The Snyder Method
   Developed by Snyder (1938)
   Snyder defined a Standard unit hydrograph
    and related its characteristics to the basin
    characteristics
   The standard unit hydrograph corresponds to
    the effective rainfall of duration tr , in hours,
    and is related to the basin lag, tp
    The Snyder Method
             tp
      tr                  (1)
             5.5
   The Basin Lag tp is defined as
    the time of lag to peak in hours taken as
    the time from the centre of mass of the
    effective rainfall of unit duration to the
    peak of the UH, or, simply, the watershed
    lag
           Snyder’s Synthetic UH
                    Watershed Lag
                                      Qp
                              tp
                                     W75
                                      W50
Effective                tr
rainfall duration
                                              tb
                                    Time, h
    Snyder’s Synthetic UH
   According to the Snyder method
          t p  Ct(LLca )  0 .3
                                                            ( 2)
       L = length of the main stream from the outlet to divide, km
       Lca = the distance from the outlet to a point on the stream
         nearest the centre of area of the watershed, km
       Ct = a constant (Range 0.3 – 6)
   The quantity LLca is a measure of the size
    and shape of the watershed
   It is thus seen that watershed slopes are not
    considered here
   Due to this ER, the peak discharge, Qp of the
    resulting UH was given by
                     2.78 c p A
              Qp                                           (3)
                        tp
    Qp = peak discharge m3/s
    Cp = a constant (0.56 – 0.69) derived from gauged basins in the same
    region
    Snyder’s Synthetic UH
   The peak discharge intensity, qp of the resulting
    UH was given by
                 Qp       2.78 c p
          qp                                             (4)
                 A          tp
    qp = discharge per unit area of the drainage basin, cumec/km2
Snyder’s Synthetic UH
   In case ct and cp are known for a region, a
    standard unit hydrograph can be
    developed using Equations (1) – (3)
   However, if the synthetic unit hydrograph is
    needed for duration tR, which is different
    from tr, then the standard basin lag is
    modified using the following relationship
             t R  t r 21       tR
    t  tp 
     '
     p                    tp        (5)
                 4      22       4
Snyder’s Synthetic UH
   In case ct and cp are not known for a region,
    these can be estimated using the measured
    values of L and Lca from basin map, and
    values of effective duration, basin lag and the
    peak discharge rate from a derived
    (observed) unit hydrograph of the basin
   The time base of UH, tb (in days) is given by
                    tp'
         tb  3                     (6)
                    8
Snyder’s Synthetic UH
   To facilitate the smooth plot of the derived
    synthetic unit hydrograph, U.S. Army Corps of
    Engineers (1959) suggested following
    additional relationships
                  5.87
          W50                     (7 )
                  q1p.08
                    W50
           W75                    (8)
                    1.75
Snyder’s Synthetic UH
   where, W50 and W75 are width of the
    hydrograph at 50% and 75% of peak
   Usually, one-third of the W50 and W75 is kept
    on the left of the peak and two-third on
    the right