Dr.

Khalid Mahmud
Associate Professor
Dept. of Irrigation and Water Management
BAU
March 25, 2024
 What is reservoir?
 Simply, reservoirs are structures that store water
 Why reservoir?
In general, we observe that stream or river sometimes carry
high flow (e.g., Rainy and the starting of Autumn in Bangladesh)
or spring months or snowmelt seasons in Northern Hemisphere)
and low flow or no water during portions of the year ( e.g.,
Winter in Bangladesh)
Similarly, demands of water resources projects drawing water
directly from streams vary during different seasons
 The water demand of a city also vary during the day

Therefore, the regulation of varying supply in a natural stream

and satisfying various demands by the ultimate consumers are
important.

This is possible by constructing RESERVOIRS

 Types of reservoir
Reservoirs can be divided into two main categories-

1. Storage (conservation) reservoir

 Collect water behind a dam or barrier
 Can retain excess from high flow periods for use during
drought period
 Can control floods or reduce flood damage below the
reservoir

„2. Distribution (service) reservoir

 Permit water-treatment or pumping plants to operate at
a reasonably uniform rate
 Provide water from storage when demands exceed the
pumping rate
Basic components of a storage reservoir
When is a reservoir required?
 Purposes of constructing reservoirs
„
 Irrigation „
7
 Sediment accumulation „

 Transportation„

 Electricity generation„

 Water supply (municipal and industrial) „

 Flood control

 „Recreational
 Physical Characteristics of reservoirs
1. Storage capacity
 Capacity of a reservoir of regular shape can be computed
by formulas of volumes of solids
 Capacity of reservoirs on natural sites can be determined
by topographic surveys
 Two important curves to determine reservoir
capacity on natural sites
1. Area-elevation curve:
 It is obtained by measuring the area enclosed within
each contour in the reservoir site using a planimeter

 Usually a 1/5000 scaled topographic map

2. Elevation-storage curve:
 It is the integration of an area-elevation curve

 The storage between any two elevations can be

obtained by the product of average surface area at two
elevations multiplied by the difference in elevation
Two important curves to determine reservoir
capacity on natural sites
Two important curves to determine reservoir
capacity on natural sites
Elevation-Area-Volume Curves for a reservoir
Zones of storage for a reservoir
 Zones of storage for a reservoir
Normal pool level is the maximum elevation to which the
reservoir surface will rise for ordinary reservoir operations
(elevation of the spillway crest).
Minimum pool level is the lowest allowable elevation to
which the reservoir surface level can fall.
Dead storage is located below minimum pool level. Water
stored below this level is not available for any use.
Therefore, the elevation of the lowest sluiceway must be
located at least at minimum pool level.
The storage between minimum and normal pool levels is
named as useful or active storage.
The surcharge storage stays between normal and maximum
pool levels. Normally uncontrolled, exits only when flood is
occurring
 Zones of storage for a reservoir
The water in a natural stream channel occupies a variable
volume of valley storage, which has no significance in case of
conservation storage
When reservoir is full, some amount of water seeps in the
permeable banks of the reservoir. This seeped water, called
Bank storage, comes out and becomes available in the storage
area when the reservoir level decreases.
The bank storage has no significance in case of conservation
storage but affects the flood control storage
Effective flood control storage = Useful storage + Surcharge
storage - Valley storage
Click here https://civilengineering.blog/2020/10/15/storage-zones-of-a-
reservoir/ to get details about zones of reservoir storage
 Physical Characteristics of reservoirs

2. Yield of a reservoir, is defined as the quantity of water,

which can be supplied from the reservoir for a certain duration.

The duration may change with the purpose of the reservoir.

 A few years for Large reservoirs

 Week
 Day
 Hour

The yield is a function of-

 the inflow, and
 the capacity of the reservoir
 Types of reservoir yields
Safe Yield (Firm Yield): The amount of water that is supplied
for a critical period. It is a guarantied amount during this critical
periods.
Critical Period: The duration of lowest flow observed in the
records of the stream.
Depending upon the length of the flow, critical period may
change so the safe yield.
 Safe yield is not calculated certainly. The probability must be
used.
Maximum possible yield equals mean inflow less evaporation
and seepage losses
During the periods of high flow there will be extra available water,
more than the safe yield which is called secondary yield
Average Yield: The arithmetic average of the safe and
secondary yields over a long period.
 Types of reservoir yields
Average Yield: The arithmetic average of the safe and
secondary yields over a long period.
Target Yield (Design Yield): The yield determined based on
the estimated demands for a reservoir.
Design Yield is generally smaller than the safe or firm yield
because the minimum natural flow in the reservoir may even
become less than the guaranteed yield.
There is a risk involved for a reservoir. The amount of risk
depends on the purpose of the reservoir.
A reservoir to supply municipal water should have a relatively
low design yield so that risk of a period with yield below the
design value is small.
In the case of reservoirs used for irrigation purpose the design
yield may be taken slightly more than the safe yield as crops can
tolerate some deficiency of water during exceptionally dry season
 Determination of reservoir capacity
 For the determination of reservoir capacity, the critical period
(during Inflow < Demand) must be determined first.

 A long period of observed flow is required.

 When short period of observed flows or no observations area

available stochastic methods are used to generate synthetic
flows that has the same statistical properties such as mean,
variance, correlations etc.
 Determination of reservoir capacity
 Four different methods to determine the capacity of a
reservoir.

 Mass Curve (Ripple diagram) Method,

 Sequent Peak Algorithm,

 Operation Study, and

 Other Approaches (Stochastic Methods and

Optimization Analysis etc…).
Mass Curve Analysis (Ripple Diagram Method, 1883)
 It is one of the most widely used methods.

Assumptions: Demand is constant

 Features of Mass Curve

Cumulative plotting of net reservoir inflow.

Slope of mass curve gives the value of inflow

(S) at that time.
Slope of demand curve gives the demand rate
(D) or yield.
Mass Curve Analysis
Mass Curve Analysis: Determination of capacity for
a known yield
1. The tangents, which are parallel to the demand line, are
plotted at the high points (D and E).

2. The maximum departures from the tangents to the

following low points of the mass curve ( F and G) determine
the necessary storage amounts V1 and V2.

3. The largest one of the volumes will give the required

capacity of the reservoir.
The reservoir would be full
at points D, D’, E, and E’.
The S,Dreservoir would be
empty at points
a
F and G. b
D
a+b

t
t1 t2
∑S, ∑D ∑D

A
a+b b
a ∑S
B

t
t1 t2
Determination of capacity for a known yield
 Mass Curve Analysis: Determination of yield for a
known capacity
1. The value V of known reservoir capacity is placed vertically
in all the low points in the mass curve and tangents are
drawn to the previous high points.
2. The slope of these tangents(D1 and D2) indicate the yields
that can be supplied for those critical periods with this given
capacity.
3. The smallest one of the yields can be supplied all the time.
4. The plotted tangents must cut the mass curve when
extended forward, as it is the case here with points C’ and E’.
Otherwise, the reservoir will not refill.
Determination of yield for a known capacity
 Limitations of the mass curve method

The graphical approach is quite satisfactory if the

reservoir releases are constant during the period of
analysis.

When reservoir releases vary, the sequent-peak

analysis is recommended.

Sequent Peak Analysis is more suitable when the data

of long observation periods or long generated data are
used, or when the demand is not constant.
Graphical solution
Tabular solution
Tabular solution by Sequent Peak Algorithm
 Steps for Sequent Peak Analysis
1. Differences between inflows (S) and demands (D) are
calculated and their summations obtained.

2. Σ(S-D) values are plotted against time as shown in the

figure.

3. On this plot the first peak value and next larger peak
(sequent peak) are determined.

4. The storage required between these two points is the

difference between the first peak and the lowest point in this
period.

5. This process is repeated for all the peaks in the record

period as shown in the figure also. The maximum of the storage
values is the required capacity.
Sequent Peak Analysis
 Application of Sequent Peak Analysis
If the record period or generated data sequence is very long,
the graphical solution may be time consuming.

 In that case and analytical solution (e.g., Sequent peak

analysis) procedure may be applied for the analysis and it
can be solved easily using a computer.
 Operation Study
The operation study is based on the solution of the continuity
equation.

where dV is differential storage during time dt

I: instantaneous total inflow
Q: instantaneous total outflow
 Averaged quantities of inflow and outflow are considered in
practice:

where ΔV: the change in storage during time interval Δt. : the
average inflow (runoff, precipitation etc…) during Δt: the average
outflow (evaporation, seepage, controlled outflows, mandatory
releases, uncontrolled spills etc…) during Δt.
 Operation Study
The available data are tabulated in columns (1) to (6) in table.
Inflow (St), demand (Dt), rainfall (Pt), evaporation (E) and
downstream requirements (Mt) are given in 106 m3 /month.
 Operation Study
The required monthly storages, V, are computed in column (7)
by ΔV = St – Dt + Pt – Mt – Et

The required total storage, V, is obtained by summing the

values in column (7) as 33.38 x 106 m3 .

Column (8) gives the monthly contents of reservoir which is

computed by Vt = Vt-1 + St – Dt + Pt – Mt – Et

 where Vt is the volume of water stored in the reservoir at the

and of month t.
 Operation Study (another technique)
 Calculation of yield by tabular method

1. Yield = sum of reservoir storage capacity and inflow

during critical period

2. Yield = total demand during critical months

3. Max possible yield = total adjusted inflow