Undergraduate Course: Water Resources 2 (CIVE08021)
Course Outline
| School | School of Engineering |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 8 (Year 2 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | This course answers the question of how Civil Engineers assess the quantity of water available for use (potable water supply, irrigation, etc.), how they ensure the required water quantity is met and what challenges they currently face. The course hence provides an introduction to water resources, engineering hydrology and sustainable water management, and provides the foundation for further related courses in later years (e.g. Fluid Mechanics 3). It aims to introduce water resource systems, the hydrological cycle and sustainable management principles, and demonstrate the requirement for various forms of measurement and analysis. The course's objectives are to outline the principal components of water resources systems, from the standpoints of water supply, flood and diffuse pollution 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 assessments and water resource system designs. |
| Course description |
Aims & Objectives
This course is intended to:
- provide an introduction to water resource systems from the standpoints of water supply, flood and diffuse pollution control, urban drainage and waste disposal;
- introduce the hydrological cycle;
- link the measurement and observation of components of the hydrological cycle with the requirements of analysis and design in water resource systems;
- introduce conservation of mass principles for application in reservoir yield and flood routing;
- introduce concepts of risk and the application of standard statistical measures and distributions;
- introduce rainfall-runoff methods, particularly in application to single event flood runoff estimation;
- introduce the unit hydrograph concept and hydrograph convolution.
Course Structure
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 the impact human activity can have in the water cycle and 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. Arithmetic Averaging, Isohyetal mapping, Thyssen polygons methods. 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
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.
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 normal distribution.
L12 Basic Statistical Techniques
Statistical requirements including the normal distribution for practical and recent examples.
L13 Extreme Value Analysis
Annual maximum series. Extreme value distributions, Gumbel distribution, and appropriate plotting positions.
L14 Some Practical Aspects of Frequency Analysis
Risk during design life and during construction.
L15 Catchment Modelling 1
Rainfall-Stream Discharge Relationship; Run-off Hydrograph; Rational Method, Time-Area Method.
L16 Catchment Modelling 2
Effective rainfall and Rainfall Hyetograph, Unit Hydrograph Technique, Synthetic Unit Hydrograph.
L17 Flood Runoff and Routing
Unit hydrographs. Flow in open channels. Flood Routing aspects.
L18 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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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Academic year 2015/16, Available to all students (SV1)
|
Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
100
(
Lecture Hours 20,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 9,
Formative Assessment Hours 1,
Summative Assessment Hours 4.5,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
63 )
|
| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
70 %,
Coursework
30 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Coursework = 30%
Examination = 70% |
| Feedback |
Formative feedback will be provided throughout the course through discussion with lecture staff during classes, tutorials and surgery hours.
Formative feedback provided for submitted practice tutorial.
Feedback on Learn provided for assessed coursework.
Mid-semester Start/Stop/Continue |
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours & Minutes |
|
| Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May) | | 1:30 | | | Resit Exam Diet (August) | | 1:30 | |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Recognize the challenges faced by Civil Engineers when interacting and exploiting our natural water resources such as flooding, surface runoff pollution, sustainability issues.
- Understand and describe the major components of the hydrological cycle, appreciating the interactions between them, as well as describe and apply different techniques commonly used to measure different water fluxes such as precipitation, evaporation, river discharge.
- Apply statistical tools, quantify water discharge and design infrastructures for water resources exploitation such as reservoir design, catchment modelling, reservoir flood routing.
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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 |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Andrea Correia Semiao
Tel: (0131 6)50 5792
Email: |
Course secretary | Miss Lucy Davie
Tel: (0131 6)51 7073
Email: |
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