Dec 04, 2024  
2023-2024 Graduate Academic Catalog-June Update 
    
2023-2024 Graduate Academic Catalog-June Update [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

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CVE 5741 - Hydrology

3 lecture hours 0 lab hours 3 credits
Course Description
This course focuses on developing advanced skills needed to analyze and characterize the relationship between rainfall and runoff needed for studies, facilities planning, and complex designs. Topics include the characteristics of precipitation, watershed characteristics and data, runoff generation, the transformation of surface runoff to streamflow, probabilistic approaches to determining peak flood flows, deterministic hydrologic modeling using standard software, transfer function modeling of rainfall-temperature-streamflow relationship, The course makes extensive use of publicly available GIS-based datasets and tools to characterize watersheds. A term project in which students develop a calibrated model of a watershed synthesizes most of the course topics into one project. (prereq: CVE 3701, MTH 2480) (quarter system prereq: CV 310, MA 262)
Course Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  • Use geographic information systems and public information sources to obtain hydrologic data
  • Determine the boundaries of a watershed, its time of concentration, and its infiltration characteristics  
  • Calculate infiltration, evapotranspiration, snowmelt, and runoff using various methods including water balance
  • Disaggregate hydrographs into base and wet weather flow components
  • Develop calibrated and synthetic unit hydrographs and apply unit hydrograph theory to develop storm hydrographs
  • Characterize river flow and precipitation data using statistical methods including estimating return intervals of extreme hydrologic phenomena
  • Perform hydrologic modeling of a watershed using a deterministic computer model (i.e. HEC-HMS) for purposes of analysis and design.
  • Perform transfer function modeling of the rainfall-temperature-streamflow relationship for purposes of analysis and design

Prerequisites by Topic
  • Familiarity with Green-Ampt Equation, level pool routing, and NRCS hydrology
  • Familiarity with statistical concepts such as mean, standard deviation, skew, probability density functions and cumulative distribution functions
  • Ability to perform least squares regression
  • Conceptual understanding of ordinary and partial differential equations

Course Topics
  • Precipitation: Weather systems, point and area precipitation, water balance, rainfall distributions.
  • Watershed characteristics and data: Watershed delineation, watershed geomorphology, watershed data sources
  • Runoff generation: Soil and cover characteristics evaporation, infiltration, curve numbers
  • Stream flow: Developing unit hydrographs from stream gage records, synthetic unit hydrographs, time of concentration
  • Probabilistic approaches: Probability concepts, probabilistic models of design flow rates, regional analysis, probability distributions, Bulletin 17C
  • Deterministic modeling of events: Introduction to deterministic modeling, introduction to HEC-HMS, HEC-HMS modeling with applications, model calibration
  • Transfer function hydrologic modeling: Introduction to H2O Metrics, Antecedent Moisture Model and linear transfer function model, antecedent moisture retention
  • Term project: introduction, time of concentration, Antecedent moisture model, HEC-HMS model, report outline  

Coordinator
Dr. William Gonwa, P.E.



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