CVE 323 Fluid Dynamics & Hydrology

Kebbi State University of Science and 2Unit

Technology, Alieru
FLUID DYNAMICS &
HYDROLOGY

INTRODUCTION TO HYDROLOGY
Hydrology, by its term meaning is the science of water. However it does not gives a complete
view of hydrology in respect to water generating source for creating water resource on earth
system, essential for mankind. After a great exercise and deal the scientists defined the
hydrology as the science dealing the occurrence of rainfall, its distribution & circulation on and
below the earth and physical and chemical reaction with earth materials. Hydrology deals with
the waters of the earth, their distribution and circulation, their physical and chemical properties,
and their interaction with the environment, including interaction with living things and, in
particular, human beings. Engineering hydrology includes those segments of the field pertinent
to design and operation of engineering projects for the control and use of water.
In hydrology, the land unit is the watershed, which also may be referred to as a basin or
catchment.
A watershed is defined as an area of land in which all of the incoming precipitation drains (i.e.,
“sheds”) to the same place – toward the same body of water or the same topographic low area
(e.g., a sinkhole) – as a result of its topography. This means that a watershed's boundary is
defined by its topographic high points. Watersheds are fairly simple to identify in mountainous
or hilly terrain because their boundaries are defined by ridges (Figure 1). However, in flatland
watersheds, such as in the Coastal Plain of the Southeast, identifying topographic high points can
be very challenging because the highest and lowest elevations may differ only by a few
centimetres.

Practical Applications of Hydrology

I. Design and operation of hydraulic structures
II. Water supply
III. Waste water treatment and disposal
IV. Irrigation and drainage
V. Hydropower generation
VI. Flood control
VII. Navigation
VIII. Erosion and sediment control
IX. Salinity control
X. Recreational use of water
XI. Fish and wildlife protection

Scope of hydrology
 Hydrology is an indispensable tool in planning and building hydraulic structures.

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  Hydrology is used for city water supply design which is based on catchments area,
amount of rainfall, dry period, storage capacity, runoff evaporation and transpiration.
 Dam construction, reservoir capacity, spillway capacity, sizes of water supply pipelines
and affect of afforest on water supply schemes, all are designed on basis of hydrological
equations.
 The variation of water production from catchments can be calculated and described by
hydrology.
 Engineering hydrology enables us to find out the relationship between a catchments’s
surface water and groundwater resources
 The expected flood flows over a spillway, at a highway at a Culvert, or in an urban storm
drainage system can be known by this very subject.
 It helps us to know the required reservoir capacity to assure adequate water for irrigation
or municipal water supply in droughts condition.
 It tells us what hydrologic hardware (e.g. rain gauges, stream gauges etc) and software
(computer models) are needed for real-time flood forecasting
 Used in connection with design and operations of hydraulic structure
 Crop planning based on available water in the area.

Divisions of Hydrology:
Hydrology can generally be divided into two main branches
Surface Water Hydrology: It is the study of hydrologic processes that operate at or near earth’s
surface.
Ground Water Hydrology: It is the study of underground water.
Engineering Hydrology: Engineering hydrology deals with the planning, design and Operation
of Engineering projects for the control and use of water
Applied Hydrology: Applied hydrology is the study of hydrological cycle, precipitation, runoff,
relationship between precipitation and runoff, hydrographs, Flood Routing
Chemical Hydrology: Study of chemical characteristics of water.
Eco-hydrology: Interaction between organisms and the hydrological cycle.
Hydrogeology: Also referred to as geo-hydrology, is the study of the presence and movement of
ground water.
Hydro-informatics: is the adaptation of information technology to hydrology and water
resource applications
Hydrometeorology: It is the study of the transfer of water and energy between land and water
body surfaces and the lower atmosphere.
Isotope Hydrology: It is the study of isotropic signatures of water (origin and age of water).

DISTRIBUTION OF WATER ON THE EARTH

The Table 1.1 lists estimated quantities of water in various forms on the earth. About 96.5% of
all the earth’s water is in the oceans. If the earth were a uniform sphere, this quantity would be
sufficient to cover it to a depth of about 2.6 km. Of the remainder, 1.7% is in the polar ice, 1.7%
in groundwater and only 0.1% in the surface and atmospheric water systems. The atmospheric
water system, the driving force of surface water hydrology, contains only 12,900 km 3 of water,
or less than one part in 100,000 of all the earth’s water. The earth’s fresh water, about two-thirds
is polar ice and most of the remainder is groundwater going down to a depth of 200 to 600 m.
Most groundwater is saline below this depth. Only 0.006% of fresh water is contained in the

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rivers. Biological water, fixed in the tissues of plants and animals, make up about 0.003% of all
fresh water, equivalent to half the volume contained in rivers.

Table 1.1: Estimated world water quantities

Where does the water go? To make things… to clean things….

Where does the water go? To make

Gallons
things…to clean things…. Item
1 pound of cotton 2,000
1 pound of grain-fed beef 800
1 loaf of bread 150
1 car 100,000
1 kilowatt of electricity 80
1 pound of rubber 100
1 pound of steel 25
1 gallon of gasoline 10
1 load of laundry 60
1 ten-minute shower 25-50

Some points:

A lot of water is used for agriculture

 56% (76 BGD) is consumptive use

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  20% (28 BGD) is lost in conveyance
 24% (33 BGD) is return flow
A lot of water is used for thermoelectric power generation
 87% of all industrial water use
A small savings in either of these categories would free up significant quantities for public
supplies.

THE HYDROLOGIC CYCLE

It refers to the continuous circulation of water within the earth’s hydro-sphere.
Water moves into and from the various sources on, over and below the earth, with the total mass
of water remaining fairly constant. The water cycle is highly crucial to maintain the life on earth,
as it replenishes the world’s freshwater resources and moderates extremes in climate. The
physical processes involved in hydrologic cycle are
 Evaporation
 Condensation
 Sublimation
 Precipitation
 Transpiration,
 Interception,
 Infiltration,
 Percolation and
 The runoff

Sun is the source of energy to activate

 Evaporation - It involves the vaporization of water from the water sources due to heat
energy of solar radiation. The evaporated water gets converted into cloud. Through which
water gets fall on the earth system in terms of precipitation. In water transfer process
about 90% of atmospheric water is contributed by evaporation.
 Condensation- It refers to the transformation of evaporated water vapours into liquid
water droplets suspended in the air as clouds or fog. It is important process to convert the
evaporated water into liquid state enabling formation of clouds with the aid of
condensation nuclei.
 Sublimation- This is the process in which there is direct conversion of solid ice into
water vapour. By this process water mass is also added to atmosphere for cycling.
 Precipitation- It is the fall of atmospheric water to the ground surface. Under this
process the water becomes available for its distribution (surface and sub-surface) and
circulation on the above and below the earth surface. It mostly takes place in the form of
liquid (rainfall) and very little in solid form (snow, sleet, hail fog etc.)
 Transpiration- It is a process of water loss from plants' leaves through respiration. The
water loss through transpiration and evaporation coupled together is referred to
Evapotranspiration (ET). In hydrologic cycle about 10% water or moisture is added to the
atmosphere by transpiration process.
 Interception- This is the process in which a part of precipitation is abstracted by the
objects lying on the ground surface. The objects may be the crop, tree, natural vegetations
and any other in live or dead conditions. Intercepted precipitated water is ultimately lost

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 through evaporation process. Rate and quantity of water loss under this process varied
with the type and characteristics of vegetation/objects and climatic condition, mainly.
 Infiltration- It is defined as the entry of water into the soil by crossing the imaginary
boundary between soil and atmosphere and its rate called infiltration rate. Under this
process the precipitated water moves into the soil media and ultimately joins to the water
–table or deposited on impervious layer, if there occurs across water movement path. It is
treated as the input process for ground water occurrence.
 Runoff- The flow of joined rain water in the stream is designated as the channel flow or
the runoff. The characteristics associated to the climate and watershed affects the
quantum of runoff at the outlet. Runoff is categorised into surface and sub-surface runoff.
In which surface runoff is that part of the runoff which travels over the ground surface
thought the channels/ streams /rivers to reach the basin outlet, and sub- surface or indirect
runoff points to the flow of precipitated water below the soil surface leading to water-
table. The view of hydrologic cycle is presented in Fig-

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