Example Problems on Runoff
Example #1: For a given catchment, the mean monthly rainfall and temperatures are given.
Calculate the annual runoff and annual runoff coefficient by Khosla`s formula.
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
T (°C) 12 16 21 27 31 34 31 29 28 29 19 14
P (cm) 4 4 2 0 2 12 32 29 16 2 1 2
Solution
In Khosla`s formula (Eq. 8)
Rm = Pm – Lm
If the loss Lm is higher than Pm then Rm is taken to be zero.
The value of Rm calculated by Eq. 8 are
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
Rm 0 0 0 0 0 0 17.1 15.1 2.6 0 0 0
(cm)
Annual runoff = Total = 17.1 + 15.1 + 2.6 = 34.8 cm
Annual runoff 34.8
Annual runoff coefficient 0.30
Annual ra inf all 116
Example #2: Compute the value of weighted runoff coefficient of watershed from the following
data regarding watershed characteristics.
Land use and Cultivated Pasture land Populated
topography land Rolling and sandy land
Flat, sandy soil flat, sandy
soil soil
Area (ha) 100 30 75
Solution
Using the weighted runoff coefficient formula
C1 a1 C 2 a 2 C3 a3
C
a1 a 2 a3
In which, the values of C1 are obtained from the above table, for a given land use and
topographical feature of the watershed. The calculation is shown in the following table.
Land use/ topography Area (ha) C Computation
1. Cultivated land +
flat topography + 100 0.30
sandy soil
C1 a1 C 2 a 2 C3 a3
2. Pasture land + 30 0.16 C
rolling topography + a1 a 2 a3
sandy soil 100 0.30 30 0.16 75 0.40
75 0.40
100 30 75
3. Populated land +
flat topography + 0.32
sandy loam soil
Example #3: An engineer is required to design a drainage system for an airport with an area of
2.5 km2 for 50 years return period. The 50-year rainfall intensity in that region is given by
35
I
t 100.38
where I is intensity in cm/h and t is duration in minutes.
If the concentration time for the area is estimated as 50 minutes, what is discharge that must be
used to design the system?
Solution
Concentration time tc = 50 min
35 35 35
Intensity of rainfall for this duration = I 7.384 cm / h
t 10 0.38
60 0.38
4.74
Since the airport is fully paved, it may be considered impervious and the runoff coefficient C
may be taken as unity. Therefore
Q 2.778 CAI 2.778 1 2.5 7.384 51.25 m 3 / s
Therefore the engineer must design the drainage system for a discharge of 51.28 m3/s.
Example #4: A culvert is proposed across stream drainage an area of 185 ha. The catchment has
a slope of 0.004 and the length of travel for water is 1150 m. Estimate the 25-year discharge if
the rainfall intensity is given by
1000Tr 0.2
I
t 200.7
where I is in mm/h, Tr is in years and t is in minutes. Assume a runoff coefficient of 0.35.
Solution
L = 1150 m
S = 0.004
t c 0.01951150 0.0040.385 37.2 min utes
0.77
1000 25
0.2
I 112.05 mm / h 11.205 cm / h
37.2 200.7
A = 185 ha = 1.85 km2
C = 0.35
Q 2.778 0.35 1.85 11.205 20.12 m 3 / s
Example #5: Calculate the time of concentration of 306 ha land of watershed, if the maximum
length of drainage course is 350 m and effective slope of water course is about 4 m/ 100 m.
Solution
Given that, L = 350 m
S = 4/ 100
Time of concentratin (Tc ) 0.02 L0.77 S 0.385.
0.385
4
0.02 350
0.77
100
6.82 min utes
Since the above relationship does not give the accurate estimate for the small watershed smaller
than 5 sq. km. Haan et al (1982) proposed another relationship. He justified that, small
watersheds are mainly dominated by overland flow rather than channel flow. Incorporating this
effect, he formulated the following equation for computing the time of concentration which is
basically the addition of overland flow component in the above equation.
0.467
0.385
2L n
Tc 0.02 L 0.77
S 0
S0
where, L0 = length of overland flow, m
n = Manning’s roughness coefficient (Tab.)
S0 = Slope along the flow path, m/m
Example #6: An outlet is to be designed for a small town covering 12 km2, of which road area is
30 %, residential area is 50 % and the rest is industrial area. The slope of the catchment is 0.005
and the maximum length of the town measured on the map is 1.6 km. From depth duration
analysis for the catchment, the following informations are obtained.
Rainfall duration (min) 30 40 50
Rainfall depth (mm) 30 40 44
Solution
Time of concentration can be calculated from Kirpich equation
tc = 0.02 L0.77 S-0.385 = 0.00 16000.77 0.005-0.385 = 45 min
Rainfall for tc = 45 min is computaed by interpolating data given in the problem.
i.e. 40 45 50
40 ? 44
50 40 44 40 10 4
10? 40 20 10 ? 400 20 ? 42 mm
45 40 ? 40 5 ? 40
I = 42 mm within 45 min = 56 mm/h
From Table 5.2, C for road is 0.8, for residential area is 0.40 and for industrial area is 0.20.
0.8 0.312 0.4 0.512 0.2 0.2 12
Composite C
12
= 0.24 + 0.20 + 0.04 = 0.48
0.48 56 12
QP 89.6 m3 / s
3.6
Example #7: The rainfall rates for successive 30-minutes interval up to 3-hours are given as
under. Calculate the -index and W-indices, assuming that surface runoff is 3.6 cm.
Time (minute) 0 30 60 90 120 150 180
Rainfall rate (cm/s) 0 1.6 3.6 5.0 2.8 2.2 1.0
Solution:
1. Computation of -index
2. Let ‘I’ is the rainfall intensity. Then surface runoff = ( I - ) t
Total runoff = ( I - ) t
Thus, substituting the value of ‘I’ and ‘t’, we have,
30
3.6 3.6 5 2.8 2.2 60
= 1.6 cm/h
Computation of W-index
P 1.6 3.6 5.0 2.8 2.2 1.0
30
8.1 cm
60
Q = 3.6 cm
S=0
Tr = 3 hour = 180 minutes
8.1 3.6 0
W 0.025 cm / min
180
