Abstract
Elements of hydrographs such as peak rate and time to peak are essential in the planning and design of hydraulic structures. Not two hydrographs are identical as not two watersheds and rainfall characteristics are identical. This calls for the development of hydrographs for every watershed. However, there are few number of gauged streams as the installation and management costs are expensive . Many models have been developed to overcome these problems, but these methods have not been widely used for they require lots of input parameters. As a result, a number of synthetic unit hydrograph (SUH) methods have been proposed as means of developing hydrographs for ungauged watersheds . However, their performance is not a much studied subject. This research was initiated to investigate the performance of Snyder’s, Soil Conservation Service, Mockus, Nakayasu, Rodriguez-Valdez, and Gupta-Waymire SUH methods at Guvenc micro-watershed in Turkey. Global Mapper was used to download Digital Elevation Model (DEM), and Watershed Management System (WMS) software was used to manipulate the DEM and generate necessary data in accordance with the requirements of each SUH method. The peak discharge and the time to peak were used to compare the observed unit hydrograph (UH) with the SUHs. The results of the study showed that data from internet sources could be used as a source to generate appropriate watershed characteristics necessary to derive SUH. The comparison of the elements of SUHs showed that the SCS approach performed best in simulating the peak runoff in the study area.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Agudelo JI (2001) The economic valuation of water: principles and methods. UNESCO-IHE, Delft
Bhunya PK, Panda SN, Geol MK (2011) Synthetic unit hydrograph methods: a critical review. Open J Hydrol 5:1–8
Bayazit M (1988) Hidrolojik Modeller. I.T.Ü. Rektörlügü, Istanbul
Bayazit M (1995) Hydrology. I.T.Ü. Rektörlügü, Istanbul
Granato GE (2012) Estimating basin lagtime and hydrograph-timing indexes used to characterize stormflows for runoff-quality analysis: U.S. geological survey scientific investigations report 2012–5110. http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2012/5110/. Accessed 18 Oct 2013
Gupta VK, Wymire E (1983) On the formulation of analytical approach to hydrologic response and similarity at the basin scale. J Hydrol 65:95–123
Gupta VK, Wymire E, Wang CT (1980) A representation of an instantaneous unit hydrograph from geomorphology. Water Resour Res 16(5):855–862
Harmel RD, King KW, Haggard BE, Wren DG, Sheridan JM (2006) Practical guidance for discharge and water quality data collection on small watersheds. Trans ASABE 49(4):937–948
KHGM (Koy Hizmetleri Genel Mudurlugu) (2000) Hydrological information research watersheds. Ankara
Maidment DR (1993) Developing a spatially distributed hydrograph by using GIS. In: HydroGIS93: applications of GIS in hydrology and water resources. Proceedings of the Vienna conference, April 1993. IAHS Publication No. 211
Mehlhorn J, Armbruster F, Uhlenbrook S, Leibundgut C (1998) Determination of the geomorphological instantaneous unit hydrograph using tracer experiments in a headwater basin. Hydrology, water resources and ecology in headwaters. In: Proceedings of the HeadWater’98 conference held at Meran/Merano, Italy, April 1998. 1AHS Publication No. 248
Mockus V (1957) Use of storm and watershed characteristics in synthetic hydrograph analysis and application. Paper presented at American Geophysical Union, Southwest Region Meeting, Sacramento, Calif
Ramirez JA (2000) Prediction and modeling of flood hydrology and hydraulics. In: Wohl E (ed) Inland flood hazards: human, riparian and aquatic communities. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Roberson JA, Cassidy JJ, Chaudrhry MH (1998) Hydraulic engineering, 2nd edn. Wiley, New York
Rodriguez-Iturbe I, Valdes JB (1979) The morphologic structure of hydrologic response. Water Resour Res 15(6):1409–1420
Safarina AB, Salim HT, Hadihardaja IK, dan Syahril BK (2009) Validity analysis of synthetic unit hydrograph methods for accuracy flood discharge estimation. In: Proceeding of the 1st international conference on sustainable infrastructure and built environment in developing countries, ITB Bandung
Safarina1 AB, Salim HT, Hadihardaja IK, dan Syahril BK (2011) Clusterization of synthetic unit hydrograph methods based on watershed characteristics. Int J Civ Environ Eng 11(6):76–85
Saf B (2006) Role of synthetic storms on peak flow estimation. In: Proceedings of the 2006 IASME/WSEAS international conference on water resources, hydraulics and hydrology, Chalkida, Greece, 11–13 May 2006, pp. 13–20. http://www.wseas.us/e-library/conferences/2006evia/papers/516-180.pdf. Accessed 19 Nov 2013
Snyder FF (1938) Synthetic unit-graphs. Trans Am Geophys Union 19:447–454
Soemarto CD (1987) Engineering Hydrology. Usaha Nasional, Surabaya, Indonesia
Sudharsanan R, Krishnaveni M, Karunakaran K (2010) Derivation of instantaneous unit hydrograph for a sub-basin using linear geomorphological model and geographic information systems. J Spat Hydrol 10(1):30–40
United Nations (1997) Comprehensive assessment of the freshwater resources of the world: report of the secretary-general. United Nations Department for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development (DPCSD)
Viessman W, Lewis GL (2002) Introduction to hydrology, 5th edn. Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River
Weaver JC (2003) Methods for estimating peak discharges and unit hydrographs for streams in the city of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. http://pubs.usgs.gov/wri/wri034108/pdf/report.pdf. Accessed 03 Nov 2013
Wilkerson JL (2010) Determination of unit hydrograph parameters for Indiana watersheds. Erosion and water pollution control. Publication No. FHWA/IN/JTRP-2010/5, SPR-3226. http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2614&context=jtrp. Accessed on 25 Oct 2013
Wilson EM (1990) Engineering hydrology, 4th edn. Macmillan Education Ltd., Houndmills
Yannopoulos S, Katsi A, Papamichail D (2006) Comparative analysis of synthetic unit hydrograph methods using WMS rainfall—runoff process simulation. http://www.srcosmos.gr/srcosmos/showpub.aspx?aa=8329. Accessed 17 Nov 2013
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Nigussie, T.A., Yeğen, E.B., Melesse, A.M. (2016). Performance Evaluation of Synthetic Unit Hydrograph Methods in Mediterranean Climate. A Case Study at Guvenc Micro-watershed, Turkey. In: Melesse, A., Abtew, W. (eds) Landscape Dynamics, Soils and Hydrological Processes in Varied Climates. Springer Geography. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18787-7_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18787-7_15
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-18786-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-18787-7
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)