SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING
BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
ECT 33
3352 ENGINEERING HYDROLOGY
JANUARY 2022
2022
Y3S1 END OF SEMISTER EXAM
This paper consists of five (5) questions, answer question one and any other two questions
Duration 2hours
Question 1
a) Define the terms: (4marks)
i. Hydrology
ii. Hydrograph
iii. Runoff
iv. Catchment area
b) State three errors that may arise in rainfall measurement. (3marks)
c) State four factors that affect the rate of evaporation. (4 mark)
d) Distinguish between the infiltration and percolation as used in hydrology. (2marks)
e) List three types of runoffs. (3marks)
f) State one method used to estimate the amount of water evaporated from a water surface
(1mark)
g) State three types of streams. (3marks)
h) What factors should be considered in selecting a site for a stream gauging station?
(4marks)
i) State three forms of precipitation. (2marks)
j) The normal annual rainfall at stations A, B, C and D in a basin are 80.97, 67.59, 76.28 and
92.01 cm respectively. In the year 1985, the station D was inoperative and the stations A,
B and C recorded annual rainfall of 91.11, 72.23 and 79.89 cm respectively. Estimate the
rainfall at station D in that year. (4 marks)
Question 2
a. State five applications of hydrology in civil engineering. (5marks)
b. Define the term depression storage and state four factors that influence depression storage.
(5marks)
c. Sketch and describe the hydrologic cycle. (10 marks)
Question 3
a) State three equations for evaporation estimation. (3mrks)
b) State the methods used during measurements of evapotranspiration for a given vegetation
type. (2marks)
c) Write and describe the water budget equation. (3mrks)
d) State three uses of annual and seasonal hydrographs. (3marks)
e) Discuss three methods of reducing evaporation from water surfaces. (9marks)
1
Question 4
a) Define infiltration capacity and state the units used. (3 marks)
b) State the factors that affect the signal velocity and averaging of flow velocity in ultrasonic
system river gauging method. (5marks)
c) Discuss factors that affect the infiltration capacity of an area. (6 marks)
d) A 25 g/l solution of a fluorescent tracer was discharged into a stream at a constant rate of
10 cm3/s. The background concentration of the dye in the stream water was found to be
zero. At a downstream section sufficiently far away, the dye was found to reach an
equilibrium concentration of 5 parts per billion. Estimate the stream discharge.
(6 marks).
Question 5
a) State three factors that affect the flow characteristics of a stream. (3marks)
b) State two types of recording rain gauges. (2marks)
c) A dam is built at a basin outfall where a statutory minimum discharge of 0.1m3 /s is to be
maintained in the river downstream throughout the year. Assess the available water supply
per year (m3). Assume the drainage basin to be water tight and evaporation losses to be
400mm/year. Rainfall measurements are as shown below. Use Thiessen Polygon method
to determine the average rainfall. (7 marks)
Rain gauge No. 1 2 3 4 5 6
Rainfall (mm) 2052 1915 1969 1723 1640 1510
Thiessen Polygon area (km2) 7.8 8.3 10.2 11.5 5.4 6.8
d) A catchment area has 6 rain gauge stations. In a year the annual rainfall recorded by the
gauges are as follows: determine the additional number of rain gauges needed. The standard
deviation is 35.04. Take allowable error in the estimation of mean annual rainfall as 10%.
(8 marks)
Station A B C D E F
Rainfall (cm) 82.6 102.9 180.3 110.3 98.8 136.7
