ENV234 - WATERSHED HYDROLOGY
General Information
- Instructor: Gabriel G. Katul (Office: A318 LSRC; Phone: 919-613-8033)
- Number of Credits: 4 Units
- Prerequists: Mathematics 31 or equivalent.
- Work Load: 8 Homework projects, in-class midterm, and a take-home final.
- Text: Hornberger, G., J. Raffensberger, P. Wiberg, and K. Eshleman, 1998,
"Elements of Physical Hydrology", The Johns Hopkins Press, 302 pp.
Summary
Introduction to the hydrologic cycle with emphasis on the use of physical principles (e.g. mass, energy, and momentum balance) to describe the influence of land use, vegetation, soil types, climate, and land forms on water quantity and quality. Instructor: Katul. 4 units.
Topics
- Introduction to Hydrology: Hydrologic cycle, hydrologic processes, conceptual models for hydrologic systems: statistical, semi-empirical, and physical
[Lecture 1].
- Precipitation : Formation and measurement of precipitation [Lecture 2], areal estimation from point
measurements and the concept of spatial aggregation [Lecture 3,Lecture 4, Lecture 5, Sheet 1 in Lecture 5], consistency of precipitation gages, introduction to statistical estimation theory [Lecture 6 ],[Area Calculations Sheet in Lecture 6], frequency distributions, [Precipitation Histogram Example Sheet in Lecture 6], [Central Limit Theorem Example Sheet in Lecture 6], intensity-duration-frequency analysis of point rainfall measurements [Lecture 7]. The first lab will be an introduction to EXCEL LAB-1.
- Soil Water Flow : Subsurface water flow: Introduction to soil physics [Lecture 8] , energy-state of soil water [Lecture 9], soil hydraulic properties - soil water characteristic curve and soil hydraulic conductivity fluction, the Buckingham-Darcy law, soil moisture and tension measurements (lectures+lab). Infiltration Processes: Infiltration models - empirical, semi-empirical, and physical,
Infiltration measurements, [Lecture 15]. Ground Water Hydraulics: Basic concepts, confined/unconfined aquifers, Darcy's law
and steady-state models for ground water movement; Introduction to Well hydraulics.
- Evaporation : Evaporation into the atmosphere, radiation balance, energy balance, the role of water vapor
in climate and hydrologic systems, general equations for evaporation: turbulent transport of water vapor and aerodynamic considerations, Bowen ratio/energy balance equations, Penman's combination equations. Lab will discuss theories and practical considerations in evaporation measurements.
- Stream Flow Energy state of water, classification/types of flows - uniform flow equations (emphasize on Manning's equation), concept of specific energy, concept of specific momentum, hydraulic jumps, steady non-uniform flow, estimation of water-surface profiles for simple cross-sections; introduction to computational hydraulics. Lab will also include computations of alternate depths and conjugate depths. An introduction to open channel design (lined and unlined and canals) will be presented. Stream velocity/discharge Measurements (theory and practical considerations, flow over weirs). A field trip to Coweeta Hydrologic Lab.
- Overland Flow : Basic definitions, Hortonian overland flow, shallow water approximations, interflow.
- Hydrograph analysis : Hydrograph separation, estimation of peak flow rates, the unit hydrograph, and flood
rooting.
References
References