11/27/2018 What is a Flow Duration Curve?

- Renewables First

U a

The Hydro and Wind Company Securing a

clean energy future, pro tably

Home » Hydropower » Hydropower Learning Centre » What is a Flow Duration Curve?

What is a Flow Duration Curve?

The Flow Duration Curve is one of the most fundamental pieces of information
that feeds into the design of a hydropower project, so for anyone that wants to
understand the how’s and why’s of hydropower design, understanding the ow
duration curve is a good place to start.

The easiest way to understand the Flow Duration Curve is to construct one
from scratch. Firstly let’s assume you have suitable equipment to measure the
ow in a river for ten days. Each day you go out and record the ow and at the
end of the period have a list of ow rates like this:

Date Flow Rate

April 1st 0.25 m3/s

April 2nd 0.40 m3/s

April 3rd 1.60 m3/s

April 4th 1.00 m3/s

April 5th 0.60 m3/s

http://www.renewablesfirst.co.uk/hydropower/hydropower-learning-centre/what-is-a-flow-duration-curve/ 1/9
11/27/2018 What is a Flow Duration Curve? - Renewables First

April 6th 4.50 m3/s

April 7th 3.00 m3/s

April 8th 2.40 m3/s

April 9th 1.90 m3/s

April 10th 1.30 m3/s

Although useful, this doesn’t really help much, and with any table of data it is
often better represented as a graph. If the ow rates are plotted as a bar-chart,
the result is called a hydrograph and shows how the ow rate varied over a
period of time, as shown below.

Hydrograph showing how ow rate varies over time

Although the hydrograph makes it easier to see the extremes of high and low
ows, it is still quite di cult to see what happened in-between. For this you
need a Flow Duration Curve.

http://www.renewablesfirst.co.uk/hydropower/hydropower-learning-centre/what-is-a-flow-duration-curve/ 2/9
11/27/2018 What is a Flow Duration Curve? - Renewables First

To construct a Flow Duration Curve, rather than list the data in date order it is
listed in order of the size of the ow rate, from highest to lowest. The data table
would now look like this:

Date Flow Rate

April 6th 4.50 m3/s

April 7th 3.00 m3/s

April 8th 2.40 m3/s

April 9th 1.90 m3/s

April 3rd 1.60 m3/s

April 10th 1.30 m3/s

April 4th 1.00 m3/s

April 5th 0.60 m3/s

April 2nd 0.40 m3/s

April 1st 0.25 m3/s

Next, and one of the trickier concepts to grasp if this is the rst time you’ve
worked with a Flow Duration Curve, is that rather than plotting the ow rates
against a date, they are plotted against a ‘percentage exceedence’ scale. In our
example there are ten ow rates, and the percentage exceedence scale will go
from 0% to 100%, so each percentage exceedence increment will be 100%
divided by the number of data points, so in this case 100% divided by 10 = 10
percentage exceedence points. This can be added to the table above to show at
what percentage exceedence each ow rate occurred.

Flow Rate Percentage Exceedence

http://www.renewablesfirst.co.uk/hydropower/hydropower-learning-centre/what-is-a-flow-duration-curve/ 3/9
11/27/2018 What is a Flow Duration Curve? - Renewables First

4.50 m3/s 10%

3.00 m3/s 20%

2.40 m3/s 30%

1.90 m3/s 40%

1.60 m3/s 50%

1.30 m3/s 60%

1.00 m3/s 70%

0.60 m3/s 80%

0.40 m3/s 90%

0.25 m3/s 100%

This data can then be plotted and a smoothed line drawn between each data
point to produce the Flow Duration Curve shown below.

Flow Duration Curve

http://www.renewablesfirst.co.uk/hydropower/hydropower-learning-centre/what-is-a-flow-duration-curve/ 4/9
11/27/2018 What is a Flow Duration Curve? - Renewables First

This is now a Flow Duration Curve. If you look at the ow value at ‘60%
exceedence’ you will see that it is 1.3 m3/s. This does not mean that the ow
rate is 1.3 m3/s for 60% of the time, but that the ow is equalled or exceeded
for 60% of the time, so basically the ow is at this ow or at a higher ow for
60% of the time. If you look at the ow at 20% exceedence it is 3 m3/s; this is a
higher ow rate, so the ow is only at or greater than this ow rate for a
smaller proportion of the year. If you look at 100% exceedence, it is 0.25 m3/s,
which is the lowest ow rate recorded, so by de nition the ow in the river is at
this ow rate or more for 100% of the time.

It is a strange concept but an important one to grasp. Flow rate is often

referred to as ‘Q’, and the exceedence value as a subscript number, so Q95
means the ow rate equalled or exceeded for 95% of the time. Qmean is often
discussed, and this is the average or mean ow rate, and is the arithmetic mean
of all of the ow points in the data set (in our example this is 1.695 m3/s) and
normally occurs between Q20 and Q40 on the FDC, depending on how ‘ ashy’
or ‘steady’ the river being analysed is.

The example above is based on ten ow rates over a ten day period. In the ‘real
world’ we would construct a FDC using thousands of data points measured over
many years or even decades. It is important to use full-years of data to make
sure you don’t have a wet winter period included without the corresponding
dryer summer to balance the resulting FDC.

Flow rates between Q0 and Q10 are considered high ow rates, and Q0 to Q1
would be extreme ood events. It is important that hydropower systems are
designed to cope with such extreme ows. Flows from Q10 to Q70 would be
the ‘medium’ range of ows and you would want your hydropower system to
operate e ciently right across these ow rates. Flow rates from Q70 to Q100
are the ‘low ows’ when hydropower systems will just be operating but at a low
power output, and as you move further to the right on the FDC hydro systems
will begin to shut down due to low ow. As ow rates move from Q95 towards
Q100 you move into the low- ow draught ows.

« Back to Hydro Learning Centre

http://www.renewablesfirst.co.uk/hydropower/hydropower-learning-centre/what-is-a-flow-duration-curve/ 5/9
11/27/2018 What is a Flow Duration Curve? - Renewables First

  

Are you considering a hydropower project

in the UK, Ireland or overseas?
Renewables First have considerable experience as a hydro consultant and
have a full project capability, from initial feasibility study through to
system design and installation.

The rst step to develop any small or micro hydropower site is to conduct
a full feasibility study.

Contact us about a feasibility study today!

Once complete, you will understand the site potential and be guided
through the next steps to develop your project. You can read more about
hydropower in our Hydro Learning Centre.

Maximise the nancial return of you hydropower system with GoFlo

Travelling Screens. Find out more here.

« Hydropower
Hydropower Learning Centre

How much hydropower power could

I generate from a hydro turbine?

How much energy could I generate

from a hydro turbine?

How much hydropower income

would my system provide?

How much does a hydropower

system cost to build?

How much does a hydropower

system cost to operate?

What would the hydro return on

investment be?

http://www.renewablesfirst.co.uk/hydropower/hydropower-learning-centre/what-is-a-flow-duration-curve/ 6/9
11/27/2018 What is a Flow Duration Curve? - Renewables First

Are there Feed-in Tari s or grants

available for hydro schemes?

Feed in Tari for hydro, and other

sources of income

What makes a good hydro site?

Can I generate electricity from a fast

owing river without a fall?

How long will a hydro project take?

How long do hydropower

installations last?

Will my scheme need an

environmental licence or planning
permission?

How do hydro systems work?

What is head?

What is ‘ ow’?

Head and ow detailed review

What is a Flow Duration Curve?

What is the minimum head and ow I

need?

Is it worth using a variable speed

generator for hydropower, or a
variable-speed Archimedean Screw?

What is the physical size of

hydropower systems?

Can I Consume Energy Onsite?

Can I generate using an old water

mill?

What is the di erence between

micro, mini and small hydro?

Are hydro systems sh-friendly and

will I need a sh pass?

Which hydro turbine types do we

supply?

http://www.renewablesfirst.co.uk/hydropower/hydropower-learning-centre/what-is-a-flow-duration-curve/ 7/9
11/27/2018 What is a Flow Duration Curve? - Renewables First

Is there a hydropower association for

people interested/involved in
hydropower?

How do you connect hydro to the

grid?

Can I use hydro o -grid and be

independent?

What are the main hydropower

project risks?

Cross ow turbines

Kaplan Turbines

Archimedean screw hydro turbine

Pelton and Turgo Turbines

Renewables First
Head O ce
The Mill
Brimscombe Hill
Brimscombe
Stroud
Gloucestershire
GL5 2QG
+44 (0)1453 88 77 44
Find Us...

Dublin O ce
+353 (0)1 695 0543

info@renewables rst.co.uk

Company number: 6975396

Company News
Case Study: Hydropower refurbishment at Pale Hall, Wales
June 13, 2018

http://www.renewablesfirst.co.uk/hydropower/hydropower-learning-centre/what-is-a-flow-duration-curve/ 8/9
11/27/2018 What is a Flow Duration Curve? - Renewables First

Renewables First embraces AquaZoom’s Vortex Micro Hydro technology

May 16, 2018

100 KW Hydropower scheme at Scottish Forestry Commission site

February 25, 2018

GoFlo Travelling Screens

The GoFlo travelling screen debris management system – high quality, robust and durable
with sophisticated control and monitoring. Go o – the automatic self cleaning travelling
screen designed by hydro experts to maximise hydropower yield and protect eels and sh.

GoFlo Screens are a sister company to Renewables First.

To nd out more visit the GoFlo Screens Website.

Associations & Membership

   
All content © Renewables First 2015

http://www.renewablesfirst.co.uk/hydropower/hydropower-learning-centre/what-is-a-flow-duration-curve/ 9/9