Hydrology and Floodplain Analysis

Philip B. Bedient is the Herman Brown Professor of Engineering, with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Rice University, Houston, TX. He received the Ph.D. degree in environmental engineering sciences from the University of Florida. He is a registered professional engineer and teaches and performs research in surface hydrology, modeling, and flood prediction systems, and ground water hydrology. He has directed over 50 research projects over the past 31 years, and has written over 180 journal articles and conference proceedings over that time. He has also written four textbooks in the area of surface and groundwater hydrology. He received the Shell Distinguished Chair in environmental science (1988—92), the C.V. Theis award in 2007, and he was elected Fellow of ASCE in 2006. Dr. Bedient has worked on a variety of hydrologic problems, including river basin analyses, major floodplain studies, groundwater contamination models, and hydrologic/GIS models in water resources. He has been actively involved in developing computer systems for flood prediction and warning, and recently directed the development of a real-time flood alert system (FAS2) for the Texas Medical Center (TMC) in Houston. The FAS2 is based on converting NEXRAD radar data directly to rainfall in a GIS framework, which is then used to predict peak channel flows. Dr. Bedient is organizing the Houston test bed for the Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA), an NSF Engineering Research Center led by University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and Rice University is a strategic outreach partners. CASA’s revolutionary sensing technology is expected to increase the warning time for flash floods and other severe weather events with greater accuracy than existing systems. The first high technology radar was deployed in 2007 in the TMC in Houston as part of the on-going flood warning system developed for the Texas Medical Center. Dr. Bedient has overseen the monitoring, modeling, and remediation at numerous hazardous waste sites, including six Superfund sites, and U.S. Air Force bases in five states. He has extensive experience in contaminant transport at sites impacted with chlorinated solvents and fuels. He has served on two National Academy of Science committees relating to environmental remediation and technology, and has received research funding from NSF, the U.S. EPA, the U.S. Department of Defense, the State of Texas, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the City of Houston.     Wayne C. Huber is Professor of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering at Oregon State University, Corvallis. His doctoral work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology dealt with thermal stratification in reservoirs, for which he received the Lorenz G. Straub Award from the University of Minnesota and the Hilgard Hydraulic Prize from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). He is a member of several technical societies and has served several administrative functions within the ASCE. He is the author of over 120 reports and technical papers, is a registered professional engineer, and has served as a consultant on numerous studies done by public agencies and private engineering firms. Beginning at the University of Florida and continuing at Oregon State University, Dr. Huber’s research has included studies of urban hydrology, Storm water management, nonpoint source runoff, river basin hydrology, lake eutrophication, rainfall statistics, and hydrologic and water quality modeling. He is one of the original authors of the EPA Storm Water Management Model and has helped to maintain and improve the model continuously since 1971. Dr. Huber is an internationally recognized authority on runoff quantity and quality processes in urban areas.   Baxter E. Vieux is Director of the Natural Hazards and Disaster Research Center and Professor in the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, University of Oklahoma, Norman where he teaches courses in hydrology, GIS, surveying, measurements, water quality management, and engineering graphics and design. Before joining OU in 1990, he held a professorship at Michigan State University teaching watershed management after earning his PhD there. Dr. Vieux was recently appointed as Adjunct Professor with the Department of Environmental Engineering and Science, Rice University, Houston, Prior to his academic career, he spent ten years with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service serving as Acting State Engineer, and being responsible for statewide engineering design and construction programs in Michigan. He is a registered professional engineer in three states and is co-principal and founder of Vieux & Associates, Inc., an engineering technology company with clients in the US and internationally in radar rainfall, GIS, and hydrology. Dr. Vieux is the innovator and architect of the first commercially available physics-based distributed hydrologic model, Vflo™, which uses real-time radar inputs for hydrologic analysis and prediction. Span urban and rural hydrology, the model has worldwide applicability. A patent is held for a method of realtime distributed model calibration. Consultative services include major corporations and engineering companies, and domestic and international water agencies. Externally sponsored academic research has been funded by NASA, EPA, NWS, NOAA, Army Corps of Engineers, NSF, and state/local agencies. Internationally, he has conducted research and worked on projects in France, Japan, Poland, Niger, Nicaragua, Taiwan, Paraguay, Korea and Romania. He has authored over 110 publications in hydrology including a recent book in its second edition, Distributed Hydrologic Modeling Using GIS, Kluwer Academic Press,Vol. 48.

 

 

1 HYDROLOGIC PRINCIPLES 1

1.1 Introduction to Hydrology 1

1.2 Hydrologic Cycle 8

1.3 Weather Systems 14

1.4 Precipitation 29

1.5 Streamflow and the Hydrograph 43

1.6 Hydrologic Measurement 45

1.7 Hydrologic Loss–Evaporation and ET 55

1.8 Hydrologic Loss–Infiltration 65

1.9 Green and Ampt Infiltration Method 70

 

2 HYDROLOGIC ANALYSIS 96

2.1 Watershed Concepts 96

2.2 Rainfall—Runoff 100

2.3 Hydrograph Analysis 102

2.4 Unit Hydrograph Theory 115

2.5 Synthetic Unit Hydrograph Development 128

2.6 Applications of Unit Hydrographs 143

2.7 Linear and Kinematic Wave Mode 147

2.8 Snowfall and Snowmelt 151

 

3 FREQUENCY ANALYSIS 171

3.1 Introduction 171

3.2 Probability Concepts 177

3.3 Random Variables and Probability Distributions 179

3.4 Return Period or Recurrence Interval 190

3.5 Common Probabilistic Models 193

3.6 Graphical Presentation of Data 210

3.7 Regional Analysis 223

3.8 Related Topics 224

 

4 FLOOD ROUTING 241

4.1 Hydrologic and Hydraulic Routing 241

4.2 Hydrologic River Routing 248

4.3 Hydrologic Reservoir Routing 257

4.4 Governing Equations for Hydraulic River Routing 268

4.5 Movement of a Flood Wave 271

4.6 Kinematic Wave Routing 275

4.7 Hydraulic River Routing 290

 

5 HYDROLOGIC SIMULATION MODELS 312

5.1 Introduction to Hydrologic Models 312

5.2 Steps in Watershed Modeling 315

5.3 Description of Major Hydrologic Models 317

5.4 HEC Flood Hydrograph Models 319

5.5 Introduction to HEC-HMS 327

5.6 HEC-HMS Watershed Analysis: Case Study 338

 

6 URBAN HYDROLOGY 356

6.1 Characteristics of Urban Hydrology 356

6.2 Review of Physical Processes 362

6.3 Rainfall Analysis in Urban Basins 369

6.4 Methods for Quantity Analysis 379

6.5 Sewer System Hydraulics 393

6.6 Control Options 397

 

7 FLOODPLAIN HYDRAULICS 444

7.1 Uniform Flow 444

7.2 Uniform Flow Computations 448

7.3 Specific Energy and Critical Flow 453

7.4 Occurrence of Critical Depth 457

7.5 Nonuniform Flow or Gradually Varied Flow 458

7.6 Gradually Varied Flow Equations 458

7.7 Classification of Water Surface Profiles 463

7.8 Hydraulic Jump 467

7.9 Introduction to the HEC-RAS Model 469

7.10 Theoretical Basis for HEC-RAS 470

7.11 Basic Data Requirements (Steady State) 472

7.12 Optional HEC-RAS Capabilities 476

7.13 Bridge Modeling in HEC-RAS 477

7.14 HEC-RAS Features 483

 

8 GROUND WATER HYDROLOGY 500

8.1 Introduction 500

8.2 Properties of Ground Water 503

8.3 Ground Water Movement 508

8.4 Flow Nets 513

8.5 General Flow Equations 516

8.6 Dupuit Equation 518

8.7 Streamlines and Equipotential Lines 523

8.8 Unsaturated Flow 524

8.9 Steady-State Well Hydraulics 525

8.10 Unsteady Well Hydraulics 533

8.11 Water Wells 544

8.12 Ground Water Modeling Techniques 547

 

 

9 DESIGN APPLICATIONS IN HYDROLOGY 565

9.1 Introduction 565

9.2 Drainage Collection Systems 566

9.3 Design of Culverts 581

9.4 Detention Basins Used to Mitigate Project Impacts 596

9.5 Floodplain Management Design Issues 608

 

10 GIS APPLICATIONS IN HYDROLOGY 633

10.1 Introduction to GIS 633

10.2 General GIS Concepts 635

10.3 Digital Representation Hydrologic Parameters 641

10.4 Digital Representation of Topography 643

10.5 GIS-Based Hydrology and Hydraulics 646

10.6 Common GIS Software Programs 652

 

11 RADAR RAINFALL APPLICATIONS IN HYDROLOGY 658

11.1 Introduction 658

11.2 Radar Estimation of Rainfall 664

11.3 Nexrad (WSR-88D) Radar System 671

11.4 Gage Adjustment of Radar 676

11.5 Hydrologic Applications 681

 

12 SEVERE STORM IMPACTS AND FLOOD MANAGEMENT 709

12.1 Introduction 709

12.2 Flood Management Issues and Basic Terminology 710

12.3 Structural and Nonstructural Methods of Flood Control 713

12.4 The Flood Control Paradox 721

12.5 The 2005 Hurricane Season: Katrina, Rita, and Emily 722

12.6 Improved Strategies Toward Flood Management 732

 

APPENDIX A SYMBOLS AND NOTATION 742

APPENDIX B CONVERSION FACTORS 745

APPENDIX C PROPERTIES OF WATER 747

APPENDIX D NORMAL DISTRIBUTION TABLES 749

APPENDIX E USEFUL HYDROLOGY-RELATED INTERNET LINKS 751

GLOSSARY 758

INDEX 775