301329: Surface Water H ydrology

Project Brief
(Autumn 2021)

Due Date: 4:00pm, Wednesday 2 June 2021

Online submission using Turnitin
Weight: 30%

Your submission MUST include two-page (per member) self-reflection statement

clearly identifying your contributions to the project and what you’ve learnt from the
project. These pages will not count towards the word limit.

You will need to submit the report, all associated (Microsoft Excel) spreadsheets and
all HEC-HMS files. Submissions is via Turnitin in vUWS. Make only one submission
per team. If multiple submissions are made, only one of these submissions will be
selected at random and marked. Submission will be via Turnitin in vUWS.

Make justifiable and meaningful engineering assumptions, where necessary.

Use the average of the last digits of your team members’ student ID to determine the
catchment to be used for the project.

If the average is between 0 & 3 (0 ≤ 𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 < 3), use catchment A

If the average is between 3 & 6 (3 ≤ 𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 < 6), use catchment B
If the average is between 6 & 9 (6 ≤ 𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 ≤ 9), use catchment C

For example,
• if the IDs of your team members are 12345678, 23456789 & 34567890, the
!"#"$
average of the last three digits is . % / = 5.67. Use catchment B for your
team project.
• If the IDs of your team members are 34567891, 56738491, 33567885 &
&"&"'"&
123454321, the average of the last four digits is . ( / = 2. Use catchment
A for your team project.

Estimates of all areas of the catchment can be made using either a software of your
choice or any other standard engineering method you are familiar with, including the
grid approach. An approximate estimate suffices - use the scale shown in the figure
(each grid is 1km x 1km) for estimation.

You can estimate channel length also using approximation.

Catchments A, B & C are shown in Figures on the next two pages.

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 Catchment A
1000m

3 sub-catchments
1, 2, & Outlet are outlets of
the three sub-catchments
Centroid of the catchment
is at:
o
150 35’ E Longitude
o
33 35’ S Latitude

Use the scale shown in the

figure to estimate areas

Catchment B
1000m

3 sub-catchments
1, & Outlet are outlets of
the three sub-catchments
Centroid of the catchment
is located at:
o
150 33’ E Longitude
o
33 31’ S Latitude

Use the scale shown in the

figure to estimate areas

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 Catchment C
1000m

3 sub-catchments
1, & Outlet are outlets of
the three sub-catchments
Centroid of the catchment
is at:
o
150 35’ E Longitude
o
33 32’ S Latitude

Use the scale shown in the

figure to estimate areas

Refer the learning guide for marking criteria.

Background
The project has been formulated to allow you to determine the differences in
catchment responses before and after development. The catchment currently is
undeveloped and one of the three sub-catchments is proposed for development. It is
up to your team to decide which sub-catchment you want developed. You will need
to identify the sub-catchment for development in your report.

Please note that the project has been formulated step-by-step (each task identified),
the final report will need to be in a technical report format.

Task 1. Estimation of physical parameters

Estimate the area of each sub-catchment.
Compute the total catchment area.
Estimate the length of channels. This will be different for different catchments. For
catchment A, you will need to estimate lengths of two channels (1 to 2 and 2 to
outlet) whereas for catchments B & C, you only require one channel length (1 to
outlet).

Task 2. Construction of rainfall hyetographs

Use the Bureau of Meteorology web site (http://www.bom.gov.au) to generate the
family of IFD curves for your catchment. Use the 2016 IFD and the latitude and
longitude stated in the figures (for your catchment) to generate IFD information for
your site. Use 1% AEP 24-hr storm for further analysis. You will need to include
both the IFD table and IFD curves in your report.

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 Use the ARR Data Hub web site (https://data.arr-software.org/) to generate total
rainfall hyetograph for the storm generated in the above step. You will need to
include the total rainfall hyetograph, both table and histogram, in your report.

Extract the initial and constant loss values from the ARR Data Hub web site. Make
necessary adjustments and construct the rainfall excess hyetograph. You will need
to explain how you achieved your result and include this in your report. Graphical
representation suffices here.

For post-development condition, assume that both the initial loss and continuing
loss will be reduced by 50% for the sub-catchment you’re proposing to develop.
Remember you’re developing only one of the three sub-catchments, therefore loss
values and rainfall excess will change only for one sub-catchment.

Task 3. Construction of unit hydrographs of desired duration

You will be generating 15-minute unit hydrographs for your sub-catchments using
the 15-minute unit hydrograph for a 6km2 catchment given in the table below and
making reasonable assumptions (explained below).

You may then be required to convert thus generated 15-min unit hydrograph to
another duration unit hydrograph to meet the time interval of the rainfall excess
hyetograph. You may need to follow S-hydrograph method to achieve this
outcome.

Use of spreadsheet will save considerable time, as the process involves repetitive
computations. You will need to include your spreadsheet.

A 15-minute unit hydrograph for a catchment of 6km2 is given in the table below.

Time
(min) 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Discharge
(m3/s) 0 0.54 1.76 3.28 3.75 3.36 2.55

Time
(min) 35 40 45 50 55 60 65
Discharge
(m3/s) 1.59 1.05 0.72 0.48 0.32 0.21 0.14

Time
(min) 70 75 80 85 90 95 100
Discharge
(m3/s) 0.09 0.06 0.04 0.03 0.02 0.01 0

Use the above 15-minute unit hydrograph to compute ordinates of the 15-min unit
hydrographs for your sub-catchments using the catchment area as the scaling factor.

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For example, if the area of your sub-catchment is 3km2, each ordinate given in the
above table will be half of what’s listed. The resulting 15-minute unit hydrograph will
look like,

Time
(min) 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Discharge
(m3/s) 0 0.27 0.88 1.64 1.875 1.68 1.275

Time
(min) 35 40 45 50 55 60 65
Discharge
(m3/s) 0.795 0.525 0.36 0.24 0.16 0.105 0.07

Time
(min) 70 75 80 85 90 95 100
Discharge
(m3/s) 0.045 0.03 0.02 0.015 0.01 0.005 0

Similarly, if the area of your sub-catchment is 12km2, each ordinate will be double of
what’s listed in the table. The resulting 15-minute unit hydrograph will look like,

Time
(min) 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Discharge
(m3/s) 0 1.08 3.52 6.56 7.5 6.72 5.10

Time
(min) 35 40 45 50 55 60 65
Discharge
(m3/s) 3.18 2.10 1.44 0.96 0.64 0.42 0.28

Time
(min) 70 75 80 85 90 95 100
Discharge
(m3/s) 0.18 0.12 0.08 0.06 0.04 0.02 0

Note that you may need to generate up to 3 unit hydrographs (this will depend on the
areas of each sub-catchments).

Construct Dt-hr unit hydrograph (where Dt-hr is the time step of rainfall excess
hyetograph) from the 15-minute unit hydrographs generated for your sub-catchments.
You will need to use the S-hydrograph method to achieve this. You will need to explain
the process you followed in your report. Make sure to verify your results by checking
volumes after each computation.

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Task 4. Construction of storm hydrographs
Construct the storm hydrograph for each sub-catchment using rainfall excess
(task 2) and respective Dt-hr unit hydrographs generated above (task 3). The 3
storm hydrographs you’ve generated are the responses at the outlet of respective
sub-catchments for the catchment in natural condition. Let us call it pre-
development storm hydrographs.

Task 5. Construction of network diagram, routing through channels and

hydrograph computation at the catchment outlet
Your team will need to construct the hydrologic network to show connectivity of
sub-catchments, channels and reservoirs (if any).

Your team will require to extract channel properties for routing the hydrographs
through channels using Muskingum routing method. For this, assume the
following.

weighting factor, x = 0.2

Use average channel velocity of 1.2m/sec to estimate average flow velocity in the
channel. Use this average flow velocity to estimate travel time constant, K.

Use these values of x & K to route relevant hydrographs through respective

channel(s) and compute the hydrograph at the outlet of the catchment.

Your team will need to discuss how you obtained these, include sample
calculations and show the final result (both table and figure). All computations will
be performed using a spreadsheet and the spreadsheet will also need to be
submitted.

This completes generation of pre-development hydrograph at the catchment

outlet.

Task 6. Post-development hydrographs

Your team will need to repeat the process, taking into account development of one
of the sub-catchments. For the catchment being developed, use the following.

Both initial loss and continuing loss will be reduced by 50%.

15-minute unit-hydrograph will have the following characteristics.
• Peak discharge will increase by 25%
• Time to peak will decrease by 10%
• Time base will decrease by 20%

Use the above adjustments to scale and generate meaningful post-development

15-min unit hydrograph. Your team will have to ensure that the volume balance
works out. This may require a few iterations.

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 Your team will then need to construct Dt-hr unit hydrograph (post-development)
for the sub-catchment being developed and use this to generate post-
development catchment response.

Task 7. Comparison of Pre- and Post-development hydrographs

You will need to compare the pre-development and post-development
hydrographs. Present your results in graphical form and present salient values in
a tabular form. Analyse and discuss your results.

You will then need to propose a solution that will ensure that the peak of the post-
development hydrograph at the outlet does not exceed the peak of the pre-
development hydrograph at the outlet. You may have to design a reservoir
incorporating outlet structures to achieve this. If you’re to use this approach, you
will need to route the post-development hydrograph through the reservoir.

You will need to discuss your strategy, provide the size of the reservoir and the
details of outlet structures in your report.

Task 8. Use HEC-HMS to verify your results

This is the last step. You will use HEC-HMS (latest version) to verify your results.
You will need to include all HEC-HMS files in your submission.