Floods

As civil Engineers, you may be called upon to design dams and other hydraulic structures, and for
designing them you first need to know exactly how big a dam needs to be designed and therein
comes the requirement of this chapter.
So the first step will be knowing the maximum peak and therefore the height of the embankments,
etc..
Alternatives available to estimate peak flood:
a) Rational Method

b) Empirical Method

c) Unit Hydrograph technique

d) Flood frequency studies

Rational Method:
Time of concentration
tc= Time of concentration. Time taken by a drop of water to reach from the farthest point of the
catchment to the outlet. If rainfall continues beyond tc runoff will be constant and at peak value.
Catchment: The area of land draining into a stream or water course at a given location is known as
catchment area.
Isochrone: A line on the catchment map joining points having equal time of travel of surface runoff.
Qp=CAi; for t>tc
For field application: Qp=1/3.6 C itc,p A
Qp in m3/s
C =Runoff coeff
itc,p= min intensity in mm/h duration equal to tc and exceedance probability P
A=km2

Time of concentration
Kirpich Equation
Tc=0.01947 L0.77 S-0.385
Tc in minutes
L= max length of travel of water (m)
S= Slope of catchment =/
is the difference in elevation between the most remote point on the catchment and the outlet.
Rainfall intensity (itc,p)
1

IDF relation
itc,p=(

;
+)

K,a,x and n depend on the area;

i= cm/h; T return period in Years; D in hours

Runoff coefficient (c)

Runoff coefficient depends on a number of factors like nature of surface (whether its sand, clay, silt),
surface slope and rainfall intensity. Though effect of rainfalls is generally not considered.
Some typical values of c:
Urban Area (Paved Area=0.05 to 0.10)
Lawns: sandy soil Flat 2%

c value0.05-0.1

Suitability:
(i)
(ii)

rational formula is found suitable for catchment areas upto 50 KM2

Finds usage in drainage design of urban areas and small culverts and bridges.

For a non-homogeneous area:

=

Empirical formula
These are simple but regional and give satisfactory values in the region for which it was developed.
In other areas give approximate results. Based on statistical correlation.
Almost all of the empirical formula use the catchment area as a parameter and neglect the flood
frequency as a parameter.

Dickens Formula (1865)

Qp=CDA3/4
Qp=maximum flood discharge in m3/s; A=catchment area in KM2;
CD = Dickens constant with
value between 6 to 30 depending on the region example: North Indian Plaisn: 6

Ryves formula (1884)

Qp=CRA2/3
Qp=maximum flood discharge in m3/s; A=catchment area in KM2;

Inglis Formula
Qp=

124
;
+10.4

A is the catchment area in km2

Qp=maximum flood discharfe in m3/s.

2

CR = Ryves constant.

Unit hydrograph Method

<What is a unit hydrograph?>
Here first a unit hydrograph is obtained and is then operated by the design storm to generate design
flood hydrograph.

Flood frequency Studies

These are statistical methods.
Annual Series: The values of the annual maximum flood from a given catchment for a large number
of successive years constitute a hydrologic data series known as Annual series.
The data are arranged in the decreasing order of their magnitude. The probability P of each event
being equalled or exceeded is calculated by the plotting position formula:

P=+1;
The return period T in yrs is 1/P
If plotting on normal graph:
Y-axis: Flood Peak in cumecs
X-Axis Probability of occurrence of flood

If plotting on semi log:

Y-axis: Flood Peak in cumecs
X-Axis Frequency in years.

The probability of occurrence of an event r times in n years. We use combination as how it occurs
does not matter and has to only occur in any order.
Prn=nCrPrqn-r
q=1-P;
Chow (1951) has shown that most frequency distribution functions applicable in hydrologic studies
can be expressed by the general equation of hydrologic frequency analysis:
= +
= value of the variate X of a random hydrologic series with a return period T; = mean of the
variate; =standard deviation of the variate; = frequency factor which depends upon return
period, T and the assumed frequency distribution.

Gumbels method
The Gumbels equation for practical purposes:
= + 1
1 is the standard deviation of the sample size N thus = 1 =
K frequency factor =

( )2
1

= [ln. ln

]
1

= [0.834 + 2.303 log. log

]
1

= 0.577 as N, it is the reduced mean and is a function of sample size N

= 1.2825 as N, it is the reduced standard deviation and is a function of sample size N

Risk, Reliability
Risk, : The probability of occurrence of an event ( ) at least once over a period of n
successive years.
<first tell what is the probability of non occurrence of an event in n successive years>
= 1 (1 )
Reliability = 1

7-0.92
8-0.95

Design Flood
Spillway Design Flood: Design flood used to design the spillway of a dam. This is the maximum
discharge that can be passed in a hydraulic structure without any damage to the structure.
Standard Project Flood (SPF): The flood that would result from a severe combination of
meteorological and hydrological factors that are reasonably applicable in a region. Extremely rare
combinations are not included.
Probable Maximum Flood (PMF): The extreme flood that is physically possible in a region as a result
of severemost combinations, including rare combinations of meteorological and hydrological factors.
SPF is generally 40% to 60% of PMF.
10

Indian Standard Guidelines for design of floods for dams

IS: 11223-1985
Class
Small
Medium
Large

Gross Storage (Mm3)

0.5 to 10
10 to 60
>60

11

Hydraulic Head
7.5 to 12
12 to 30
>30