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Measurement of Rainfall
The rainfall intensity could be measured by using rain gauges and recording the
amount of rain falling in unit time. The rainfall intensity is usually expressed as
mm/hour or cm/hour. The rain gauges used can be manual recording type or
automatic recording rain gauges.
1. Rational Method
2. Empirical formulae method
In both the above methods, the quantity of storm water is considered as function of
intensity of rainfall, coefficient of runoff and area of catchment.
Time of Concentration: The period after which the entire catchment area will start
contributing to the runoff is called as the time of concentration.
The rainfall with duration lesser than the time of concentration will not
produce maximum discharge.
The runoff may not be maximum even when the duration of the rain is more
than the time of concentration. This is because in such cases the intensity of
rain reduces with the increase in its duration.
The runoff will be maximum when the duration of rainfall is equal to the time
of concentration and is called as critical rainfall duration. The time of
concentration is equal to sum of inlet time and time of travel.
Inlet Time: The time required for the rain in falling on the most remote point of the
tributary area to flow across the ground surface along the natural drains or gutters up to inlet
of sewer is called inlet time (Figure 1). The inlet time ‘Ti’ can be estimated using
relationships similar to following. These coefficients will have different values for different
catchments.
Ti = [0.885 L3/H]0.385
Where,
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Time of Travel: The time required by the water to flow in the drain channel from the mouth
to the point under consideration or the point of concentration is called as time of travel.
Time of Travel (Tt) = Length of drain/ velocity in drain
Runoff Coefficient: The total precipitation falling on any area is dispersed as percolation,
evaporation, storage in ponds or reservoir and surface runoff. The runoff coefficient can be
defined as a fraction, which is multiplied with the quantity of total rainfall to determine the
quantity of rain water, which will reach the sewers. The runoff coefficient depends upon the
porosity of soil cover, wetness and ground cover. The overall runoff coefficient for the
catchment area can be worked out as follows:
Where, A1, A2, ….An are types of area with C1, C2, …Cn as their coefficient of runoff,
respectively.
Rational method
Storm water quantity can be estimated by rational method as below:
Storm water quantity, Q = C.I.A / 360
Where,
Q = Quantity of storm water, m 3/sec
C = Coefficient of runoff
I = intensity of rainfall (mm/hour) for the duration equal to time of concentration, and
A = Drainage area in hectares
OR
Q = 0.278 C.I.A
Where, Q is m3/sec; I is mm/hour, and A is area in square kilometer
Empirical Formulae
Empirical formulae are used for determination of runoff from very large area. Various
empirical relationships are developed based on the past observations on specific site conditions
suiting a particular region. These empirical formulae can be used for prediction of storm water
runoff for that particular catchment.
A] Burkli – Zeiglar formula
C.I.A
Q S/A
141.58
Q C.I.A
S/A
148.35
C] Fuller’s formula
Q C.M 0.8
13.23
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(Where, S- Slope of the area in meter per thousand meter, M- drainage area in sq. km., A – drainage
area in hectare)
Q = C M3/4
C value varies as 2.8 to 5.6 for catchments in plains and 14 to 28 for catchments in hills
M is catchment area in sq. km