LECTURE NO.

10

LECTURE OBJECTIVES
To develop an understanding of:
Runoff, components & Factors Affecting.
Isochrones.
Estimation of Runoff.
Excess Rainfall.
Overland flow.

RUNOFF
Runoff:
After the detention storage is built up, the water will
start flowing over the ground and is called runoff.

Detention Storage:
When the precipitation occurs for a longer duration
and at a rate greater than the rate of infiltration some
water is collected on the surface of the earth up to a
certain depth. On attaining a certain depth, the action
of gravity makes this water flow. Before it starts
flowing, the water stored on the surface of earth is
called detention storage.

Total Runoff
A part of infiltrated water moves in the form of inter flow
which soon joins the stream, the remaining portion of
infiltrated water percolates to deeper layers of the
ground and is stored as groundwater. This groundwater
sometimes also joins the stream flow through springs
and seepage process.
The stream flow is then called the total runoff i.e. it is
sum of all the components of precipitation water. Direct
runoff plus the losses gives total runoff.
The runoff can be expressed in depth units for a certain
area or it can be expressed in volume units. It can also be
expressed in discharge units for a specified time.

COMPONENTS OF STREAM FLOW

When a storm occurs, a portion of rainfall infiltrates into the ground
and some portion may evaporate. The rest flows as a thin sheet of
water over the land surface which is termed as overland flow.
If there is a relatively impermeable stratum in the subsoil, the
infiltrating water moves laterally in the surface soil and joins the
stream flow, which is termed as underflow(subsurface flow) or
interflow.

If there is no impeding layer in the subsoil the infiltrating water

percolates into the ground as deep seepage and builds up the ground
water table (GWT or phreatic surface).
The ground water may also contribute to the stream flow, if the GWT
is higher than the water surface level of the stream, creating a
hydraulic gradient towards the stream. Low soil permeability favours
overland flow.

COMPONENTS OF STREAM FLOW

While all the three types of flow contribute to the
stream flow, it is the overland flow, which reaches first
the stream channel,
the interflow being slower reaches after a few hours
and the ground water flow being the slowest reaches
the stream channel after some days.
The term direct runoff is used to include the overland
flow and the interflow.
If the snow melt contributes to the stream flow it can
be included with the direct runoff (from rainfall).

ISOCHRONES
The lines joining all points in a basin of some
key time elements in a storm, such as
beginning of precipitation, are called
isochrones .
They are the time contours and represent
lines of equal travel time and they are helpful
in deriving hydrographs.

FACTORS AFFECTING RUNOFF

Storm Characteristics:

Type or nature of storm

Intensity
Duration
Areal extent
Frequency, etc

Meterological Characteristics:

Temperature
Humidity
Wind velocity
Pressure variation, etc

FACTORS AFFECTING RUNOFF

Basin Characteristics:

Size, shape, slope

Altitude, topography
Geology, land use
Type of drainage net, etc

Storage Characteristics:

Depressions
Pools & ponds
Stream, Channels
Check dams, Upstream reservoirs
Flood plains, etc

Estimation of Runoff
Runoff from rainfall may be estimated
by following methods:
Empirical Formulas, Curves & Tables
Infiltration method
Rational method
Overland flow hydrograph
Unit hydrograph method, etc

Infiltration method
By deducting the infiltration loss, i.e., the area
under the infiltration curve, from the total
precipitation or by the use of infiltration indices.

These methods are largely empirical and the

derived values are applicable only when the
rainfall characteristics and the initial soil moisture
conditions are identical to those for which these
are derived.

Rational method
Involves assuming a suitable runoff coefficient.
Formula:
Yield = C*A*P
Where,
A = Area of Catchment
P = Precipitation
C = Runoff coefficient

The value of C varies depending upon the soil

type, vegetation, geology, etc

Runoff coefficients for various type of

catchments:

Example 4.3(H.M. Raghunath book)

In the rational method, the drainage area is
divided into a number of sub-areas and with
the known times of concentration for different
subareas the runoff contribution from each
area is determined. The choice of the value of
the runoff coefficient C for the different subareas is an important factor in the runoff
computation by this method. This method of
dividing the area into different zones by
drawing lines of time contour, i.e., isochrones,
is illustrated in the following example.

Example 4.3(H.M. Raghunath book)

A 4-hour rain of average intensity 1 cm/hr falls over the fern leaf type
catchment. The time of concentration from the lines AA, BB, CC and DD
are 1, 2, 3 and 4 hours, respectively, to the site 0 where the discharge
measurements are made. The values of the runoff coefficient C are 0.5,
0.6, and 0.7 for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd hours of rainfail respectively and
attains a constant value of 0.8 after 3 hours. Determine the discharge at
site 0.

Example 4.3(H.M. Raghunath book)

Time of Concentration
Different areas of a watershed
contribute to runoff at different
times after precipitation begins
Time of concentration
Time at which all parts of
the watershed begin
contributing to the runoff
from the basin
Time of flow from the
farthest point in the
watershed

Isochrones: boundaries of
contributing areas with equal time of
flow to the watershed outlet

Stream ordering
Quantitative way of studying
streams. Developed by Horton
and then modified by Strahler.
Each headwater stream is
designated as first order stream
When two first order stream
combine, they produce second
order stream
Only when two streams of the
same order combine, the
stream order increases by one
When a lower order stream
combines with a higher order
stream, the higher order is
retained in the combined
stream

Excess rainfall
Rainfall that is neither retained on the land
surface nor infiltrated into the soil
Graph of excess rainfall versus time is called
excess rainfall hyetograph
Direct runoff = observed streamflow - baseflow
Excess rainfall = observed rainfall - abstractions
Abstractions/losses difference between total
rainfall hyetograph and excess rainfall hyetograph

Saturation overland flow

Soil is saturated from
below by subsurface flow.
Any precipitation occurring
over a saturated surface
becomes overland flow
Occurs mainly at the
bottom of hill slopes and
near stream banks

Hortonian Flow
Sheet flow described by
Horton in 1930s
When i<f, all i is absorbed
When i > f, (i-f) results in
rainfall excess
Applicable in
impervious surfaces (urban
areas)
Steep slopes with thin soil
hydrophobic or compacted
soil with low infiltration

Rainfall, i

i>q

Infiltration, f

Later studies showed that Hortonian flow rarely occurs on vegetated surfaces in humid regions.