Chapter 5

CHAPTER
5
Hydrology of un gauged
Catchment
Synthetic Unit Hydrograph (UH)
• UH is applicable only for gauged watershed and
for the point on the stream where data are
measured
• For other locations on the stream in the same
watershed or for nearby (ungauged) watersheds,
synthetic procedures are used.
Synthetic hydrographs are derived by;
• Relating hydrograph characteristics such as peak
flow, base time etc. with watershed characteristics
such as area and time of concentration
Synthesis UHs developed along two main
lines thought;
• One assumed that each watershed had a
unique UH related to specific watershed
characteristic,
• The second assumed that all UHs could
be represented by a single family of
curves or a single equation
• However, the formulas all have certain limiting
assumptions and should be applied to new
areas with extreme caution.
• The first line of development was based on the
rational method modified to include the time-
area curve for a particular watershed. Clark
(1945) assumed that assumed that watershed
response would be given by routing the time-
area curve through an element of linear storage,
• The second approach to UH development
assumed mathematical representation for the
shape of the UH. A useful approach was
advanced by the Soil Conservation Service
(SCS, 1964, 1986).
Snyder’s Method
• Snyder(1938) was the first to develop a
synthetic UH based on a study of
watershed In basins ranging from 10 to
10,000mi2,
• The first of the Snyder’s equation relates
the basin lag tp. Defined as the time
interval from the mid point of the unit
rainfall excess to the peak of the unit
hydrograph
 Tp = Ct (LLc)0.3
Where,
• Tp = Basin lag in hours.
• L = basin length measured along the watercourse
from the basin divide to the gauging station in km.
• Lc = distance along the main watercourse from the
gauging station to the point opposite (or nearest)
the watershed centroid in ( km)
• Ct = a regional constant representing watershed
slope and storage
Qp=peak discharge of the unit hydrograph (cfs),
A =drainage area (mi2),
Cp =storage coefficient ranging from 0.4 to 0.8 where the larger
values of Cp are associated with smaller values of Ct
Where Tb is the time base of the hydrograph, in days
Where t´p is the adjusted lag time (hr) for duration D´(hr
• Important relationships:
• Basin lag tp
Standard duration of effective rainfall, tr (in

hours)
Peak discharge Qp (m3/s) of unit hydrograph of

standard duration tr
• Where A = km2, Cp = regional constant
• If a non-standard rainfall duration tR h is
adopted, instead of the value tr to derive a unit
hydrograph the value of the basin lag is affected.
The modified basin lag is given by:
Where t’p = basin lag in hours for an effective

duration of tR
Note that when tR = tr implies QP = Qps

• The time base of unit hydrograph is given by Snyder
as:
To assist in the sketching of unit hydrographs,
Where
• W50 = width of unit hydrograph in hour at 50% peak
discharge
• W75 = width of unit hydrograph in hour at 75% peak
discharge
• q = Qp/A = peak discharge per unit catchment area in
m3/s/km2
• Example:
• Derive a 3-hr unit hydrograph for
an un gauged basin from the
following data.
• Length L =32 km; length L c =25
km; Area of catchment =325 km2
• Assume Ct =0.9 and Cp =1.8
• Solution
• Tp = Ct (LLc) 0.3 = 0.9 (32 x 25)0.3=6.7 hrs
• tr = tp/5.5 = 1.2 hrs
• As tr is not equal to the desired unit duration tr′,
we have to calculate the value of tp′.
• tp’=tp
• tp’=6.7 = 7.2 Hrs
• QP =2.78 =2.78 = 225.9m3/s

EXAMPLE
•The following are the ordinates of the 9-hour unit hydrograph for
the entire catchment of the river Abay up to GRDE dam site:
and the catchment characteristics are A = 4480

km2, L = 318 km, Lca = 198 km
•Derive a 3-hour unit hydrograph for the catchment
area of river Abay up to the head of GRDE
reservoir, given the catchment characteristics as: A
= 3780 km2, L = 284 km, Lca = 184 km
Solution:
•The 9-hr UG is plotted in Fig. 5.30 and from
that tp = 13.5 hr, tr = 9 hr,
• These widths also seem to be
too long and a 3-hr UG can now
be sketched using the
parameters Qp = 987 cumec,
tpeak = 13 hr and T = 65 hr such
that the area under the UG is
equal to a runoff volume of 1
cm, as shown in Fig. Below.
• Home-work ;Two catchments A and B are
considered metrologically similar .Their catchment
characteristics are given below.
• For a catchment A, a 2-hr unit hydrograph was

developed and was found to have a peak discharge
of 50m3/s .The time to peak from the beginning of
rainfall excess in this unit hydrograph was 9.0 Hr.
Using Snyder's method develop a unit hydrograph
for catc B.
Dimensionless Unit Hydrograph
• Dimensionless unit hydrograph procedure
is one of the most well-known methods
for deriving synthetic unit hydrographs.
• The dimensionless unit hydrograph was
derived based on a large number of unit
hydrographs from basins which varied in
characteristics such as size and
geographic location
• The unit hydrographs were averaged and the
final product was made dimensionless by:
• Considering the ratios of q/qp (flow/peak
flow) on the ordinate axis And
• t/tp (time/time to peak) on the abscissa,
• This final, dimensionless unit hydrograph
has a time-to-peak located at approximately
20% of its time base and an inflection point
at 1.7 times the time-to-peak.
: Illustration of dimensionless curvilinear unit hydrograph and equivalent triangular
hydrograph.
One can calculate that the unit hydrograph has
37.5% (or 3/8) of its volume on the rising side
and the remaining 62.5% (or 5/8) of the volume
on the recession side.
• The following relationships are made and will
be useful in further developing the peak rate
relationships.
Again using the geometric relationships (area =

1/2 base times height) of the triangular unit
hydrograph, the total volume is found by:
• The volume, Q, is in inches and the time, T, is
in hours. The peak rate, qp, in inches per hour,
is found to be:
The term, qp, in the above equation is converted

to Cubic feet per second and the drainage
area, A (mi2), is brought into the equation,
which results in:
• for (the area under the unit
hydrograph) from 1-square mile
in 1-hour (3600 seconds).
Substituting in relationships
developed in equation 1 above,
equation 5 is re written:
Hydrograph peaking factors and recession limb ratios
(Wanielista, et al. 1997)
• The peak rate may also be expressed in terms
of other timing parameters besides the time-to-
peak. From the previous figures:
• where D = the duration of the unit excess

rainfall and Tlag = the basin lag time. The peak
flow is now written as:
• The SCS (1972) relates the lag time, T lag, to the
time of concentration, Tc by:
• Time of concentration is the time from the end

of excess precipitation to the inflection point
on the recession limb of the hydrograph.
Combining this with other relationships, as
illustrated in the triangular unit hydrograph,
the following relationships can be develop.
From this, the duration D may be expressed as:
The peak flow rate could now be expressed in terms of the time of
concentration as :
EXAMPLE
•For the 9-hr UG given for the entire
catchment of the river Abay in The
Previous Example .derive a
dimensionless unit hydrograph.
Solution
• From the previous example, tp = 11.8
hr, Qp = 1000 cumec, and hence the
following computation can be made:
• Example
• Construct a 4-hr UH for a drainage basin of
200 km2 and lag time 10 hr by the SCS
method, given (pk = peak):
Extrapolation of flow data to Un-gauged
Sites
• In regions where stream flow does not vary
with respect to the contributing drainage area
flow duration curves can be plotted for the
gauged sites. From these developed flow
duration curves, a family of parametric flow
duration curves can be developed, in which flow
is plotted against the average annual runoff ( R )
or annual discharge, Q at the respective gages
for several exceedance interval percentages.
• A separate curve is developed for
each exceedance interval used.
• A correlation analysis is then

performed to obtain the best-
fitting curve for the data taken
from the measured records of
stream flow.
FDC for gauging stations in a homogenous drainage basin
Determination of average annual
discharge:
• To use the parametric flow duration curves
effectively, it is necessary to determine the
average annual discharge, Q, at the point or
location on the stream for which a flow
analysis is to be made.
• Isohytal maps developed for normal annual
precipitation in a river basin are helpful for
determining the annual discharge. The records
of precipitation and stream flow data should
represent the same period of record
• Utilizing the records of average annual
precipitation input to the basins at measured
streams nearby or having similar hydrologic
characteristics, a runoff coefficient is
estimated for the drainage basin being
studied
• The product of this coefficient and the
computed normal annual precipitation input
to the basin and the basin area can be used
to calculate the average annual discharge as:
With the average runoff annual discharge
estimate it is possible to enter the parametric
flow duration curve and determine values of
flow for different exceedance percentages for
which the parametric flow duration curve has
been developed.
Parametric flow duration curves
THANK
YOU

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CHAPTER

Where Tb is the time base of the hydrograph, in days

Standard duration of effective rainfall, tr (in

Peak discharge Qp (m3/s) of unit hydrograph of

Where t’p = basin lag in hours for an effective

Note that when tR = tr implies QP = Qps

To assist in the sketching of unit hydrographs,

• tp’=6.7 = 7.2 Hrs

• QP =2.78 =2.78 = 225.9m3/s

and the catchment characteristics are A = 4480

• For a catchment A, a 2-hr unit hydrograph was

Again using the geometric relationships (area =

The term, qp, in the above equation is converted

• where D = the duration of the unit excess

• Time of concentration is the time from the end

• A correlation analysis is then

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