FLOOD ROUTING

Hydrograph
• Represent a plot of discharge versus time at a location in a river

• As the flood waves move from u/s to d/s , changes will take place in term
of
a) Shape
b) Peak flow
c) Time to peak
d) Shapes of rising and Falling Limbs
 Flood Routing Q

• Procedure to determine t

the flow hydrograph at a Q

point in a watershed from a
known upstream
hydrograph t

t
 Flow Routing Q

• As the water flows from t

upstream to
downstream, because of
resistance to flow due to Q
friction, lateral flow and
storage, the shapes of
the hydrograph will t
changes. It may
Q

• Attenuates (reduction in
peak) which is mainly
due to storage t
Q
• gets delayed

t
4
 Uses of Flood Routing
A. Design of hydraulic structure :

B. Spillway design :.

C. Flood protection- construction of levee:

D. Flood Prediction
Concept
Knowing discharge (hydrograph)- at the u/s-
predict d/s.

Whether peak will be more in u/s or d/s?

Depend upon the slope, friction of bed material ,
whether there is any storage or not.

e.g. dam- inflow peak will be more than outflow

peak ( because water gets stored)
Stage : Water height/level in a

river/stream measured above a

particular datum
Types of flood routing

Hydrologic Routing Hydraulic Routing

➢ Governed by ➢ Governed by
❖ Continuity Equation ❖ Continuity Equation
❖ Flow/Storage Relation Ship ❖ Momentum Equation

➢ Lumped Flow Routing ➢ Distributed Flow Routing

➢ Variation with respect to time is considered ➢ Variation with respect to time and space is considered
 Types of flood routing

Lumped/hydrologic Distributed/hydraulic

Channel Routing

Reservoir Routing Channel Routing

 Flood Routing Classification

◼ i) Reservoir Routing – considers changes in the shape of input hydrograph when it

passes through a water reservoir – results in outflow hydrographs with attenuated
peaks & enlarged time bases .
– Variations in reservoir elevation & outflow can be predicted with time when
relationships between elevation & volume are known.

◼ ii) Channel Routing– considers changes in the shape of input hydrograph while
flood waves pass through a channel downstream.
– Flood hydrographs at various sections predicted when input hydrographs &
channel characteristics are known.

Reservoir routing is used for design of reservoir, spill way design, dam related

Channel routing for flood forecasting

Hydrologic Routing
Discharge I (t ) Discharge
Inflow
Transfer Q (t )
Function
Outflow

Storage

I (t ) = Inflow Q(t ) = Outflow

Upstream hydrograph Downstream hydrograph

Input, output, and storage are related by continuity equation:

dS
= I (t ) − Q (t ) Q and S are unknown
dt
Storage can be expressed as a function of I(t) or Q(t) or both or their time derivative
dI dQ
S = f (I , ,  , Q, , )
dt dt

11
Three types for function of storage
1. Reservoir routing-Level pool method (Modified Puls)
• Storage is nonlinear function of Q
2. Muskingum method – In channel
• Storage is linear function of I and Q
3. Series of reservoir models- Channel can be considered as series of
reservoir model
• Storage is linear function of Q and its time derivatives

12
Fundamental of Reservoir Routing

❑ The inflow is taking place from the upstream side and it is flowing above the spillway and outflow is obtained at the
downstream end.

❑ Spillway may be controlled or free flow

❑ The rate of outflow Q depends on the reservoir water surface elevation h.

Q= f(h)
❑ Amount of water stored S is also a function of h.
S= f(h)
❑ S is a function of Q.
S= f(Q)

This is the fundamental characteristic of the reservoir which

is utilized for carrying out the reservoir routing along with
the continuity equation
Level pool routing
• Procedure for calculating outflow hydrograph Q(t) from a reservoir with horizontal
water surface
• Also Known as Modified Puls Method

Data required:
❑ Initial values of I,Q,S
❑ Inflow hydrograph
❑ Elevation vs Outflow graph
❑ Elevation vs storage graph

14
 Level pool methodology
Discharge
Inflow dS
= I (t ) − Q (t )
dt
I j +1 S j +1
Outflow ( j +1) t ( j +1) t
Ij  dS =  Idt −  Qdt
Sj j t j t
Q j +1
Qj
t

jt ( j + 1) t Time

Storage

Unknown Known
S j +1
Need a function relating
Sj
2S
+ Q, and Q
Time t
15 Storage-outflow function
Steps

𝑄
1. From the known storage- elevation & Discharge- elevation data , prepare a curve of 𝑆 + ∆𝑡 Vs Elevation
2

2. On the same plot Prepare a curve of Outflow vs elevation

𝑄
𝑆+ ∆𝑡
2
Steps

3. For the First time interval,

Known Unknown

𝑄2 ∆𝑡
4. The water surface corresponding to 𝑆2 + 2
𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑝𝑙𝑜𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑝.

5. The outflow discharge 𝑄2 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑝 ∆𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑙𝑜𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑝 2.

6. Deduct as shown below

𝑄2Δ𝑡 𝑄2Δ𝑡
𝑆2 + − 𝑄2 Δt= 𝑆2 −
2 2
The data related to a reservoir elevation, outflow discharge and storage are given below
Elevation (m) 50 50.5 51 51.5 52 52.5 52.75 53
Storage (Mm3) 4.5 4.7 5.2 5.8 6.5 7.3 7.7 7.9
Outflow (m3/s) 0 13 27 61 96 133 155 173

The following flood enters the reservoir when the initial water level was 51 m
Time(h) 0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 44 48 52
Inflow 13 27 73 107 97 77 61 48 37 27 20 17 15 13
(m3/s)

Route the Hydrograph using Level Pool Routing Method. Determine the attenuation, reservoir
lag and the maximum surface elevation
We need to plot elevation vs Indicative storage
𝑄
ℎ 𝑣𝑠 𝑆 + ∆𝑡
2
Here ∆𝑡 = 4 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠 = 14400 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑

Elevation , h Storage, S Outflow, Q 𝑸

(m) (Mm3) (m3/s) 𝑺+ ∆𝒕
𝟐
50 4.5 0 4.50
50.5 4.7 13 4.79
51 5.2 27 5.39
51.5 5.8 61 6.24
52 6.5 96 7.19
52.5 7.3 133 8.26
52.75 7.7 155 8.82
53 7.9 173 9.15
Plot elevation (h) vs storage on the same graph
 Continuity Equation with known value on one side and unknown on the other side
Time Inflow
(h) (m3/s)
0 13
4 27
8 73
12 107 Unknown
16 97 Known
This is our indicative storage
20 77
24 61
28 48
32 37
36 27
40 20
44 17
48 15
52 13
Time Inflow 𝐼1 + 𝐼2 𝐼1 + 𝐼2 𝑄2 ∆𝑡 𝑄2 ∆𝑡 h Outflow
(h) (m3/s) ∆𝑡 𝑆2 − 𝑆2 +
2 2 2 2
(m3/s) (Mm3) (Mm3) (Mm3) (m) (m3/s)
0 13
4 27
Known Unknown
8 73
12 107
16 97
20 77
24 61
28 48
32 37
36 27
40 20
44 17
48 15
52 13
Time Inflow 𝐼1 + 𝐼2 𝐼1 + 𝐼2 𝑄2 ∆𝑡 𝑄2 ∆𝑡 h Outflow
(h) (m3/s) ∆𝑡 𝑆2 − 𝑆2 +
2 2 2 2
(m3/s) (Mm3) (Mm3) (Mm3) (m) (m3/s)
0 13
4 27 20.00
8 73 50.00
12 107 90.00
16 97 102.00
20 77 87.33
24 61 69.33
28 48 54.67
32 37 42.67
36 27 32.00
40 20 23.33
44 17 18.67
48 15 16.00
52 13 14.00
Time Inflow 𝐼1 + 𝐼2 𝐼1 + 𝐼2 𝑄2 ∆𝑡 𝑄2 ∆𝑡 h Outflow
(h) (m3/s) ∆𝑡 𝑆2 − 𝑆2 +
2 2 2 2
(m3/s) (Mm3) (Mm3) (Mm3) (m) (m3/s)
0 13
4 27 20.00 0.288
8 73 50.00 0.72
12 107 90.00 1.29
16 97 102.00 1.47
20 77 87.33 1.26
24 61 69.33 0.99
28 48 54.67 0.79
32 37 42.67 0.61
36 27 32.00 0.46
40 20 23.33 0.34
44 17 18.67 0.27
48 15 16.00 0.23
52 13 14.00 0.20
Time Inflow 𝐼1 + 𝐼2 𝐼1 + 𝐼2 𝑄2 ∆𝑡 𝑄2 ∆𝑡 h Outflow
(h) (m3/s) ∆𝑡 𝑆2 − 𝑆2 +
2 2 2 2
(m3/s) (Mm3) (Mm3) (Mm3) (m) (m3/s)
0 13 51.0 27
Initial Condition
4 27 20.00 0.288
when the flood
8 73 50.00 0.72 enter
12 107 90.00 1.29
16 97 102.00 1.47
20 77 87.33 1.26
24 61 69.33 0.99
28 48 54.67 0.79
32 37 42.67 0.61
36 27 32.00 0.46
40 20 23.33 0.34
44 17 18.67 0.27
48 15 16.00 0.23
52 13 14.00 0.20
Time Inflow 𝐼1 + 𝐼2 𝐼1 + 𝐼2 𝑄2 ∆𝑡 𝑄2 ∆𝑡 h Outflow
(h) (m3/s) ∆𝑡 𝑆2 − 𝑆2 +
2 2 2 2
(m3/s) (Mm3) (Mm3) (Mm3) (m) (m3/s)
0 13 51.0 27
4 27 20.00 0.288 5.0056
With the initial
8 73 50.00 0.72 value, calculate
12 107 90.00 1.29
16 97 102.00 1.47 𝑄2 ∆𝑡
𝑆2 −
2
20 77 87.33 1.26
24 61 69.33 0.99
28 48 54.67 0.79
32 37 42.67 0.61
36 27 32.00 0.46
40 20 23.33 0.34
44 17 18.67 0.27
48 15 16.00 0.23
52 13 14.00 0.20
Time Inflow 𝐼1 + 𝐼2 𝐼1 + 𝐼2 𝑄2 ∆𝑡 𝑄2 ∆𝑡 h Outflow
(h) (m3/s) ∆𝑡 𝑆2 − 𝑆2 +
2 2 2 2
(m3/s) (Mm3) (Mm3) (Mm3) (m) (m3/s)
0 13 51.0 27
With the initial
4 27 20.00 0.288 5.0056 5.29
value, calculate
8 73 50.00 0.72
12 107 90.00 1.29 𝑄2 ∆𝑡
𝑆2 −
16 97 102.00 1.47 2
20 77 87.33 1.26
24 61 69.33 0.99
28 48 54.67 0.79
32 37 42.67 0.61
36 27 32.00 0.46
40 20 23.33 0.34
44 17 18.67 0.27
48 15 16.00 0.23
52 13 14.00 0.20
Time Inflow 𝐼1 + 𝐼2 𝐼1 + 𝐼2 𝑄2 ∆𝑡 𝑄2 ∆𝑡 h Outflow
(h) (m3/s) ∆𝑡 𝑆2 − 𝑆2 +
2 2 2 2
(m3/s) (Mm3) (Mm3) (Mm3) (m) (m3/s)
0 13 51.0 27
4 27 20.00 0.288 5.0056 5.29 50.97 25.69
8 73 50.00 0.72
12 107 90.00 1.29
16 97 102.00 1.47
20 77 87.33 1.26
24 61 69.33 0.99
28 48 54.67 0.79
32 37 42.67 0.61
36 27 32.00 0.46
40 20 23.33 0.34
44 17 18.67 0.27
48 15 16.00 0.23
52 13 14.00 0.20
 𝑄2Δ𝑡 𝑄2Δ𝑡
𝑆2 + − 𝑄2 Δt= 𝑆2 −
2 2
Time Inflow 𝐼1 + 𝐼2 𝐼1 + 𝐼2 𝑄2 ∆𝑡 𝑄2 ∆𝑡 h Outflow
(h) (m3/s) ∆𝑡 𝑆2 − 𝑆2 +
2 2 2 2
(m3/s) (Mm3) (Mm3) (Mm3) (m) (m3/s)
0 13 51.0 27
4 27 20.00 0.288 5.0056 5.29 50.97 25.69
8 73 50.00 0.72 4.92 5.64
12 107 90.00 1.29
16 97 102.00 1.47
20 77 87.33 1.26
24 61 69.33 0.99
28 48 54.67 0.79
32 37 42.67 0.61
36 27 32.00 0.46
40 20 23.33 0.34
44 17 18.67 0.27
48 15 16.00 0.23
52 13 14.00 0.20
Time Inflow 𝐼1 + 𝐼2 𝐼1 + 𝐼2 𝑄2 ∆𝑡 𝑄2 ∆𝑡 h Outflow
(h) (m3/s) ∆𝑡 𝑆2 − 𝑆2 +
2 2 2 2
(m3/s) (Mm3) (Mm3) (Mm3) (m) (m3/s)
0 13 51.0 27
4 27 20.00 0.288 5.0056 5.29 50.97 25.69
8 73 50.00 0.72 4.92 5.64 51.18 33.85
12 107 90.00 1.29
16 97 102.00 1.47
20 77 87.33 1.26
24 61 69.33 0.99
28 48 54.67 0.79
32 37 42.67 0.61
36 27 32.00 0.46
40 20 23.33 0.34
44 17 18.67 0.27
48 15 16.00 0.23
52 13 14.00 0.20
Time Inflow 𝐼1 + 𝐼2 𝐼1 + 𝐼2 𝑄2 ∆𝑡 𝑄2 ∆𝑡 h Outflow
(h) (m3/s) ∆𝑡 𝑆2 − 𝑆2 −
2 2 2 2
(m3/s) (Mm3) (Mm3) (Mm3) (m) (m3/s)
0 13 51.0 27
4 27 20.00 0.288 5.0056 5.29 50.97 25.69
8 73 50.00 0.72 4.92 5.64 51.18 33.85
12 107 90.00 1.29 5.16 6.45 51.69 76.11
16 97 102.00 1.47 5.36 6.83 51.89 89.55
20 77 87.33 1.26 5.54 6.79 51.88 88.19
24 61 69.33 0.99 5.52 6.52 51.73 78.71
28 48 54.67 0.79 5.39 6.18 51.53 64.03
32 37 42.67 0.61 5.25 5.87 51.33 43.32
36 27 32.00 0.46 5.24 5.70 51.22 35.89
40 20 23.33 0.34 5.19 5.52 51.11 30.53
44 17 18.67 0.27 5.08 5.35 51.01 26.78
48 15 16.00 0.23 4.97 5.20 50.92 24.09
52 13 14.00 0.20 4.85 5.05 50.81 21.03
Time Inflow 𝐼1 + 𝐼2 𝐼1 + 𝐼2 𝑄2 ∆𝑡 𝑄2 ∆𝑡 h Outflow
(h) (m3/s) ∆𝑡 𝑆2 − 𝑆2 −
2 2 2 2
(m3/s) (Mm3) (Mm3) (Mm3) (m) (m3/s)
0 13 51.0 27
4 27 20.00 0.288 5.0056 5.29 50.97 25.69
8 73 50.00 0.72 4.92 5.64 51.18 33.85
12 107 90.00 1.29 5.16 6.45 51.69 76.11
16 97 102.00 1.47 5.36 6.83 51.89 89.55
20 77 87.33 1.26 5.54 6.79 51.88 88.19
24 61 69.33 0.99 5.52 6.52 51.73 78.71
28 48 54.67 0.79 5.39 6.18 51.53 64.03
32 37 42.67 0.61 5.25 5.87 51.33 43.32
36 27 32.00 0.46 5.24 5.70 51.22 35.89
40 20 23.33 0.34 5.19 5.52 51.11 30.53
44 17 18.67 0.27 5.08 5.35 51.01 26.78
48 15 16.00 0.23 4.97 5.20 50.92 24.09
52 13 14.00 0.20 4.85 5.05 50.81 21.03
Attenuation= 107- 89.55= 17.45 m3/s

Reservoir = 16-12 = 4 hours

Maximum surface elevation= 51.89 m