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1 6 Runoff 2

The time of concentration is the time required for water from the most remote point in a watershed to reach the outlet once the soil is saturated. It is used to determine when peak flow will occur from a storm. There are several formulas to calculate it based on watershed characteristics like size, shape, land use, and slope. One widely used method was developed by Kirpich using maximum length and slope. The SCS method relates time of concentration to lag time based on length, retention, and slope. Velocity can also be used based on land use and slope. The time of concentration is used in the SCS peak flow method to calculate runoff rate from rainfall and watershed properties.

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Engr Asad Sufyan
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112 views7 pages

1 6 Runoff 2

The time of concentration is the time required for water from the most remote point in a watershed to reach the outlet once the soil is saturated. It is used to determine when peak flow will occur from a storm. There are several formulas to calculate it based on watershed characteristics like size, shape, land use, and slope. One widely used method was developed by Kirpich using maximum length and slope. The SCS method relates time of concentration to lag time based on length, retention, and slope. Velocity can also be used based on land use and slope. The time of concentration is used in the SCS peak flow method to calculate runoff rate from rainfall and watershed properties.

Uploaded by

Engr Asad Sufyan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Time of concentration

The time of concentration of a watershed is the time required for


water to flow from the most remote (in time of flow) point of the
area to the outlet once the soil has become saturated and minor
depressions filled.
It is assumed that when the duration of a storm equals the time of
concentration, all parts of the watershed are contributing
simultaneously to the discharge at the outlet.
However, for small drainage basins, the lag time for the peak flow
can be taken to be equal to the time of concentration.
 The time of concentration is a function of catchment size, its shape
land use and soil properties.
Different formulas exist for calculating the time of concentration
such as:
Kirpich SCS Chow etc
1
Time of Concentration
One of the most widely accepted methods of computing the time of
concentration was developed by Kirpich (1940):

Tc = 0.0195 L0.77 S-0.385


Where
Tc = time of concentration in min
L = maximum length of flow in m
S = the watershed gradient in m per m or the difference in elevation between
the outlet and the most remote point divided by the length, L.

2
Time of Concentration

SCS has recommended two methods for time of concentration, the lag method
and the upland, or velocity method.
The lag method relates the time lag (TL), defined as the time in hours from the
center of mass of the rainfall excess to the peak discharge, to the slope (Y) in
percent, the hydraulic length (L) in feet, and the potential maximum retention (S),
expressed as

L0.8 ( S  1) 0.7
TL 
1900 Y 0.5

5 L0.8 ( S  1) 0.7
Tc  TL 
3 1140 Y 0.5
Where L = longest flow length (m)
3
Time of Concentration

The velocity (upland) method is based upon defining the time of


concentration as the ratio of the hydraulic flow length (L) to the velocity (V)

Tc = L / (3600 V)
where Tc is in hours, L is in feet and V in ft/s.

The velocity can be estimated (from figure developed by US SCS -1986)


knowing the land use and the slope.

If the watershed consists of k segments with different land uses, the


concentration will be

1 k Li
Tc  
3600 i 1 Vi

4
5
Peak Flow Rate by SCS

This method described by US SCS (!973) was developed for uniform


rainfall using the assumptions for a triangular hydrograph as:

q = 0.0021 Q A / Tp

Where
Q = runoff volume in mm (area under the hydrograph)
q = runoff rate in m3/s
A = watershed area in ha
Tp = time to peak in hours

Tp = 0.5 D + 0.6 Tc
D = duration of excess rainfall
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Example 1
Using the SCS method, determine the peak runoff rate from a 100 ha
watershed from a uniform 36-min (0.6-h) storm that produced 10 mm of
runoff volume. Assume Tc for the watershed is 0.5 h.
Solution

Tp = 0.5 D + 0.6 Tc
= 0.5 x 0.6 + 0.6 x 0.5 = 0.6 h

q = 0.0021 Q A / Tp

= 0.0021 x 10 x 100 / 0.6


= 3.50 m3/s
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