. 8.2, the water-surface elevation corresponding to is 100.62 m and the
3
corresponding outflow discharge Q is 13 m /s. For the next step, initial value of of the
3
previous step -Q∆t = (3.686 – 13 x 0.0216) = 3.405 Mm .

The process is repeated for the entire duration of the inflow hydrograph in a tabular form as shown in Table 8.1.

Using the data in column 1, 8 and 7, the outflow hydrograph (Fig. 8.3) and a graph showing the variation of reservoir
elevation with time (Fig. 8.4) are prepared.

vs elevation prepared from known data is plotted in Fig. 8.2 to aid in calculating
Sometimes a graph of
the items in column 5. Note that the calculations are sequential in nature and any error at any stage is carried forward.
The accuracy of the method depends upon the value of ∆t; smaller values of ∆t give greater accuracy.

Table 8.1: Flood Routing through a Reservoir – Modified Pul’s method – Example 8.1

4
Fig. 8.3: Variation of inflow and outflow discharge – Example 8.1

5
 Fig. 8.4: Variation of reservoir elevation with time – Example 8.1

8.3.2. Goodrich Method

 Another popular method of hydrological reservoir routing, known as Goodrich method utilizes Eq. (8.3)
rearranged as:

Where suffixes 1 and 2 stand for the values at the beginning and end of a time step ∆t respectively.

Collecting the known and initial values together,

……………………………………….. (8.7)

For a given time step, the LHS of Eq. 8.7 is known and the term is determined by using Eq. 8.7.

From the known storage-elevation-discharge data, the function is established as a function of

elevation. Hence, the discharge, elevation and storage at the end of the time are obtained. For the next time
step,

Assignment 8.1(to be submitted in a weeks time)

Route the following flood hydrograph through the reservoir of Example 8.1 by the Goodrich method:

The initial conditions are: when t = 0, the reservoir elevation is 100.60 m.

Attenuation
 Figure 8.3 show the typical result of routing a flood hydrograph through a reservoir. Owing to the storage
effect, the peak of the outflow hydrograph will be smaller than that of the inflow hydrograph.
 This reduction in the peak value is called attenuation.
 Further, the peak of the outflow occurs after the peak of the inflow; the time difference between the two
peaks is known as lag.
 The attenuation and of a flood hydrograph at a reservoir are two very important aspects of a reservoir
operating under a flood-control criterion.
 By judicious management of the initial reservoir level at the time of arrival of a critical flood, considerable
attenuating of the floods can be achieved.
6
  The storage capacity of the reservoir and the characteristics of spillways and other outlet controls the
lag and attenuation of an inflow hydrograph.

8.4. Hydrological River/Channel Routing

 When a flood wave passes through stream channel, it experiences attenuation and delay. This is due to storage effects
of the channel/river.
 The Muskingum method is commonly used hydrological routing method for handling a variable discharge storage-
relationship.
 This method models the storage volume of flooding in a river channel by a combination of wedge and prism storage
(Fig. 8.5).
 Considering a channel reach having a flood flow, the total volume in storage can be considered under two categories
as:
1. Prism storage 2. Wedge storage

Fig. 8.5: Storage in a channel reach

Prism Storage
It is the volume that would exist if the uniform flow occurred at the downstream depth, i.e. the volume formed by an
imaginary plane parallel to the channel bottom drawn at the outflow section water surface.

Wedge Storage
It is the wedge-like volume formed between the actual water surface profile and the top surface of the prism storage.

At a fixed depth at a downstream section of a river reach, the prism storage is constant while the wedge storage
changes from a positive value at an advancing flood to a negative value during a receding flood.

Muskingum Method/theorem
 It is given by the formula:
……………………………………………………………………………….. (8.8)

…………………………………………………………………… (8.9)
Where; S = storage
I = Inflow
Q = Outflow.
 x is a weighting factor having the range 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.5. It says something about how inflow and outflow vary within
a given reach.
 K is proportionality coefficient, also known as storage-time constant (approximated as travel time of a flood
wave through the river reach). Has dimension of time.
 When x = 0, there is no wedge storage (no backwater) - level pool reservoir. Obviously storage is a function of
discharge only.
 In natural streams, x range between 0 and 0.3 with a mean of 0.2.

7
  For hydrologic routing, the values of K and x are assumed to be specified and a constant throughout the range of
flow.

8.4.1. Steps of Determining x and K.

1. Collect the flow data of previous floods.
2. Assume few values of the weighting factor x (Hint: to begin with, choose values in between 0 and 0.3), normally start with
x = 0.1).
3. Calculate , with the chosen value of x i.e. . Do this for various times.
4. Plot S vs for each value of x on the same paper.
5. Select the plot which is most near to a single-value curve. Assume this curve to be a straight line. The value of x, with
which the plot of straight line has been constructed. It gives the required value of x.
6. Calculate the inverse slope of the selected straight line i.e.

, which gives the value of K.

7. For a given channel reach, the value of x and K are taken as constant.

Fig. 8.6: Determination of K and x for a channel reach (Example)

 Having obtained values of K and x, the basic storage equation and Muskingum method can be used to solve for Q2 from
the reach.

8.4.2. Derivation of Muskingum Equation

 Back to storage equation:

……………………………………………………. (8.10)
Muskingum Equation:
…………………………………………………………………. (8.11)
From Eq. (8.10), multiply by 2/t, we get:

……………………………………………….. (8.12)
Substituting Eq. (8.11) to Eq. (8.12), it yields:

………. (8.13)
8
Eq. (8.13) can be written as:

……………… (8.14)

Collecting together i.e. like terms, yields:

………….. (8.15)

…………………………………………………………….. (8.16)
 Equation (8.16) is the routing equation for Muskingum method.
Where:

Example 8.2
In a river reach the following inflow hydrograph was recorded. Route the hydrograph through the reach using
Muskingum method, where K =10 hr and x = 0.25. The initial outflow at t = 0, is 10 m 3/s. Also determine the lag in
the peak flow time and attenuation in peak flow rate.

Time 0 6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48 54 60 66
(hr)
Flow 10 25 50 75 80 74 65 50 40 30 20 10
(m3/s)

Solution

9
 Time(hrs) Inflow (m3/s) 0.52I1 0.05I2 0.43Q1 Q2
0 10 - - - I1 = Q1 = 10 m3/s
6 25 5.20 1.25 4.3 10.75
12 50 13.0 2.50 4.62 20.12
18 75 26.0 3.75 8.65 38.4
24 80 39.0 4.0 16.5
30 74 41.60 3.7
36 65 38.48 3.25
42 50 33.80 2.5
48 40 26.0 2.0
54 30 20.80 1.5
60 20 15.60 1.0
66 10 10.40 0.5

 Plot the graphs of inflow and outflow hydrographs (in the same axes) to determine lag and attenuation.

Tutorials
1. Route the following flood hydrograph through a river reach for which K =12.0 h and x = 0.20. At the start of the inflow
flood, the outflow discharge is 10 m3/s.

(Answer: Attenuation- 10 m3/s; Time lag = 12 hr)

2. The storage, elevation and outflow data of a reservoir are given below:

The spillway crest is at elevation 300.20 m. The following flood flow is expected into the reservoir.

If the reservoir surface is at elevation 300.00 m at the commencement of the inflow, route the flood to obtain:
1. The outflow hydrograph and,
2. The reservoir elevation vs time curve.
Answer:

3. Observed values of inflow and outflow hydrographs at the ends of a reach in a river are given below. Determine the best
values of K and x for use in the Muskingum method of flood routing.

(Answer: K = 10 hr; x = 0.3)

4. Route the following flood through a reach for which K =22 h and x = 0.25. Plot the inflow and outflow hydrographs and
determine the peak lag and attenuation. At t = 0 the outflow discharge is 40 m3/s.
10
(Answer: Attenuation- 35 m3/s; Time lag = 21 hr)

11