Undergraduate Course: Water Resources 2 (CIVE08011)
Course Outline
| School | School of Engineering |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 8 (Year 2 Undergraduate) |
Credits | 10 |
| Home subject area | Civil |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | This course gives an introduction to Water Resources and provides the foundation for following courses in later years. It aims to introduce water resource systems and the hydrological cycle, and demonstrate the requirement for various forms of measurement and analysis. The module's objectives are to: outline the principal components of water resources systems, from the standpoints of water supply, flood control, and waste disposal; and to introduce the principal components of the hydrological cycle, and describe means by which various components can be measured. Basic forms of data processing and analysis are explained and presented, providing the fundamental tools for hydrological assessment and water resource system design. |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | Yes |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Delivery period: 2011/12 Semester 2, Available to all students (SV1)
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WebCT enabled: Yes |
Quota: None |
| Location |
Activity |
Description |
Weeks |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
| King's Buildings | Lecture | | 18-27 | | | | 12:10 - 13:00 | | | King's Buildings | Tutorial | | 19-27 | | | | 15:00 - 17:00 | | | King's Buildings | Lecture | | 18-27 | | | | 14:00 - 14:50 | |
| First Class |
Week 18, Thursday, 12:10 - 13:00, Zone: King's Buildings. Lecture Theatre 1, Daniel Rutherford Building |
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours:Minutes |
|
|
| Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May) | | 1:30 | | | | Resit Exam Diet (August) | | 1:30 | | |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, the student should be able to:
- describe the major components of the hydrological cycle, and understand the interactions between them;
- discuss the global distribution of water resources and appreciate some of the potential impacts of global climatic change;
- design a rain gauge network, and assess arial rainfall from a network of gauges;
- carry out basic data quality control checks for a network of rain gauges;
- calculate potential open water evaporation and potential evapotranspiration from basic climatic observations by a variety of methods;
- design a flow measurement structure, and to prepare a rating curve for a natural river system;
- assess quality control streamflow measurements and water level records, and recognise shifts in rating curves;
- fit probability distributions to series of hydrological data, and assess confidence limits;
- carry out extreme value analysis; assess low flow frequencies and low flow spells;
- appreciate low flow constraint criteria and their application;
- apply rainfall prediction methods; and
- assess rainfall and runoff influences on stream water quality. |
Assessment Information
Coursework = 30%
Examination = 70% |
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
Lectures: Titles & Contents
L1 The Hydrological Cycle
Description of the hydrological cycle, principal components and interactions. Consideration of the global distribution of water resources, and of fresh water in particular.
L2 Water Resources Systems
Key components of water resources systems, and an introduction to different types of data analysis required for their design. Consideration of global dynamics and planning for uncertainty.
L3 Precipitation Measurement and Areal Estimation of Rainfall
Types of raingauges, site selection and gauge exposure; appropriate raingauge densities. Isohyetal mapping, Thysen polygons; areal reduction factors and storm reduction factors. Data quality control; double mass curve analysis, cross correlations.
L4 Potential Evapotranspiration
Processes descriptions and energy balance at the land surface. Methods of evaporation measurement, and climatic observations for its calculation.
L5 Flow Measurement Structures
Design of weirs and flumes, and composite gauging structures. Ultrasonic and electromagnetic techniques.
L6 Flow Measurement in Natural Channels
Site selection, velocity profiles, velocity measurement, discharge computation. Dilution gauging.
L7 Rating Curve Preparation
Stage measuring equipment, stage discharge relationships. Hysterisis and rating curve stability. Discharge computation and typical problems of data quality.
L8 Reservoir Storage and Yield
Direct supply and augmentation reservoirs. Components of storage, mass curve analysis and yield evaluation.
L9 Introduction to Urban Runoff and Diffuse Pollution Control
Analysis and discussion of recent urban runoff and diffuse pollution control examples including reservoir storage and yield problems.
L10 Reservoir Flood Routing
Introduction to the basis for reservoir modelling. Basic mass balance principles. Reservoir flood routing.
L11 Application of the Normal Distribution
Measures of spread. Practical applications of the moving means technique and the normal distribution.
L12 Basic Statistical Techniques
Statistical requirements including the normal distribution for practical and recent examples. Problem solving and design class.
L13 Extreme Value Analysis
Annual maximum series. Extreme value distributions, Gumbel and Pearson distributions, and appropriate plotting positions.
L14 Some Practical Aspects of Frequency Analysis
Risk during design life and during construction.
L15 Rainfall and Runoff
More complex rainfall and runoff problems relevant to urban drainage and diffuse pollution control.
L16 Rainfall Storm Profiles
Introduction to the design rainfall. Effective rainfall. Introduction to the hydrograph technique.
L17 Rainfall Prediction Methods
Rainfall relationships. Rainfall prediction method example.
L18 Flood Runoff and Flood Routing
Unit hydrographs. Flow in open channels. Flood Routing aspects.
L19 Course Review Lecture
Revision lecture identifying key aspects of course.
Tutorials: Titles & Contents
Each student will have at least one hour tutorial session per week, between weeks 2 and 10 of semester 2. The tutorial titles are as follows:
1a The Hydrological Cycle
1b Precipitation and Precipitation Data
2 Evaporation and Evapotranspiration
3a Flow Measurement
3b Analysis of Streamflow Data
3 Analysis of Streamflow Data
4 Reservoir Yield Assessment
5 Reservoir Flood Routing
6 Statistical Analysis
7 Rainfall-Runoff and Unit Hydrograph
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| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
Hydrology in Practice (3rd Edition) (Recommended text book)
Shaw E. M. Chapman & Hall, London, 1994
Statistics for Technology
Chatfield C. Chapman & Hall, 1983
Applied Hydrology
Chow V. T., Maidment D. R., Mays L. W. McGraw-Hill, 1988
Streamflow Measurement
Hershey R.
Water Resources Engineering
Linsley et al. McGraw-Hill, 1992
Engineering Hydrology
Nemec J. McGraw-Hill, 1972
Wetland Systems to Control Urban Runoff
Scholz M. Elsevier, 2006
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| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Martin Crapper
Tel: (0131 6)50 5727
Email: Martin.Crapper@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Sharon Potter
Tel: (0131 6)51 7079
Email: Sharon.Potter@ed.ac.uk |
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