Geomorphology and Kinematic-Wave–Based Hydrograph Derivation
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 123, Issue 1
Abstract
Geomorphology-based instantaneous unit hydrographs have been proposed by several engineers as a tool to produce runoff hydrographs from rainfall for ungauged watersheds. A difficulty in applying the geomorphology-based unit hydrographs is the determination of travel time that is actually a hydraulic problem. In this paper, kinematic-wave theory is used to analytically determine the travel times for overland and channel flows in a stream-ordering subbasin system. The resultant instantaneous unit hydrograph is a function of the time rate of water input (intensity of rainfall excess in application); hence the linearity restriction of the unit hydrograph theory is relaxed. In applying the instantaneous unit hydrographs for hydrograph simulation, the model deals with temporally nonuniform rainfall through convolution integration of the instantaneous unit hydrographs applied to the rainfall excess of varying intensities with time. The proposed model is tested by comparing the simulated and observed hydrographs of an example watershed for several rainstorms with good results. Sensitivity of surface runoff unit hydrographs to the model parameters is also investigated.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
1.
Agnese, C., D'Asaro, D., and Giordano, G.(1988). “Estimation of the time scale of the geomorphologic instantaneous unit hydrograph from effective streamflow velocity.”Water Resour. Res., 24(7), 969–978.
2.
Akan, A. O.(1985). “Kinematic-wave method for peak runoff estimates.”J. Transp. Div., ASCE, 111(4), 419–425.
3.
Cheng, B. L. M. (1982). “A study of geomorphologic instantaneous unit hydrograph,” PhD thesis, Dept. of Civ. Engrg., Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Ill.
4.
Chow, V. T. (1964). “Section 14: Runoff.”Handbook of Applied Hydrology, V. T. Chow, ed., McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, N.Y.
5.
Dooge, J. C. I. (1973). “Linear theory of hydrologic systems.”Tech. Bull. 1468, U.S. Dept of Agr., Washington, D.C.
6.
Dooge, J. C. I. (1986). “Chapter 3: Theory of flood routing.”River Flow Modeling and Forecasting, D. A. Kraijenhoff and J. R. Moll, eds., Reidel Publ. Co., Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
7.
Engman, E. T.(1986). “Roughness coefficients for routing surface runoff.”J. Irrig. and Drain. Engrg., ASCE, 112(1), 39–53.
8.
Feller, W. (1960). An introduction to probability theory and its application, Vol. 1, 2nd Ed., John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, N.Y., p. 250.
9.
Fread, D. L. (1993). “Chapter 10: Flood routing.”Handbook of Hydrology, D. R. Maidment, ed., McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, N.Y.
10.
Gupta, V. K., Waymire, E., and Wang, C. T.(1980). “A representation of an instantaneous unit hydrograph from geomorphology.”Water Resour. Res., 16(5), 855–862.
11.
Hydrologic Engineering Center. (1990). HEC-1 flood hydrograph package: User's manual, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers HEC, Davis, Calif.
12.
Jin, C.-X.(1992). “A deterministic gamma-type geomorphologic instantaneous unit hydrograph based on path types.”Water Resour. Res., 28(2), 479–486.
13.
Kirshen, D. M., and Bras, R. L.(1983). “The linear channel and its effect on the geomorphologic IUH.”J. Hydro., 65, 175–208.
14.
Minshall, N. E.(1960). “Predicting storm runoff on small experimental watersheds.”J. Hydr. Div., ASCE, 86(8), 28–33.
15.
Nash, J. E. (1957). “The form of instantaneous unit hydrograph.”Int. Assoc. Sci. Hydro. Publ. No. 51, IAHS, Gentbrugge, Belgium, 546–557.
16.
Ponce, V. M. (1989). “Section 4.2, Overland flow” and “Chapter 9, Stream channel routing.”Engineering Hydrology, Prentice Hall Book Co., Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
17.
Rodriguez-Iturbe, I., and Valdes, J. B.(1979). “The geomorphologic structure of hydrologic response.”Water Resour. Res., 15(6), 1409–1420.
18.
Samuels, P. G.(1989). “Backwater lengths in rivers.”Proc., Inst. Civ. Engrg., Part 2, London, U.K., 87, 571–582.
19.
Sherman, L. K.(1932). “Stream flow from rainfall by the unit-graph method.”Engrg. News Rec., 108, 501–505.
20.
Smart, J. S. (1972). “Channel networks.” in Adv. in Hydrosci., Vol. 8, V. T. Chow, ed., Academic Press, San Diego, Calif.
21.
Strahler, A. N.(1957). “Quantitative analysis of watershed geomorphology.”Trans. Am. Geophys. Union., 38, 913–920.
22.
Wooding, R. A.(1965). “A hydraulic model for the catchment-stream problem.”J. Hydro., 3, 254–267.
23.
Woolhiser, D. A., and Liggett, J. A.(1967). “Unsteady one-dimensional flow over a plane: the rising hydrograph.”Water Resour. Res., 3(3), 753–771.
24.
Yen, B. C. (1986). “Rainfall-runoff process on urban catchments and its modeling.”Urban Drainage Modelling, Maksimovic and Radojkovic, eds., Pergamon Press, Oxford, U.K., 3–26.
25.
Yen, B. C., and Lee, K. T.(1997). “Unit hydrograph derivation for ungauged watersheds by stream-order laws.”J. Hydrol. Engrg., ASCE, 2(1), 1–9.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 123 • Issue 1 • January 1997
Pages: 73 - 80
Copyright
Copyright © 1997 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Jan 1, 1997
Published in print: Jan 1997
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.