My Hydrology Assignment

MAKERERE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING DESIGN ART AND TECHNOLOGY

SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
HYDROLOGY II-ASSIGNMENT 1
QUESTION NUMBER ONE
The depth of a lake was measured at several different places with the results in mm as
follows:
395.25 425.85 430.95 433.5 515.1 645.15 734.4 742.05 775.2 879.75
1022.5
935.85 997.05 1004.7 1009.8 1014.9 5 1078.65 1109.25 1162.8 1170.45
1231.6 1257.1
5 1236.75 1241.85 1249.5 1252.05 5 1262.25 1277.55 1280.1 1333.65
a) Plot the time series of this data

b) Plot a 3 year moving average trend for the data above
c) Obtain the relative frequency and cumulative relative frequency with class intervals of
length 5.
d) Calculate the mean, standard deviation and coefficient of skewness for this data
e) Draw the graph of the histogram and cumulative relative frequency and estimate prob
(D≤1020) and prob (382.5≤D≤765)
QUESTION NUMBER TWO
The values of College Station annual precipitation in college stat from 1911 to 1979 are
shown in the table below
a) Plot a 3 year moving average trend for the data above
b) Calculate the mean, standard deviation and coefficient of skewness for College
Statation annual precipitation for the six 10-year periods beginning in 1920, 1930,
1940,1950,1960,1970 (e.g. 1920-1929. Compare values for these statistics for the six
samples. Which of these three sample statistics varies most from sample to sample?
MAKERERE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING DESIGN ART AND TECHNOLOGY
SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
HYDROLOGY II -ASSIGNMENT 2
QUESTION NUMBER ONE
Suppose you are given a task of writing a report on drainage in Kampala city. a) What
are the characteristics/causes of the urban drainage system for Kampala capital city
authority that you will include in your report?
(b) What changes /drainage systems (structural and non structural) will you recommend
to address the challenges for Kampala’s drainage system?
QUESTION NUMBER TWO
(a) Discuss the various factors, which affect the runoff from a basin.
These factors affecting runoff from a basin may be broadly classified into two
categories:
(I) Climatic Factors

 Form of precipitation: If the precipitation is in the form of rainfall, the runoff occurs
quickly and reaches a stream. On the other hand, if the precipitation is in
the form of snow, the runoff is delayed, as it would occur in the subsequent
warm period.
 Intensity of precipitation: The runoff increases with the intensity of
precipitation because an intense rainfall occurs in a short duration and the
evaporation and infiltration losses are relatively small.
 Duration of precipitation: If rainfall occurs over a long period, the runoff is
large because the runoff is proportional to the total rainfall. Moreover, the
infiltration capacity decreases with time.
 Rainfall distribution over the basin: A large area extent of the rainfall over
the basin produces large runoff. Heavy rainfall in the lower reaches of the
basin causes a rapid increase in the runoff. On the other hand, for heavy rainfall
in the upper reaches of the basin, there is a slow increase in runoff.
 Direction of storm movement: The runoff is more when the storm moves in
the downstream direction of a stream as compared to that when it moves in
the upstream direction. If the storm moves in the upstream direction, the
runoff from the upper tributaries reaches the basin outlet after the runoff from
the lower tributaries.
 Antecedent precipitation index: The antecedent precipitation index (API) is a
measure of the soil moisture condition existing before the occurrence of the storm.
The runoff is more if the API is high and the soil quite wet.
(II) Physiographic Factors

 Type of soil: Coarse grained and loose soils have high infiltration capacity
and produce less runoff as compared to fine grained and compacted soils.
 Land use: Runoff depth depends on the land use. Rain falling on a thick forest or
vegetated area produces less runoff because of the interception, transpiration
and infiltration losses as compared to paved areas.
 Area of Basin: The rainfall intensity decreases as the area of the basin increases.
 Shape of basin: The runoff from a fan shaped basin is more than from a
fern shaped basin. In a fan shaped basin, tributaries tend to come together and
join the main stream near the centre of the area. In a fern shaped area, the
tributaries are long and narrow. By the time the peak discharges of the upper
tributaries reaches the basin outlet, the runoff of the lower tributaries has
already left the basin.
 Altitude of the basin: The form of precipitation and the evaporation and
transpiration depend upon the altitude.
 Slope of the basin: Infiltration losses are less in a basin with a steep slope
compared to that in a flat slope. The surface flow and interflow are quite
predominant in steep basins, whereas base flow is more predominant in flat
areas.
(b) What are the methods of estimating runoff from a basin?
The methods of estimating runoff broadly fall into two categories. These are the
peak runoff models and continuous models.
Peak runoff models only estimate the peak runoff and are required for the
design of culverts, bridges, for the evaluation of flooding potential and the
design of stormwater conveyance structures such as sewer pipes. the most
commonly used method for estimating peak flow in urban hydrology is the
Rational method.
i) Rational Method.
It is based on the assumption that a constant intensity of rainfall is spread

over and area, and the effective rainfall is falling on the most remote part of the basin
takes a certain period of time, known as the time of concentration (tc), to arrive at the
basin outlet. If the input rate of excess rainfall on the basin continues for the period of
time of concentration, then the part of excess rain that fell on the most remote part of
the basin will just begin its outflow at the basin outlet and with it, the
runoff will reach its ultimate and the maximum rate.
Continuous-runoff models are used to estimate the entire runoff hydrograph from the
rainfall excess, after initial abstraction, infiltration and depression storage have been
taken into account and are used in the design of reservoirs for stormwater management
systems. There are four types of continuous runoff models are used to estimate the
runoff hydrograph from the rainfall excess commonly used in engineering practice.
These are
i) Unit Hydrograph models
ii) Time area models
iii) Kinematic wave models
iv) Non linear reservoir models.
(c) A small water shed consists of 1.8 km2 of calculated area(c=0.27), 3.0Km 2 under
forest(c=0.15) and 1Km2 under grass cover (c=0.39). There is a fall of 20 m in a
water course of length 2.5KM. The IDF relation of the area is given by
, I in cm/hr, T-yr, t-min.
Estimate the peak rate of runoff for a 25 year frequency. Use Kirpichs formula for time
of concentration below:-
d) A 4-hour rain of average intensity 1 cm/hr falls over an extracted area in Bwaise as
shown below. 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 run off coefficient are 0.7, 0.5 and 0.6 for the 1 st,2nd and 3rd hours of rainfall
respectively and attains a constant rate of 0.87 after 3 hours. Use the time of
concentration method of runoff computation to establish the discharge at site 0. Plot a
graph of the sensitivity of the discharge with variation in the coefficients of runoff
between +/- 10%.

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MAKERERE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING DESIGN ART AND TECHNOLOGY

QUESTION NUMBER ONE

a) Plot the time series of this data

QUESTION NUMBER ONE

QUESTION NUMBER TWO

(I) Climatic Factors

(II) Physiographic Factors

(b) What are the methods of estimating runoff from a basin?

It is based on the assumption that a constant intensity of rainfall is spread

, I in cm/hr, T-yr, t-min.

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