Mustansiriyah University Highway & Transportation Dept.

College of Engineering Pavement Drainage System

HYDROGRAPH
The hydrograph is a graph of flow rate versus time. It is also reference as a listing
of flow rate data versus time. It is one of the more useful concepts of hydrology
is used frequently in stormwater management.

Elements of Flood Hydrograph

A typical surface runoff is shown in figure, the hydrograph consists of three

general parts, (1) rising limb, (2) crest segment, (3) falling limb, the runoff
hydrograph will have the following properties:
1-Time of peak(tp).
2-Recession time(tr).
3-Time of base(tb).
The shape of the hydrograph depends on many factors, watershed shape, area,
slope, depth, the earth impervious, the land use, the rainfall intensity,
evaporation …etc. It can be grouped to:

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Mustansiriyah University Highway & Transportation Dept.
College of Engineering Pavement Drainage System

Hydrograph Separation:
Several techniques exist to separate direct runoff hydrograph DRO from base
flow B.F based on the analysis of ground water recession curves or type and
amount of measured data available. The direct runoff hydrograph is the
difference between the total runoff and the base flow function.
1-Straight line (constant slope) method. N=0.83 A0.2(N days and A area km2)
2-Fixed based (concave baseflow) method.
3-Variable slope (constant discharge) method

Methods for Base-flow Separation

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 Mustansiriyah University Highway & Transportation Dept.
College of Engineering Pavement Drainage System

Example: Rainfall of magnitude 3.8 cm and 2.8 cm occurring on two

consecutive 4-hr durations on a catchment of area 27 km2 produced the following
hydrograph of flow at the outlet of the catchment. Estimate the rainfall excess
and φ index.

DRH
Time Observed
(m3/s)
from start of flow
(Q-base
rainfall (hr.) (m3/s)
flow)
-6 6 0
0 5 0
6 13 8
12 26 21
18 21 16
24 16 11
30 12 7
36 9 4
N= 0.83×(27)0.2
42 7 2
48 5 0 N= 1.6 days=38.5 hr.
54 5 0 Peak point at t=12 12+38.5=50.5 hr.
60 4.5 0
66 4.5 0 Or DRH ends at t=48 48-12=36 hr. =N

𝑟𝑢𝑛𝑜𝑓𝑓 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 ∑(𝑄)×𝑡

𝑅𝑢𝑛𝑜𝑓𝑓 𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑡ℎ = =
𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝐴

Runoff volume= 6×3600× (8+21+16+11+7+4+2) = 1.4904×106 m3 DR

1.4904 × 106
𝑅𝑢𝑛𝑜𝑓𝑓 𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑡ℎ = = 0.0552 𝑚 = 5.52 𝑐𝑚 𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑒𝑥𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠
27 × 106
Total rainfall=3.8+2.8= 6.6 cm
Duration = 8 hr.
𝑃−𝑅
∅ 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑥 =
𝑡
6.6−5.52 𝑐𝑚
∅ 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑥 = = 0.135
8 ℎ𝑟

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Mustansiriyah University Highway & Transportation Dept.
College of Engineering Pavement Drainage System

Unit Hydrograph
U.H defined as: A basin outflow resulting from one centimeter or one inch of
direct runoff generated uniformly over the drainage area at a uniform rainfall
rate during a specified period.
For a specific watershed, the U.H. for a given quantity of rainfall excess can be
used to generate another hydrograph. If the storm duration is the same.
The following general rules should be observed in developing U.H:
1-Storms should be selected with a simple structure with relatively uniform
spatial and temporal distribution.
2-Watershed size should generally fall 1000 ac. -1000 mi2.
3-Direct runoff should range from 0.5-2 inch.
4-Duration of rainfall excess should be 25-30% of tp.
5-A number of storms of similar duration should be analyzed to obtain an
average unit hydrograph for that duration.

The following are essential steps for developing a U.H from a single storm
hydrograph.
1-Analyze the hydrograph and separate the base flow.
2-Measure the total volume of direct runoff (DRO) under the hydrograph and
convert this to in, cm ,over the watershed.
3-Convert the total rainfall to rainfall excess and evaluate duration for the DRO
and U.H.
4-Divide the ordinate of the DRO hy. By the volume and plot these results as the
U.H for the basin. The time is assumed constant for storms of equal duration and
thus it will not change.
t 1 = t2
.i 1 = i2

Q1 / Q2=d1 / d2
∑ 𝐷𝑅𝑂∗ ∆𝑡
d=
𝐴

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Mustansiriyah University Highway & Transportation Dept.
College of Engineering Pavement Drainage System

Example: The following are the observation of a flood hydrograph from a

drainage of 1700 km2 during 12 hrs. rainfall (the base flow has been subtracted).
Drive 12 hrs. U.H.
𝑄𝑈𝐻 𝑑 /𝑡
T(hr) Q (HY.) Q (U.H.) = 𝑈𝐻
𝑄ℎ𝑦 𝑑 𝐻𝑌 /𝑡
(QHY*0.1)
0 0 0 tUH=tHY
12 30 3
𝑄𝐻𝑌 𝑉𝐻𝑌 /𝐴𝐻𝑌 ∑ 𝐷𝑅𝑂∗∆ 𝑇/𝐴
24 100 10 = =
𝑄𝑈𝐻 1 𝑐𝑚 1
36 365 36.5
48 645 64.5 𝑄𝐻𝑌 4000∗12∗3600
= = 0.1𝑚
60 700 70 𝑄𝑈𝐻 1∗ 1700∗10 6
72 585 58.5
84 475 47.5 dHY=0.1m= 10cm
96 360 36 𝑄𝐻𝑌 10
108 275 27.5 =
𝑄𝑈𝐻 1
120 180 18
132 125 12.5 𝑄𝐻𝑌
𝑄𝑈𝐻 =
144 85 8.55 10
156 50 5
168 25 2.5
180 0 0

800
700 Q2(U.H.)
600 Q1(YH.)
Flow, m3/s

500
400
300
200
100
0
0 12 24 36 48 60 72 84 96 108120132144156168180192
Time, hr

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Mustansiriyah University Highway & Transportation Dept.
College of Engineering Pavement Drainage System

Example2: Two storms of 6-hr duration for each, with 2 and 3 cm depth
respectively, the storm of 3 cm occurred after 12 hrs. from the first. Drive the
total hydrograph or the two storms from U.H. given below?

T(hr) QU.H Q1 Q2 TOTAL

(m3/s) QU.H*2 QU.H*3 Q1+Q2
0 0 0 - 0
6 50 100 - 100
12 125 250 0 250
18 185 370 150 520
24 160 320 375 625
30 110 220 555 775
36 60 120 480 600
42 36 72 330 402
48 25 50 180 230
54 16 32 108 140
60 8 16 75 91
66 0 0 48 48
24 24
0 0

𝑄𝑈𝐻 𝑑 𝑈𝐻 800
=
𝑄ℎ𝑦 𝑑 𝐻𝑌 700 Q(UH)

𝑄𝑈𝐻 1 600 Q1(2cm)

=
𝑄ℎ𝑦 2 500 Q2(3cm)
Q, m3/s

𝑄𝑈𝐻 1 400
= Q(HY)
𝑄ℎ𝑦 3 300

200
Qhy1=2 * QUH
100
Qhy2=3* QUH 0
0 6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48 54 60 66
t, hr

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