Module-4

Instantaneous Unit Hydrograph

4.1 Introduction

The derivation of unit hydrograph and how to use it for predicting direct runoff hydrographs for
different durations was seen in previous module. 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. There are some limitations in unit hydrograph theory.

4.2 Limitations of Unit Hydrograph

Since uniform intensity over long durations is less likely the storms selected for unit hydrograph
analysis should be of short duration. Short duration storms would most likely produce an intense
and nearly uniform effective rainfall yielding a well defined single peaked hydrograph.

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.

Our assumption of UH is the rainfall is distributed uniformly throughout the period in a
catchment area. But in practical, the rainfall distribution over a period may not be
uniform throughout the catchment area.

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If the stream flow data is not available for a specific stream gauge station, then it is not
possible to derive unit hydrograph.

4.3 Instantaneous Unit hydrograph (IUH)

When a D hr UH is available, other unit hydrographs whose duration is an integral multiple such
as 2D, 3D, etc. can be easily derived by the application of principle of superposition. On the
other hand, if the duration of the required UH is not an integral multiple of D, or if it is less than
D, it becomes necessary to derive a S-Curve hydrograph and then derive the UH of required
duration. To obtain the runoff hydrograph resulting from a storm of varying duration and varying
intensities, it is preferable to have a UH with very short duration. Theoretically the shortest
duration is zero.

If the excess rainfall is of unit amount and its duration is infinitesimally small, the resulting
hydrograph is an impulse response function called the Instantaneous Unit Hydrograph (IUH). To
address the limitation of non uniformity of rainfall, Instantaneous Unit Hydrograph (IUH) is
used. The unit hydrograph becomes more skewed with its peak occurring earlier, Figure 4.1.

Figure 4.1 Unit hydrographs of different durations

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The fictitious case of unit hydrograph of zero duration is known as instantaneous unit
hydrograph which represents the direct runoff from the catchment due to an instantaneous
precipitation of the rainfall excess volume of 1 cm. When a drainage basin is considered as a
system with rainfall as input and runoff as the output the IUH may be called as the impulse
response of the system. As IUH is only an extension of UH concept it is also depends on the
principle of linearity and principle of time invariance. Before dealing with various methods of
deriving IUH of a drainage basin, the convolution process (that is, how an IUH can be applied to
obtain the runoff hydrograph from a given storm) is briefly described.

4.4 Convolution Integral

Convolution integral explains how an IUH can be applied to obtain the runoff hydrograph from a
given storm. Here, IUH is designated as u(t) or sometimes u(0,t). It is a single peaked
hydrograph with a finite base width.

Figure 4.2 Instantaneous Unit Hydrograph (IUH)

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Let Q(t) be the direct runoff, u(t) be the ordinate of IUH at any time t and let I( τ ) be the ordinate
of effective rainfall hyetograph at time τ , D0 is the total duration of effective rainfall as shown
in figure 4.2.

The rainfall input to the basin can be considered as a succession of infinitesimal instantaneous
inputs of depth I( τ ). dτ , the contribution to direct runoff of which can be obtained by placing
the IUH at time τ and multiplying it by I( τ ). dτ And this contribution would be I (τ )u (t − τ ) dτ .
Since all such infinitesimal rainfalls up to t, where t ≤ D0 would contribute to the runoff at time t,
the total direct runoff may be written as

t
Q (t ) = ∫ I (τ )u (t − τ )dτ
0

This equation is called the convolution integral. The main advantage of IUH is that it is
independent of the duration of ERH and thus has one parameter less than a D-h unit hydrograph.
This fact and the definition of IUH make it eminently suitable for the theoretical analysis of
rainfall excess runoff relationship of a catchment. For a given catchment IUH, being independent
of rainfall characteristics, is indicative of the catchment storage characteristics.

4.5 Derivation of IUH using S-Curve

Consider an S-Curve derived from a D-h unit hydrograph. In this, the intensity of rainfall excess
ଵ
I= cm/h. Let another S-Curve of intensity lagged by the time ∆ is also derived from the same
஽

D-h duration UH of intensity I cm/h. If these S-curves are separated by a time interval ∆ as
shown in figure 4.3 and these ordinates are subtracted, a DRH due to a rainfall excess of duration
∆ is obtained. A unit hydrograph of ∆ hours is obtained from this by dividing the above DRH by
I∆.

1 1
UH ( ∆, t ) = [ S (1 / I , t ) − S (1 / I , t − ∆ ) ] . .
I ∆

1 [ S (1/ I , t ) − S (1/ I , t − ∆ )]
=
I ∆

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If ∆ is tending to zero, then IUH ordinate at any time t is given by the following equation.

As ∆ → 0

1 ds (1 / I , t )
IUH (t ) = .
I dt

If D=1 hr, then the ordinate of the IUH at any time t is

ds (1 / I , t )
IUH (t ) =
dt (Since I=1/D)

Figure 4.3
4. Derivation of IUH from S-Curve

The ordinate of IUH(t)) is proportional to the slope of the S-curve

S at time t,, i.e. dS/dt.

Note that the S-curve

curve can be developed using UH of various effective rainfall durations (1/I);
(1/
therefore, the slope of the S-curve
curve may vary with I.. However, the above equation yields a unique
IUH(t) due to the (1/I) term.

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4.6 Nash conceptual model

Nash considered that the IUH can be obtained by routing the instantaneous inflow through a
cascade of linear channels (n numbers) with equal storage coefficient (Fig. 4.4). The out flow
from the first reservoir is considered as inflow into the second reservoir, and so on.

Routing: This term is used to denote the computation principles for estimating the values of
discharge with time and in space, that is, along the length of a river.

A linear reservoir is one whose storage is linearly related to its output by a storage constant k,
which has dimension of time because S is a volume, while Q is a flow rate.

S=kQ

A watershed may be represented by a series of n identical linear reservoirs (Fig. 4.4) each having
the same storage constant k. By routing a unit volume inflow through the n linear reservoirs, a
mathematical model for the IUH of the series can be derived.

Figure 4.4 Linear reservoirs in series

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Inflow into the reservoir = I∆t

Outflow from the reservoir = Q∆t

Storage = I∆t- Q∆t

ௗொ ௗொ
From the continuity equation, = I-Q or I= k +Q
ௗ௧ ௗ௧

The impulse response function of such linear reservoir is,

ଵ
Q= e-t/k
௞

௧ -t/k
Q1 = e
௞

t
௧ 1 −
n −1 k
Q2 = e-t/k
and Qn = t e
௞మ (n − 1)!k n

The outflow from the nth reservoir yields the IUH given by (Q=u(t))

t n −1
1 − t
u (t ) = e k  
k (n − 1)! k

The value of the parameter n, which is a shape parameter, is a measure of the catchment channel
storage, which defines the shape of the IUH. A lower value of n yields a higher peak of IUH
because of less storage flow attenuating the peak flow; a higher value of n leads to a lower peak
of IUH signifying higher storage for attenuating peak flow. The parameter K (delay time, hr),
which is a scale parameter, represents the dynamics of rainfall-runoff process in the catchment.
A smaller K-value reflects a lower time to peak of the runoff hydrograph and a higher K-value
reflects a long time to peak.

The two parameters n and k may be computed by making an analysis of the observed rainfall
runoff data on the catchment as follows

The first moment of the IUH about the origin (t = 0): M1 = nk

The second moment of the IUH about the origin (t = 0): M = n (n + 1) k2

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By routing through the cascade of n-reservoirs, it can be shown that

MQ1 – MI1 = nk

MQ2 – MI2 = n (n + 1)k2 + 2nk MI1

Where MQ1, MQ2 are the first and second moments of direct runoff about the origin and MI1,
MI2 are the first and second moments of the effective rainfall (rainfall excess Pnet) about the
origin.

4.7 Routing technique

The principles of flow-routing can be used to derive unit hydrographs for a catchment where the
area of the catchment area is more than 5000km2. The catchment may be divided into a series of
sub-areas, each contributing inflow into drainage channels (which have storage) due to a flash
storm. The UH can be divided into two parts, the first representing inflow of the rain, and
second, the gradual withdrawal from the catchment storage, shown in figure 4.5

Figure 4.5 Inflow and outflow hydrographs

Assuming that the catchment discharge (O) and the storage (S) are directly proportional

S = KO

Where K = storage coefficient.

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From the principle of continuity, if I = inflow resulting from the instantaneous rain, then

(I – O) ∆t = ∆S

Where I is the average inflow rate in the small interval ∆t, O is the average outflow rate in the
same time interval and ∆S is the corresponding change in the storage in the channel during the
same time interval. If suffixes 1 and 2 are used to denote a given quantity at the beginning and
the end of the time interval and if the inflow and outflow have straight line variation within the
time interval, the above equation can be written as

I1 + I 2 O + O2
∆t − 1 ∆t = S 2 − S1
2 2

I1 and I2 are known from the given inflow hydrograph to be routed through the channel, O1 is the
initial outflow from the channel and which are known. O2 is the only unknown, which can be
obtained from the above equation.

4.8 Synthetic unit hydrograph (SUH)

To develop unit hydrographs to a catchment, detailed information about the rainfall and the
resulting flood hydrograph are needed. However, such information would be available only at a
few locations and in a majority of catchments, especially those which are at remote location; the
data would normally be very scanty. In order to construct unit hydrographs for such areas,
empirical equations of regional validity which relate the salient hydrograph characteristics to the
basin characteristics are available. Unit hydrographs derived from such relationships are known
as synthetic unit hydrographs (SUH). A number of methods for developing SUH are reported in
literature. It should, however be remembered that these methods being based on empirical
correlations are applicable only to the specific regions in which they were developed and should
not be considered as general relationships for use in all regions.