Hydrology

Hydrologic
principles
Rainfall and runof
Surface water &
ground water flow
Watersheds and
terrestrial inputs
to
surface water
bodies
 Today ...
Review
Abstractions
Catchments
Runof
Intro to infiltration
 Water Budget
P E
I T

G
 Rainfall / runof

rainfall

depression
storage
overland flow

streamflow
 Abstractions
Processes acting to reduce total
ppt into efective ppt., which
ultimately produces runof
Interception
surface or depression storage
infiltration
evaporation
evapotranspiration
 Interception
Abstraction by vegitation or other surface
cover
throughfall - part of ppt that reaches the
ground
fx of storm, vegatative cover, season
amounts
light storms - 25 percent
moderate storms - 7 to 36 % in growing seas.
heavy & longer storms - small
 Interception
Components
Interception storage - retained by
foliage
evaporation loss
Where ..
L=interception loss (mm)
L= S + K E t S = interception storage depth (mm
K= evap.foliage surf/its horiz projec
E= evap. Rate (mm/hr)
t= storm duration
 Surface/depression
storage
Abstracted ppt is retained in puddles,
ditches , and other depressions in
surface
ex -
sand - 5mm - pervious urban - 6.25
mm
loam - 3.75 mm - paved areas - 1.5 mm
clay - 2.5 mm
 Depression storage
Quantification
lump in with other components such as
infiltration
Peak flow correction factor (SCS TR55)
Vs = Sd (1 - e-kPe) where Vs is the equiv
depth of depress storage (mm), Pe is
precip excess, Sd is depression storage
capacity (mm) [typically 10 to 50 mm],
and k is a const
 Infiltration

Infiltration - seepage of rainfall into the groun

(contribution to groundwater)

R
(in)

t (hrs)
 Antecedent moisture
Infiltration has an important efect on
abstracted ppt.
Infiltration is dependent on initial level of
soil moisture, or antecedent moisture
Antecedent ppt index (API)
typical depletion rate
Ii = K I I-1
where Ii is index for day, Ii-1 is index for
preceding day, and K= recession factor (.85-.98)
Antecedent Precipitation
Index
High API, greater runof
Alternative definitions
Antecedent moisture condition (AMC)
by SCS .. I(dry), II(avg), or III(wet)
SSARR - soil moisture index (SMI) -
relates runof to SMI and ppt. intensity
Runof percent (R/P)*100
 Surface runof

runof depends on the antecedent

ppt index
water flowing on earths surface
overland flow
flow in rills, gullies and streams
3 components contribute
to runof
surface flow
interflow
groundwater flow
 Surface runof in
catchments

Overland flow - sheet flow over land surf.

rill flow - small rivulets (conc of
overland)
gully flow - runof with erosive cabability
streamflow - concentrated runof
river flow - confluence of streams
Catchment characteristics
area
Slope
Shape
Flow length
streams (location, density, nature)
 Catchment area
Drainage area
leads to potential runof volume
catchment divide
may difer from groundwater divide
divide
Estimate: Q peak=Can

A
 Catchment shape
Form
Kf=A/L2 where Kf is form ratio, and L is
catchment length
Compactness
Kc=0.282P/A1/2 where Kc is a compactness
ratio, and P is the perimeter
Catchment response - conc. & timing of runof
If Kf high, or Kc~1, then rapid runof
Factors: relieve, veg. cover, drainage density, ..
 Flow length -
approximate equations
Approximate estimate
Lo=1/(2D)
where D=drainage density since overland
flow length is approx 1/2 of mean distance
between channels
More precise estimate
Lo=1/[2D{1-(Sc/Ss)}1/2]
where Sc is the mean channel slope and Ss
is the mean surface slope
 Linear measures
Catchment length
-length along principle
watercourse G
length to centroid (often
est. as point to 2 or
more bisecting straight
lines L
Lc
Order
0 = overland flow
1 = gets flow from 0
orders
Estimating the overland
flow length

Lo Lo
Lo

collector collector collector

Slope/catchment relief
Relief - an elevation diference
max relief = max elev dif between
highest & lowest points
Relief ratio=max relief/longest straight
lgth
 Land surface slopes

Often use grid

methods to get
slopes
hypsometric
analysis = curve
showning Ei-Emin
elevation of Emax-Emin
catchment above Ai/Ac
this elevation
 Stream channels
S1 - from max and min elevs Slope
S2 - const slope that makes 0.10 - mountains
shaded area above equal to 0.000006 - some tidal riv
shaded area below
S3 - equivalent slope -
break channel into
subreaches & obtain slope E

Li 2
up Down
S3= Distance
(Li/Si )
1/2
 Stream-types and
baseflow
perennial
(always flowing)
flow maintained by base flow during
dry weather
ephemeral
(only in response to ppt)
intermittent
(only in certain times of the year)
 Hydrographs

Characteristics of the hydrograph

Distribution of uniform rainfall

 Runof
Q
Volume or flow rate (cfs)
varies with time
T (hr)
may express in flow per unit
drainage area, per unit runof
depth, or per both
surface flow - direct runof
also get indirect runof
 Runof coefficients

R=k P
surface k
urban residential: single 0.3
apts 0.5
commerial and industrial 0.9
forests 0.05-0.20
parks; farms 0.05-0.30
asphalt and pavement 0.85-1.00
 First part of class ...
Review
Abstractions
Catchments
Runof
 Next ...
Infiltration
Definitions
Physical aspects
Simple models
Physically based models
measurement
3 components contribute
to runof
surface flow
interflow
groundwater flow
 Infiltration
Infiltration - process by which ppt is abstracted by seeping into
soil below ground surface
define it by
an instantaneous infiltration rate (mm/hr)
an average infiltration rate (mm/hr)
Function of rainfall intensity, soil properties and soil type,
surface conditions, vegitative cover, and water quality
Physical problem

unsaturated Close-up
flow view on
next slide

saturated
flow
 Moisture in the
unsaturated zone
unsaturated saturated

air water water

moisture content porosity
=Vwater/Vtot n=Vw /Vt=Vvoid/Vtot
 Capillarity & capillary
fringe
capillary forces result in rise of fluid
2R

hc
(2 cos )
hc =
rwgR

In subsurface, we get a capillary fringe

Vadose/unsaturated zone
capillary fringe
Conditions in unsaturated
zone
total potential or head
h = z + where z is the
elevation head and is the
pressure head (or moisture
potential)
is a function of

Darcys law applies:

q=K( dh/dz
Controls on the Range of
moisture content
Field capacity
maximum amount of moisture the soil
structure can hold agains the force of
gravity
upper level of moisture before rapid
drainage
Wilting point
soil mosture at which permanent wilting
of plants starts to occur
TQ