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UNIT 2
HYDROGRAPH

Introduction
it was explained what a hydrograph is and that it indicates the response of water flow of a given
catchment to a rainfall input. It consists of flow from different phases of runoff, like the overland flow,
interflow and base flow. Methods to separate base flow from the total stream flow hydrograph to obtain
the direct runoff hydrograph as well as infiltration loss from the total rainfall hyetograph to determine
the effective rainfall have been discussed. In this lesson, a relationship between the direct runoff
hydrograph of a catchment observed at a location (the catchment outlet) and the effective rainfall over
the catchment causing the runoff are proposed to be dealt with.

We start with discussing how the various aspects of a catchment’s characteristics affects the shape of
the hydrograph.

Hydrograph and the catchment’s characteristics

The shape of the hydrograph depends on the characteristics of the catchment. The major factors are
listed below.

Shape of the catchment

A catchment that is shaped in the form of a pear, with the narrow end towards the upstream and the
broader end nearer the catchment outlet (Figure 1a) shall have a hydrograph that is fast rising and has a
rather concentrated high peak (Figure 1b).

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A catchment with the same area as in Figure 1 but shaped with its narrow end towards the outlet has a
hydrograph that is slow rising and with a somewhat lower peak (Figure 2) for the same amount of
rainfall.

Though the volume of water that passes through the outlets of both the catchments is same (as areas
and effective rainfall have been assumed same for both), the peak in case of the latter is attenuated.

Size of the catchment

Naturally, the volume of runoff expected for a given rainfall input would be proportional to the size of
the catchment. But this apart, the response characteristics of large catchment ( say, a large river basin)
is found to be significantly different from a small catchment (like agricultural plot) due to the relative
importance of the different phases of runoff (overland flow, inter flow, base flow, etc.) for these two
catchments. Further, it can be shown from the mathematical calculations of surface runoff on two
impervious catchments
(like urban areas, where infiltration becomes negligible), that the non-linearity between rainfall and
runoff becomes perceptible for smaller catchments.

Slope

Slope of the main stream cutting across the catchment and that of the valley sides or general land slope
affects the shape of the hydrograph. Larger slopes generate more velocity than smaller slopes and
hence can dispose off runoff faster. Hence, for smaller slopes, the balance between rainfall input and
the runoff rate gets stored temporally over the area and is able to drain out gradually over time. Hence,
for the same rainfall input to two catchments of the same area but with with different slopes, the one
with a steeper slope would generate a hydrograph with steeper rising and falling limits.

Here, two catchments are presented, both with the same are, but with different slopes. A similar
amount of rainfall over the flatter catchment (Figure
3) produces a slow-rising moderated hydrograph than that produced by the steeper catchment (Figure
4).

Effect of rainfall intensity and duration on hydrograph

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If the rainfall intensity is constant, then the rainfall duration determines in part the peak flow and time
period of the surface runoff.

The concept of Isochrones might be helpful for explaining the effective of the duration of a uniform
rainfall on the shape of hydrograph. Isochrones are imaginary lines across the catchment (see Figure 5)
from where water particles traveling downward take the same time to reach the catchment outlet.

If the rainfall event starts at time zero, then the hydrograph at the catchment outlet will go on rising and
after a time‘ t’, the flow from the isochrone I would have reached the catchment outlet. Thus, after a
gap of time t, all the area A1 contributes to the outflow hydrograph.

Continuing in this fashion, it can be concluded that after a lapse of time ‘4 t’, all the catchment area
would be contributing to the catchment outflow, provided the rain continues to fall for atleast up to a
time 4 t. If rainfall continues further, then the hydrograph would not increase further and thus would
reach a plateau.

Effect of spatial distribution of rainfall on hydrograph

The effect of spatial distribution of rainfall, that is, the distribution in space, may be explained with the
catchment image showing the isochrones as in Figure 6. Assume that the regions between the
isochrones receive different amounts of rainfall (shown by the different shades of blue in the figure).

If it is assumed now that only area A1 receives rainfall but the other areas do not, then since this region
is nearest to the catchment outlet, the resulting hydrograph immediately rises. If the rainfall continues
for a time more than ‘ t’, then the hydrograph would reach a saturation equal to re.A1, where re is the
intensity of the effective rainfall.
Assume now that a rainfall of constant intensity is falling only within area A 4, which is farthest from
the catchment outlet. Since the lower boundary of A4 is the Isochrone III, there would be no resulting
hydrograph till time ‘3 t’.

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If the rain continues beyond a time ‘4 t’, then the hydrograph would reach a saturation level equal to r e
A4 where re is the effective rainfall intensity.

Direction of storm movement

The direction of the storm movement with respect to the orientation of the catchments drainage
network affects both the magnitude of peak flow and the duration of the hydrograph. The storm
direction has the greatest effect on elongated catchments, where storms moving upstream tend to
produce lower peaks and broader time base of surface runoff than storms that move downstream
towards the catchment outlet. This is due to the fact that for an upstream moving storm, by the time the
contribution from the upper catchment reaches the outlet, there is almost no contribution from the
lower watershed.

Rainfall intensity

Increase in rainfall intensity increases the peak discharge and volume of runoff for a given infiltration
rate. In the initial phases of the storm, when the soil is dry, a rainfall intensity less than infiltration rate
produces no surface runoff. Gradually, as the rain progresses, the soil saturates and the infiltration rate
reduces to a steady rate.

The relation between rainfall intensity and the discharge, strictly speaking, is not linear, which means
that doubling the rainfall intensity does not produce a doubling of the hydrograph peak value.
However, this phenomenon is more pronounced for small watersheds, such as an urban area. However
in the catchment scale, due to the uncertainty of all the hydrological parameters, it might be assumed
that the rainfall runoff relation follows a linear relationship. This assumption is made use of in the unit
hydrograph concept, which is explained in the next section.

The Unit Hydrograph

The Unit Hydrograph (abbreviated as UH) of a drainage basin is defined as a hydrograph of direct
runoff resulting from one unit of effective rainfall which is uniformly distributed over the basin at a
uniform rate during the specified period of time known as unit time or unit duration. The unit quantity
of effective rainfall is generally taken as 1mm or 1cm and the outflow hydrograph is expressed by the
discharge ordinates. The unit duration may be 1 hour, 2 hour, 3 hours or so depending upon the size of
the catchment and storm characteristics. However, the unit duration cannot be more than the time of
concentration, which is the time that is taken by the water from the furthest point of the catchment to
reach the outlet.

Figure 7 shows a typical unit hydrograph.

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Unit hydrograph assumptions

The following assumptions are made while using the unit hydrograph principle:

1. Effective rainfall should be uniformly distributed over the basin, that is, if there are ‘N’ rain
gauges spread uniformly over the basin, then all the gauges should record almost same amount of
rainfall during the specified time.

2. Effective rainfall is constant over the catchment during the unit time.

3. The direct runoff hydrograph for a given effective rainfall for a catchment is always the same
irrespective of when it occurs. Hence, any previous rainfall event is not considered. This antecedent
precipitation is otherwise important because of its effect on soil-infiltration rate, depressional and
detention storage, and hence, on the resultant hydrograph.

4. The ordinates of the unit hydrograph are directly proportional to the effective rainfall hyetograph
ordinate. Hence, if a 6-h unit hydrograph due to 1 cm rainfall is given, then a 6-h hydrograph due to 2
cm rainfall would just mean doubling the unit hydrograph ordinates. Hence, the base of the resulting
hydrograph (from the start or rise up to the time when discharge becomes zero) also remains the same.

Unit hydrograph limitations

Under the natural conditions of rainfall over drainage basins, the assumptions of the unit hydrograph
cannot be satisfied perfectly. However, when the hydrologic data used in the unit hydrograph analysis
are carefully selected so that they meet the assumptions closely, the results obtained by the unit
hydrograph theory have been found acceptable for all practical purposes.

In theory, the principle of unit hydrograph is applicable to a basin of any size.

However, in practice, to meet the basic assumption in the derivation of the unit hydrograph as closely
as possible, it is essential to use storms which are uniformly distributed over the basin and producing
rainfall excess at uniform rate. Such storms rarely occur over large areas. The size of the catchment is,
therefore, limited although detention, valley storage, and infiltration all tend to minimize the effect of
rainfall variability. The limit is generally considered to be about 5000 sq. km. beyond which the
reliability of the unit hydrograph method diminishes. When the basin area exceeds this limit, it has to
be divided into sub-basins and the unit hydrograph is developed for each sub-basin. The flood
discharge at the basin outlet is then estimated by combining the sub-basin floods, using flood routing
procedures.

Note:
Flood Routing: This term is used to denote the computation principles for estimating the values of
flood discharge with time and in space, that is, along the length of a river. Details about flood routing
procedures may be had from the following book:
M H Chaudhry (1993) Open channel hydraulics, Prentice Hall of India

Application of the unit hydrograph

Calculations of direct runoff hydrograph in catchment due to a given rainfall event (with recorded
rainfall values), is easy if a unit hydrograph is readily available. Remember that a unit hydrograph is
constructed for a unit rainfall falling for a certain T-hours, where T may be any conveniently chosen
time duration. The effective rainfall hyetograph, for which the runoff is to be calculated using the unit
hydrograph, is obtained by deducting initial and

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Infiltration losses from the recorded rainfall. This effective rainfall hyetograph is divided into blocks of
T-hour duration. The runoff generated by the effective rainfall for each T-hour duration is then
obtained and summed up to produce the runoff due to the total duration.

Direct runoff calculations using unit hydrograph

Assume that a 6-hour unit hydrograph (UH) of a catchment has been derived, whose ordinates are
given in the following table and a corresponding graphical representation is shown in Figure 8.

Time Discharge (m3/s)

(hours)
0 0
6 5
12 15
18 50
24 120
30 201
36 173
42 130
48 97
54 66
60 40
66 21
72 9
78 3.5
84 2

Assume further that the effective rainfall hyetograph (ERH) for a given storm on the region has been
given as in the following table:

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Time Effective Rainfall (cm)

(hours)
0 0
6 2
12 4
18 3

This means that in the first 6 hours, 2cm excess rainfall has been recorded, 4cm in the next 6 hours, and
3cm in the next.

The direct runoff hydrograph can then be calculated by the three separate hyetographs for the three
excess rainfalls by multiplying the ordinates of the hydrograph by the corresponding rainfall amounts.
Since the rainfalls of 2cm,
4cm and 3cm occur in successive 6-hour intervals, the derived DRH corresponding to each rainfall is
delayed by 6 hours appropriately.

These have been shown in the figures indicated.

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DRH for
2cm excess
rainfall in
0-6 hours

DRH for
4cm excess
rainfall in 6-
12 hours

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DRH for
3cm excess
rainfall in
12-18
hours

The final hydrograph is found out by adding the three individual hydrographs, as shown in Figure 12.

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The calculations to generate the direct runoff hydrograph (DRH) from a given
UH and ERH can be conveniently done using a spreadsheet program, like the Microsoft XL.

A sample calculation for the example solved graphically is given in the following table. Note
the 6 hour shift of the DRHs in the second and subsequent hours.

Time Unit Direct runoff Direct runoff Direct runoff Direct

(hours Hydrograp due to 2 cm due to 4 cm due to 3 cm runoff
) h ordinates excess rainfall excess rainfall excess rainfall Hydrograph
(m3/s) in first 6 hours in second 6 in third 6 (m3/s)
(m3/s) hours hours
(I) (m3/s) (m3/s)
(II) (III) (I)+(II)+(III)
0 0 0 0 0 0
6 5 10 0 0 10
12 15 30 20 0 50
18 50 100 60 15 175
24 120 240 200 45 485
30 201 402 480 150 1032
36 173 346 804 360 1510
42 130 260 692 603 1555
48 97 194 520 519 1233
54 66 132 388 390 910
60 40 80 264 291 635
66 21 42 160 198 400
72 9 18 84 120 222
78 3.5 7 36 63 106
84 2 4 14 27 45
90 0 8 10.5 18.5
96 0 0 6 6

The last column in the above table gives the ordinates of the DRH produced by the ERH. If the
base flow is known or estimated (Lesson 2.2), then this should be added to the DRH to obtain
the 6-houly ordinates of the flood hydrograph.

The S – curve

This is a concept of the application of a hypothetical storm of 1 cm ERH of infinite duration

spread over the entire catchment uniformly. This may be done by shifting the UH by the T-
duration for a large number of periods. The

resulting hydrograph (a typical one is shown in Figure 13) is called the S – hydrograph, or the S – curve
due to the summation of an infinite series of T-hour unit hydrographs spaced T – hour apart. For the
example of the UH given in the earlier section, the table below provides the necessary calculations.

UH UH UH UH
Ordi- Ordi- Ordi- Ordi-
nates nates nates nates
Time UH shifted shifted shifted shifted
(hr) Ordi- by by by by … … … … … … …

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Nates 6 hr 12 hr 18 hr 24 hr

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
6 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
12 15 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
18 50 15 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
24 120 50 15 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
30 201 120 50 15 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
36 173 201 120 50 15 5 0 0 0 0 0 0
42 130 173 201 120 50 15 5 0 0 0 0 0
48 97 130 173 201 120 50 15 5 0 0 0 0
54 66 97 130 173 201 120 50 15 5 0 0 0
60 40 66 97 130 173 201 120 50 15 5 0 0
66 21 40 66 97 130 173 201 120 50 15 5 0
72 9 21 40 66 97 130 173 201 120 50 15 5
78 3.5 9 21 40 66 97 130 173 201 120 50 15
84 2 3.5 9 21 40 66 97 130 173 201 120 50
90 0 2 3.5 9 21 40 66 97 130 173 201 120
96 0 0 2 3.5 9 21 40 66 97 130 173 201

The average intensity of the effective rainfall producing the S – curve is 1/T
(mm/h) and the equilibrium discharge is given as ( TA X104 )m3 / h where, A is
the area of the catchment in Km2 and T is the unit hydrograph duration in hours.

Application of the S – curve

Though the S – curve is a theoretical concept, it is an effective tool to derive a t – hour UH from a T –
hour UH, when t is smaller that T or t is lager than T but not an exact multiple of T. In case t is a
multiple of T, the corresponding
UH can be obtained without the aid of a S – hydrograph by summing up the required number of UH,
lagged behind by consecutive T – hours.

For all other cases shift the original S – hydrograph as derived for the T – hour UH by t hours to obtain
a lagged S- hydrograph. Subtract the ordinates of the second curve from the first to obtain the t – hour
graph. Next, scale the ordinates of the discharge hydrograph by a factor t/T, to obtain the actual t –
hour UH which would result due to a total 1 cm of rainfall over the catchment.
This is illustrated by the S-curve derived in the previous section.

Recall that the S-curve was obtained from a 6-hour UH. Let us derive the UH for a 3-hour duration.
Since we do not know the ordinates of the S-curve at every 3-hour interval, we interpolate and write
them in a tabular form as given in the table below:

Time S-curve S-curve S-curve Difference of 3-hr UH

ordinates as ordinates as ordinates as the two S- ordinates
derived derived derived curves Col. (IV)
from 6-hr from 6-hr from 6-hr divided
UH UH but with UH lagged (II) – (III) by
inter- by 3 hrs. (3hr/6hr)
polated (III) (IV) =
(I) values (IV)*2

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(II)
3
(hours) (m /s) (m3/s) (m3/s) (m3/s) (m3/s)

0 0 0 0
3 2.5 0 2.5
6 5 5 2.5 2.5
9 12.5 5 7.5
12 20 20 12.5 7.5
15 45 20 25
18 70 70 45 25
21 130 70 60
24 190 190 130 60
27 290.5 190 100.5
30 391 391 290.5 100.5

33 477.5 391 86.5

36 564 564 477.5 86.5
39 629 564 65
42 694 694 629 65
45 742.5 694 48.5
48 791 791 742.5 48.5
51 824 791 33
54 857 857 824 33
57 877 857 20
60 897 897 877 20
63 907.5 897 10.5
66 918 918 907.5 10.5
69 922.5 918 4.5
72 927 927 922.5 4.5
75 928.75 927 1.75
78 930.5 930.5 928.75 1.75
81 931.35 930.5 0.85
84 932.5 932.5 931.35 1.15
87 932.5 932.5 0
90 932.5 932.5 932.5 0
93 932.5 932.5 0
96 932.5 932.5 932.5 0

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Derivation of unit hydrograph

An observed flood hydrograph at a streamflow gauging station could be a hydrograph resulting from an
isolated intense short – duration storm of nearly uniform distribution in time and space, or it could be
due to a complex rainfall event of varying intensities. In the former case, the observed hydrograph
would mostly be single peaked whereas for the latter, the hydrograph could be multi peaked depending
on the variation in the rainfall intensities. For the purpose of this course, we shall only consider rainfall
to be more or less uniformly distributed in time and space for the purpose of demonstrating the
derivation of unit hydrograph. The procedure may be broadly divided into the following steps:

1. Obtain as many rainfall records as possible for the study area to ensure that the amount and
distribution of rainfall over the watershed is accurately known. Only those storms which are
isolated events and with uniform spatial and temporal distribution are selected along with the
observed hydrograph at the watershed outlet point.

2. Storms meeting the following criteria are generally preferred and selected out of the uniform
storms data collected in Step 1.

3. Storms with rainfall duration of around 20 to 30 % of basin lag,

4. Storms having rainfall excess between 1 cm and 4.5 cm.

5. From the observed total flood hydrograph for each storm separate the base flow and plot the direct
runoff hydrograph.

6. Measure the total volume of water that has passed the flow measuring point by finding the area
under the DRH curve. Since area of the watershed under consideration is known, calculate the
average uniform rainfall depth that produced the DRH by dividing the volume of flow
(step 3) by the catchment area. This gives the effective rainfall (ER) corresponding to the storm.
This procedure has to be repeated for each selected storm to obtain the respective ERs.

7. Express the hydrograph ordinate for each storm at T – hour is the duration of rainfall even. Divide
each ordinate of the hydrograph by the respective storm ER to obtain the UH corresponding to
each storm.

8. All UHs obtained from different storm events should be brought to the same duration by the S –
curve method.

9. The final UH of specific duration is obtained by averaging the ordinates of he different UH

obtained from step 6.

Unit hydrograph for ungauged catchments

For catchments with insufficient rainfall or corresponding concurrent runoff data, it is necessary to develop
synthetic unit hydrograph. These are unit hydrographs constructed form basin characteristics. A number of
methods like that of Snyder’s had been used for the derivation of the Synthetic hydrographs. However, the
present recommendations of the Central Water Commission discourage the use of the Snyder’s method.

Instead, the Commission recommends the use of the Flood Estimation Reports brought out for the various
sub–zones in deriving the unit hydrograph for the region. These sub–zones have been demarcated on the
basis of similar hydro – meteorological conditions and a list of the basins may be found. The design flood
is estimated by application of the design storm rainfall to the synthetic hydrograph developed by the
methods outlined in the reports.

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Catchment modelling

With the availability of personal computer high processing speed within easy reach of all, it is natural that
efforts have been directed towards numerical modeling the catchment dynamics and its simulation. It is not
possible to outline each model in detail, but the general concept followed is to represent each physical
process by a conceptual mathematical model which can be represented by an equivalent differential or
ordinary equation. These quations are solved by changing the equations to solvable form and writing
algorithms in suitable computer language. However, the user of the programs generally input data through a
Graphical User Interface (GUI) since there is a lot of spatial information to be included like land-use,
land-cover, soil property, etc. Now a day, this information interaction between the user and the computer is
through Geographic Information System (GIS) software.
Once the information is processed, the output results are also displayed graphically. A list of notable
conceptual models may be found in the following websites:

Important terms

1. Linearity: A linear relation between rainfall and runoff form a catchment suggests that variations in
rainfall over a catchment is related to the variations in runoff from the outlet of the catchment by a linear
function.

2. Basin lag: Basin lag is the time between the peak flow and the centroid of rainfall.

3. Graphical User Interface (GUI): An interface that represents programs, files, and options with
graphical images is called GUI. These images can include icons, menus, and dialog boxes. The user selects
and activates these options by pointing and clicking with a mouse or with the keyboard. A
particular GUI item (for example, a scroll bar) works the same way in all applications.

4. Geographic Information System (GIS): A system, usually computer based, for the input, storage,
retrieval, analysis and display of interpreted geographic data. The database is typically composed of map-
like spatial representations, often called coverages or layers. These layers may involve a three dimensional
matrix of time, location, and attribute or activity. A GIS may include digital line graph (DLG) data, Digital
Elevation Models (DEM), geographic names, land-use characterizations, land ownership, land cover,
registered satellite and/or areal photography along with any other associated or derived geographic data.

5. HEC-HMS: The Hydrologic Modeling System (HEC-HMS) is designed to simulate the precipitation-
runoff processes of dendritic watershed systems. It is designed to be applicable in a wide range of
geographic areas for solving the widest possible range of problems. This includes large river basin water
supply and flood hydrology, and small urban or natural watershed runoff. Hydrographs produced by the
program are used directly or in conjunction with other software for studies of water availability, urban
drainage, flow forecasting, future urbanization impact, reservoir spillway design, flood damage reduction,
floodplain regulation, and systems operation.

6. HEC-GeoHMS: The Geospatial Hydrologic Modeling Extension (HEC-GeoHMS) is a public-domain

software package for use with the ArcView Geographic Information System. GeoHMS uses ArcView and
Spatial Analyst to develop a number of hydrologic modeling inputs. Analyzing the digital terrain
information, HEC-GeoHMS transforms the drainage paths and watershed boundaries into a hydrologic data
structure that represents the watershed response to precipitation. In addition to the hydrologic data
structure, capabilities include the development of grid-based data for linear quasi-distributed runoff
transformation (ModClark), HEC-HMS basin model, physical watershed and stream characteristics, and
background map file.

7. GRASS: GRASS is an integrated set of programs designed to provide digitizing, image processing,
map production, and geographic information system capabilities to its users. GRASS is open software with
freely available source code written in C.

8 Topmodel: TOPMODEL predicts catchment water discharge and spatial soil water saturation pattern
based on precipitation and evapotranspiration time series and topographic information.

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