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ENGINEERING HYDROLOGY

2 EVAPORATION

1. EVAPORATION

It is the process in which liquid changes to gaseous state at the free surface of liquid below the
boiling point through the transfer of heat energy. Evaporation is basically a cooling process in
which latent heat of vaporization must be provided by water body.
1.1. Factors affecting evaporation
(i) Vapour pressure:
Rate of evaporation is directly proportional to the difference between saturated vapour
pressure (ew) and vapour pressure of air (ea).
(ii) Temperature:
Rate of evaporation is directly proportional to prevailing temperature.
(iii) Wind speed:
Rate of evaporation increases with increase in speed of the wind But if the wind velocity
is very high and is sufficient to remove all vapour on the liquid surface, then any further
increase in wind velocity will not affect the rate of evaporation.
(iv) Atmospheric pressure:
Rate of evaporation is inversely proportional to the atmospheric pressure.
(v) Soluble salts:
If water is saline which means it has salt in it then its vapour pressure decreases which
in turn results in a reduction in the rate of evaporation. As such evaporation from sea
water is about 2.3% less as compared to fresh water.
(vi) Depth of water body:
In summers, shallow depth of water permits rapid increase in temperature during the day
time and hence evaporation is greater in a shallow water bodies.
In winters, temperature of surrounding air falls but the temperature of deep water bodies
doesn’t fall easily and thus water remains relatively warmer consequently in winter
evaporation is more from a deep-water body. Above phenomenon is primarily due to heat
storage of water.
(vii) Surface Area:
Rate of evaporation is directly proportional to surface area.

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1.2. Measurement of evaporation

Estimation of evaporation data is very important in many hydrologic problems associated
with planning and operation of reservoirs and irrigation systems. The amount of water
evaporated from a water surface is estimated by three different approaches:
A. experimental methods using evaporimeters (pans)
B. empirical evaporation equations
C. analytical methods.
A. Experimental Methods:
(i) Class-A Evaporation pan:
This is a standard pan that has been developed by US weather bureau and has a
diameter of 121 cm and the depth 25.5 cm. This pan is normally made of galvanized
iron sheet in areas where corrosion is the problem.
(ii) Indian standard evaporation pan:
This is the modified form of class-A evaporation pan in which diameter is 122 cm and
depth is 25.5 cm. This pan is made of copper sheet having a thickness of 0.9 mm. Top
of the pan is fully covered with a hexagonal wire netting in order to ensure that uniform
temperature is maintained during day and night time.
(iii) Colorado sunken pan:
Main advantage of this style of pan is that it creates similar radiation and aerodynamic
effect.

In order to convert pan evaporation values in actual evaporation value a pan coefficient
is used mathematically.
Lake Evaporation = CP × Pan evaporation

Where, CP = pan coefficient

Type of pan Cp
(i) Class A 0.7
(ii) Indian s tan d ard 0.8
(iii) Colorado 0.78
B. Empirical Method:
A large number of empirical equations are available to estimate lake evaporation using
commonly available meteorological data. Most formulae are based on the Dalton’s type
equation and can be expressed in the general form. It is called Meyer’s equation.

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va
E = Km(ew − ea ) (1 + )
16
Here, E = Rate of evaporation per day.
Km = constant which depends on size of water body.
ew = Saturated vapour pressure in mm of mercury.
ea = vapour pressure of air (ea) in mm of mercury.
Va = Mean monthly wind velocity in km/hr at a height of about 9m from the ground
surface.
C. Analytical methods:
The analytical methods for the determination of lake evaporation can be broadly
classified into three categories as
(i) Water budget method.
(ii) Energy balance method
(iii) Mass transfer method.
Example: A reservoir with surface area of 250 hectares has saturation vapor pressure at
water surface = 17.54 mm of Hg and actual vapor pressure of air = 6 mm. wind velocity
at 1 m above ground surface = 16 km/hr. Estimate the average daily evaporation from
the lake using Meyers formula.
Solution:
ew = 17.59 mm of Hg
ea = 6 mm
Wind speed of 9 m above ground = Ug

Ul C(1)1/7
 =
Ug C(9)1/7

 Ug = 21.9 km/hr

hence using Mayer’s formula,

 21.9 
L = 0.36 (17.54 − 6 ) 1 +
 16 

= 9.84 mm/day.
1.3. Reservoir Evaporation and methods of its reduction:
Following methods can be used in order to conserve the water of reservoir.
(i) By providing greater depth to the water body, its surface area is reduced which in
turns reduces the evaporation.
(ii) By providing mechanical covers in form of roof shades etc. This can be used only
for small water body such as a lake or pond.
(iii) Certain chemicals such as hexadecimal (C6 H33 OH)
(Cetyl Alcohol) and octa decimal (C18 H37 OH) (Stearyl alcohol) can be effectively used for
reducing to the rate of evaporation. A thin colorless, odorless and nontoxic film is formed

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on the water surface which permits free circulation of O 2 and CO2 Among all, the chemical
Cetyl alcohol is found to be the effective one and by using it evaporation can be reduced
by about 40 – 60%.
By increasing the salinity of water, evaporation rate can be reduced.
1.4. Transpiration
It is the process by which water leaves the body of a living plant and reaches the
atmosphere as water vapour.
The water as taken up by the plant-root system and escapes through leaves. The
important factors affecting transpiration are: atmospheric vapour pressure,
temperatures, wind, light intensity and characteristics of the plant, such as the root and
leaf systems.
It can be measured by an instrument called as phytometer.
Transpiration takes places along with evaporation of water from soil and water bodies
and hence these two terms are considered advantageously in the form of one single factor
called evaporation.
This evapo-transpiration is a direct measure of water consumed by the plants during its
growth period.
It is also called as consumptive use it is denoted as ‘Cu’.
Following are the methods find out the evapotranspiration.
(i) Lysimeter
(ii) Field plot
(iii) Penman’s equation
(iv) Blaney criddle equation.
Transpiration as a process is essentially confined to day light hours whereas evaporation
is an or going process continuing all through day and night.
An imaginary line joining all the points having same value of evapotranspiration is called
isopleth.
Example: Estimate the PET of an area for the season January to April. The area in North
India at a latitude of 30°N with mean monthly temperatures and monthly percentage of
annual day time (hr) as follows.

Month Jan Feb March April

Temp °C 16.5 13.0 10.0 14.0

Monthly % of annual day time (hr) 7.19 7.15 7.30 7.03

Take,
K = 0.65
Use the Blaney riddle formula.
Solution:
The temperature converted to Fahrenheit and the calculations are performed in the table

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Month Tf Ph Ph T f / 100

Jan 61.7 7.19 4.44

Feb 55.4 7.15 3.96
March 50 7.30 3.65
April 57.2 7.03 4.02

(use: 1.8°C + 32 = F°)

Ph T f
Now, = 16.07
100
By Blaney criddle formula.
εr = 2.54 × 16.07 × 0.65
= 26.53 cm

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