STORAGE, PONDAGE AND FLOW DURATION CURVES

RESERVOIR MASS CURVE AND STORAGE

A mass diagram is a graphical representation of cumulative inflow into the reservoir versus time
which may be monthly or yearly. A mass curve is shown in the figure below for a 2-year period. The
slope of the mass curve at any point is a measure of the inflow rate at that time. Required rates of draw
off from the reservoir are marked by drawing tangents, having slopes equal to the demand rates, at the
highest points of the mass curve. The maximum departure between the demand line and the mass curve
represents the storage capacity of the reservoir required to meet the demand. A demand line must
intersect the mass curve when extended forward, otherwise the reservoir is not going to refill. The
vertical distances between the successive tangents represent the water wasted over the spillway. The
salient features in the mass curve of flow in the figure are:

a-b: inflow rate exceeds the demand rate of x cumec and reservoir is overflowing
b: inflow rate equals demand rate and the reservoir is just full
b-c: inflow rate is less than the demand rate and the water is drawn from storage
c: inflow rate equals demand rate and S1 is the draw off from the reservoir (Mm3) c-d: inflow rate
exceeds demand rate and the reservoir is filling
d: reservoir is full again d-e: same as a-b
e: similar to b
e-f: similar to b-c
f: inflow rate equals demand rate and S2 is the draw off from the reservoir
f-g: similar to c-d

To meet the demand rate of x cumec the departure S2 > S1; hence, the storage capacity of the
reservoir is S2 Mm3. If the storage capacity of the reservoir, from economic considerations, is kept as S1
Mm3, the demand rate of x cumec cannot be maintained during the time e-fand it can be at a lesser rate
of y cumec (y < x).
The use of mass curve is to determine:
(i) the storage capacity of the reservoir required to meet a particular withdrawal rate.
(ii) the possible rate of withdrawal from a reservoir of specified storage capacity.
The observed inflow rates have to be adjusted for the monthly evaporation from the reservoir surface,
precipitation, seepage through the dam, inflow from adjacent basins, required releases for downstream
users, sediment inflow, etc. while calculating the storage capacity of the reservoir. The average flow
figures for the site of a proposed dam are collected for about 10 years. From this record the flow figures
for the driest year are used for drawing the mass flow curve. Graphical analysis is enough for preliminary
studies. Final studies are made by tabular computation. If tangents are drawn to the crest and trough of
the mass curve such that the departure of the lines represents the specified reservoir capacity, the slope
of the tangent at the crest gives the continuous flow that can be maintained with the available storage
capacity. From this the greatest continuous power output for the available fall at the site for a given
plant efficiency and load factor can be determined. From the daily flow data a hydrograph or a bar graph
is drawn for the maximum flood during the period of 10 years and the spillway capacity to pass this
flood with the available storage capacity is determined. Thus, the power and the flood control
potentialities of the site are investigated.

FLOW DURATION CURVES

Flow duration curves show the percentage of time that certain values of discharge weekly,
monthly or yearly were equaled or exceeded in the available number of years of record. The selection of
the time interval depends on the purpose of the study. As the time interval increases the range of the
curve decreases, Fig. 1. While daily flow rates of small storms are useful for the pondage studies in a
runoff river power development plant, monthly flow rates for a number of years are useful in power
development plants from a large storage reservoir. The flow duration curve is actually a river discharge
frequency curve and longer the period of record, more accurate is the indication of the long term yield
of a stream. A flat curve indicates a river with a few floods with large ground water contribution, while a
steep curve indicates frequent floods and dry periods with little ground water contribution.
Since the area under the curve represents the volume of flow, the storage will affect the flow duration
curve as shown by the dashed line in Fig. 2; i.e., reducing the extreme flows and increasing the very low
flows.

Since drought is often defined in terms of a fixed period of time with less than some minimum
amount of rainfall, the flow duration curves are useful for determining the duration of floods or
droughts, the latter being of prime importance in the semi-arid regions. Duration curves for long periods
of runoff are also useful for deciding the flow rates to be used for particular purposes, say, for power
development.
The usual procedure is to arrange the flow values (or range of flow values weekly, monthly or
yearly) in the available period of record (usually a minimum of 10 years) in the ascending order of
magnitude and the number of occurrences of each flow value (or range of flow values). From this the
number of times and the percent of time each flow value (or range of flow values) has been equalled or
exceeded in the period of record may be obtained. The duration curve is constructed by plotting each
flow value (or lower value of the class interval) against the percent of time it has been equalled or
exceeded. The power duration curve is the same as the flow duration curve, the discharge scale being
converted to power units corresponding to the available head (assuming the head constant) since

Power in kW, = 1000
=

Where: Q is the flow value being equalled or exceeded during a certain percent of time. Flow
duration curves are useful in the studies relating to navigation problems, water power, water supply,
irrigation and sanitation.
PONDAGE
While storage refers to large reservoirs to take care of monthly or seasonal fluctuations in the
river flow, pondage usually refers to the small storage at the back of a weir, in run-of-river plants, for
temporarily storing water during non-working hours, idle days and low load periods for use during hours
of peak load demand. Run-of-river plants are feasible for streams which have a minimum dry weather
flow or receive flow as regulated by any storage reservoir upstream. Pondage factor is the ratio of the
total inflow hours in a week to the total number of hours of working of the power plant in that week.
For example, assuming constant stream flow, if a power plant operates for 6 days in a week at 8 hours
724
per day, then the pondage factor would be 68
= 3.5, and if the plant works only for 5 days in a week,
724 48+16
the pondage factor would be = 4.2 and the pondage required in the latter case would be +
58 24
daily
8
flow volume = 3 of daily flow-volume. Thus the pondage factor serves as a rough guide of the amount of
pondage required when the stream flow is constant and the plant works only for a part of the period.
Pondage is needed to cover the following four aspects:
(i) To store the idle day flow.
(ii) For use during hours of peak load.
(iii) To balance the fluctuations in the stream flow.
(iv) To compensate for wastage (due to leakage) and spillage.