Chapter 1.3, Problem 24E

Reminder Round all answers to two decimal places unless otherwise indicated.

Hydrographs When a rainfall brings more water than the soil can absorb, runoff occurs, and hydrologists refer to the event as a rainfall excess. The easiest way to envision runoff is to think of a watershed that drains into the mouth of a single stream. The runoff is the number of cubic feet per minute (cfpm) being dumped into the mouth of the stream. An important way of depicting runoff is the hydrograph, which is simply the graph of total discharge, in cubic feet per minute, versus time. A typical runoff hydrograph is shown in Figure $1.47$. The horizontal axis is hours since rainfall excess began. A hydrograph displays a number of important features.

a. Time to peak is the elapsed time from the start of rainfall excess to peak runoff. What is the time to peak shown by the hydrograph in Figure $1.47$?

b. Time of concentration is the elapsed time from the end of rainfall excess to the inflection point after peak runoff. The end of rainfall excess is not readily apparent from a hydrograph, but it occurs before the peak. If the end of rainfall excess occurred 5 hours after the start of rainfall excess. estimate the time of concentration from Figure $1.47$.

c. Recession time is the time from peak runoff to the end of runoff. Estimate the recession time for the hydrograph in Figure $1.47$.

d. Time base is the time from beginning to end of surface runoff. What is the time base for the hydrograph in Figure $1.47$?

FIGURE $1.47$ A runoff hydrograph