HYDROLOGY

The course is an introduction to hydrology and hydrological cycle with particular emphasis on application aspects related to water and environmental engineering.

The course mainly is composed by:

• lectures;
• guided applications, aimed at the practical application of the concepts and methods of most commonly used analysis and modeling of hydrology and related natural hazard mitigation;
• guided tour of the DICAR green roof, to illustrate concepts of hydrological monitoring.  

 

Basic knowledge of Hydraulics, use of spreadsheets (e.g. Excel) and programming languages (preferably Matlab).

Attendance is strongly suggested, as intermediate tests will be assigned.

1. INTRODUCTION

Course presentation. Development of hydrological science.

2. INTRODUCTION TO THE HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE

Hydrological cycle components. Precipitation. Evaporation and evapotranspiration. Runoff and

streamflows. Groundwater. Human effects on the hydrological cycle. Distribution of water resources on earth.

3. HYDROLOGICAL INFORMATION

Instruments and methods for measuring hydrological variables. Sources of information. Hydrological and Hydrographic services. Real time data collection networks. Radar and satellites. Reanalysis data.

4. WATERSHED AND DRAINAGE NETWORK CHARACTERIZATION USING GIS

Watershed delineation. Geomorphologic characterization of watersheds. Streamflow network

characterization. Horton and Strahler’s laws.

5. INTRODUCTION TO PROBABILITY THEORY AND STATISTICS

Statistical description of data. Probability definitions. Probability function. Properties of probability

functions. Random variables, cumulative distribution function (cdf) and probability density function (pdf). Discrete parametric cdf. Continuous parametric cdf. Return period and risk. Distribution fitting and goodness of fit assessment. Statistical tests. Regression analysis.

6. PRECIPITATION

Formation of precipitation. Precipitation types. Distribution of precipitation. Estimation of areal precipitation. Extreme precipitation frequency analysis. Intensity duration frequency curves. Regional analysis of extreme precipitation.

7. RUNOFF AND STREAMFLOWS

Streamflow regimes. Streamflow measurements. Flow duration curves. Formation of runoff and

streamflows. Infiltration. Hydrograph components.

8. FLOOD HYDROGRAPH ANALYSIS

Hydrograph separation. Time of concentration estimation. Peak discharge estimation. Regional methods for peak discharge estimation. Design hyetographs. Rainfall-runoff models. Rational method. Unit hydrograph. Instantaneous Unit Hydrograph. Conceptual models (time-area, linear reservoir, Nash, Clark). SCS Unit Hydrograph. GIUH. HEC-HMS software.

9. HYDROLOGICAL ASPECTS OF RESERVOIR ANALYSIS

Types of reservoirs. Design criteria. Simulation of reservoirs. Flood control.

10. SHORT INTRODUCTION TO OTHER HYDROLOGICAL NATURAL HAZARDS AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Drought, aridity and desertification. Landslides and their hydrological modeling, landslide early warning thresholds. Climate change modeling and adaptation strategies.

1. DINGMAN, S.L. Physical hydrology, Prentice-Hall, 2002.

2. MAIDMENT, D. (ed.), Handbook of hydrology, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1993.

3. BRAS R., Hydrology: an introduction to hydrologic science, Addison-Wesley Publ. Company,

Reading Ma, 1990.

4. FERRO, V. La sistemazione dei bacini idrografici, McGraw-Hill Education, 2013.

Handouts and other material will be distributed in class and made available through Teams and website.

The exams are oral and either English or Italian language can be used. Non mandatory intermediate tests will be assigned. In order to take the exam, students must complete the guided applications.