APPLICATION OF HEC - HMS IN

RAINFALL - RUNOFF AND FLOOD

SIMULATIONS IN LOWER TAPI
BASIN
Prepared By:-
Guided By:-
Ankit Balyan Dr. P.L. Patel Mr.
(U06CE065) P.V. Timbadiya
Prem Kumar Soren (U06CE032) Professor
Alok Chandra Yadav (U06CE070) Assistant Professor
CED, SVNIT
CED, SVNIT

Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat

 REVIEW OF PROJECT
PRELIMINARY
• Preliminary literature review on Rainfall-
Runoff modeling using various software
• Basic fundamental understanding of
simulation of rainfall-runoff process
• Learning functioning of HEC-HMS
software has been explored through
example of Waller Creek in Austin, Texas
• HEC-HMS was found to be suitable to
carry out the rainfall-runoff simulation
with a satisfactory degree of accuracy

Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat

 IMPORTANCE OF STUDY OF
RAINFALL - RUNOFF
SIMULATIONS
• During floods, it becomes very important
to find out how much part of that run-off
was contributed by rainfall and how
much is due to the release from the dam.
• Rainfall-runoff simulation is also a vital
knowledge to have while fixing reservoir
capacity.
• For a water harvesting planner, the most
difficult task is therefore to select the
appropriate "design" rainfall according to
which the ratio of catchment to
cultivated Civil
area will
Engineering be determined.
Department, SVNIT, Surat
 SCOPE OF STUDY
• To study and explore the working
and functions of HEC-HMS v3.4
which is quite useful in Hydrologic
Modeling
• To develop the Hydrologic Model for
the lower Tapi Basin, from
downstream of Ukai to the sea,
covering a net area of about 1672
km2
• To determine the contribution of
rainfall in the floods that occurred
Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat
 WHAT IS HEC - HMS?
• HEC-HMS is a product of the Hydrologic
Engineering Center within the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers
• The Hydrologic Modeling System (HEC-
HMS) is designed to simulate the
precipitation-runoff processes of
dendritic drainage basins
• The program is a generalized modeling
system capable of representing many
different watersheds

Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat

 WHAT IS HEC - HMS?
• A model of the watershed is constructed by
separating the water cycle into manageable
pieces and constructing boundaries around
the watershed of interest
• Any mass or energy flux in the cycle can
then be represented with a mathematical
model
• Hydrographs produced by the program are
used directly or in conjunction with other
software for studies of water availability,
reservoir planning, urban drainage,
catchment studies, flow forecasting,
future urbanization impact, reservoir spillwa
y design of damage, floodplain regulation
and systemCiviloperation.
Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat
 ADVANTAGES OF HEC - HMS
• Its support by the US Army Corps of
Engineers
• The future enhancements in progress
• Its acceptance by many government
agencies and private firms
• Available to download free of charge
from HEC's web site
• The direct download from HEC includes
extensive documentation, and
scientists and engineers versed in
hydraulic analysis should have little
difficulty applying
Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat
DISADVANTAGES OF HEC - HMS
• All of the mathematical models included
in the program are deterministic.  This
means that the boundary conditions,
initial conditions, and parameters of the
models are assumed to be exactly
known.
• The design of the basin model only
allows for dendritic stream networks.
• The basin model allows each hydrologic
element to have only one downstream
connection so it is not possible to split
the outflow from an element into two
different downstream elements.
Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat
HEC - HMS INTERFACE

Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat

 HEC - HMS INTERFACE
• Watershed Explorer
•The Watershed Explorer was developed to provide

quick access to all components in an HEC-HMS

project.
• Component Editor
•All data that can be specified in the model component

is entered in the Component Editor

• Message Log
•Notes, warnings, and errors are shown in the Message

Log
• Desktop
•The Desktop holds a variety of windows including

summary tables, time-series tables, graphs, global

editors, and the basin model map
Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat
 STUDY AREA
• The Tapi river basin includes an area of
65145 Km2
• The basin lies in the states of
•Maharastra – 50504 Km2

•Madhya Pradesh - 9804 Km2

•Gujarat - 3837 Km2

• Study area is confined to the lower Tapi

basin located downstream of Ukai dam.
• This area has been measured during the
course of study to be approximately 1672
Km2
•
Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat
STUDY AREA

Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat

DATA COLLECTION

Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat

PRECIPITATION DATA
• Collected from the State Water Data Centre,
Gandhinagar (SWDC)
• In the downstream of Ukai there are 11 different
rain gauge stations
• Daily rain gauge measurements are done every
day at 8 in the morning
• The precipitation data includes the details of
the rain gauge stations i.e. its name and
location (latitude and longitude) and the daily
rainfall data.
• Since 2006 was very important year
considering the flood therefore the data of 2006
were collected
Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat
PRECIPITATION DATA
Station Code Station Name Tahsil / Lat Long
Taluka
Bodhan Bodhan Olpad 21o17’20” 73o05’15”
Godsamba Godsamba Mandvi 21o16’46” 73 o13’50”
Kadod Kadod Bardoli 21o13’00” 73 o12’58”
Kakrapar Kakrapar Songadh 21o15’29” 73o22’28”
Kamrej Kamrej Kamrej 21o 7’40” 72o58’30”
Kathor Kathor Kamrej 21o17’30” 72o56’30”
Kholvad Kholvad Kamrej 21o16’30” 72o56’55”
Mandvi Tapi @ Mandvi Mandvi 21o14’36” 73o18’13”
Puna Puna Chorasi 21o15’20” 73o15’45”
Rander Rander Chorasi 21o13’24” 72o47’33”
Surat Surat Chorasi 21o12’20” 72o49’50”

Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat

PRECIPITATION DATA

Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat

 CATCHMENT AREA
• The catchment of Tapi in the study area
concerned is demarcated by identifying the
point of maximum elevation in the surrounding
area of Tapi downstream of Ukai.
• This is done with the help of Google Earth
Pro.5.1.
• The line of demarcation is drawn beyond which
the elevation is clearly decreasing.
• Thus the total catchment which would drain
water to the Tapi River is plotted on the map.
• Its area is measured with the help of area
measuring tools of Google Earth Pro and is
found to be approximately 1672 Km2
•

Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat

CATCHMENT AREA

Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat

 RIVER CROSS -
SECTION
• Measurement of the various cross sections of the
Tapi River at appropriate distances
• Collected from the Surat Municipal Corporation,
Surat
• In the AutoCAD usable format
•

Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat

 SOIL
CLASSIFICATION
• A map clearly showing the different soil
conditions in the region of interest was
procured from National Bureau of Soil
survey & Land Use Planning (INDIAN
COUNCIL OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH) ,
NAGPUR
• This proved to be really helpful in
calculating the Curve Numbers of the
different sub-basins, which is explained
in later slides.
•

Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat

 RAINFALL AND
RUNOFF MODELLING

Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat

STEPS INVOLVED

Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat

 COMPUTATION OF AVERAGE
RAINFALL IN THE CATCHMENT
• Rainfall at a daily time scale is the single
most important parameter in hydrological
computer simulation models.
• In this case the gages are not uniformly
distributed over the catchment
• Some gages are considered more
representative of the area concerned than
others and the relative weights may be
assigned to the gages in computing the
areal average.
• Due to these limiting conditions, the
Theissen polygon method is best suited for
finding out the average rainfall of the
Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat
 THEISSEN POLYGON METHOD
• This method takes its name after
A.M.Theissen who suggested it first in
1911.
• It assumes that at any point in the
watershed the rainfall is the same as
that at the nearest gage.
• It attempts to make allowance for
irregularities in gauge location by
weighing the record of each gauge in
proportion to area which is closer to that
gauge than to any other gauge.
• So the depth recorded at a given gage is
applied out to a distance halfway to the
Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat
 THEISSEN POLYGON METHOD
The areas for a given network of gauge stations
•

are determined as described below:-

1.Straight lines are then drawn joining the
adjacent rain gage location to form
triangles.
2.Perpendicular bisectors are now drawn to each
side of all the triangles . These bisectors
define a set of polygon contains only points
that are closer to the gauge at its centre
than to any other gauge.
3.The polygonal areas around each rain gauges
station within the basin boundary are then
measured.
4.The average depth of rainfall P is computes
as… Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat
THEISSEN POLYGON METHOD

Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat

 THEISSEN POLYGON METHOD
Station Observed Area ( Sq . Km .) Weighted Rainfall
Bodhan Rainfall
90 ( mm ) 197.48 mm ) .2
(17773

Godsamba 145 135.7 19676.5

Kadod 152 144.73 21998.96
Kakrapar 129 623.78 80467.62
Kamrej 256 77.58 19860.48
Kathor 203 57.88 11749.64
Kholvad 220 58.38 12843.6
Mandvi 104 75.29 7830.16
Puna 100 136.9 13690
Rander 139 101.28 14077.92
Surat 211.4 63.84 13495.776
Total 1672 . 84 233463 . 856
Avg Rainfall 139 . 5613783

Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat

THEISSEN POLYGON METHOD

Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat

DIVISION OF CATCHMENT INTO
SUB - BASINS
• There are no major tributaries available on the
downstream of Ukai.
• It becomes extremely difficult to divide the area
into the various sub-basins.
• Considering the smaller tributaries available in
the region and the soil characteristics of the
different zones, a classification
•has been suggested.

• This is not accurate but under the limiting

conditions of the region, this can be assumed to
be so.

Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat

DIVISION OF CATCHMENT INTO
SUB - BASINS

Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat

DIVISION OF CATCHMENT INTO
SUB - BASINS
The detailed areas of the various sub-basins are as soon as follows:-

Sub - Basin Area

Sub - Basin 1 362.69
Sub - Basin 2 295.37
Sub - Basin 3 458.44
Sub - Basin 4 160.85
Sub - Basin 5 105.84
Sub - Basin 6 76.43
Sub - Basin 7 94.36
Sub - Basin 8 48.4
Total 1602 . 38

Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat

 REPRESENTATION OF THE
SYSTEM IN HEC - HMS
•The above shown system of sub-basins and the river
is shown in the HEC-HMS environment as:-

Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat

 REPRESENTATION OF THE
SYSTEM IN HEC - HMS
Some of the elements used in the representation are:-
•

• Sub-basin– Used for rainfall-runoff computation on a

watershed.
• Reach – Used to convey (route) stream flow downstream
in the basin model.
• Reservoir – Used to model the detention and
attenuation of a hydrograph caused by a reservoir or
detention pond.
• Junction – Used to combine flows from upstream
reaches and sub-basins.
• Diversion – Used to model abstraction of flow from the
main channel.
• Source – Used to introduce flow into the basin model
(from a stream crossing the boundary of the modeled
region). Source has no inflow.
• Sink – Used toCivil
represent the outlet
Engineering Department, SVNIT,of the physical
Surat
COMPUTATION OF RUNOFF FROM
SUB - BASINS

Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat

 COMPUTATION OF LOSSES
• HEC-HMS computes runoff volume by computing the
volume of water that is intercepted, infiltrated, stored,
evaporated, or transpired and subtracting it from the
precipitation.
• Interception and surface storage are intended to
represent the surface storage of water by trees or
grass, local depressions in the ground surface, cracks
and crevices in parking lots or roofs, or a surface area
where water is not free to move as overland flow.
• Infiltration represents the movement of water to areas
beneath the land surface.
• Interception, infiltration, storage, evaporation, and
transpiration collectively are referred to in the HEC-
HMS program and documentation as losses.

Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat

 SCS CURVE NUMBER
• Runoff curve number is an empirical parameter
used in hydrology for predicting direct runoff or
infiltration from rainfall excess.
• It is widely used and efficient method for
determining the approximate amount of direct
runoff from a rainfall event in a particular area.
• It is based on the area’s hydrologic soil group ,
land use , treatment and hydrologic condition.
• The basic assumption of the scs curve number
method is that for a single storm the ratio of the
actual soil retention after runoff begins to
potential maximum retention is equal to the ratio
if direct runoff to available rainfall.

Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat

 SCS CURVE NUMBER
The empirical relations used in this method are:-
•

•I
a = 0.2S
•

•Plotting the data for P and Pe from many

watersheds, the SCS found standard curves. To
standardize these curves a dimensionless curve
number CN is defined such that 0< CN<100. For
impervious and water surface CN= 100 for natural
surfaces CN<100.
•
Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat
SCS CURVE NUMBER

Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat

 SCS CURVE NUMBER
Sub - basin Initial Curve %
Abstraction ( mm ) Number impervioussne
ss
Sub-basin 1 27 88 2
Sub-basin 2 22 90 3
Sub-basin 3 32 86 6
Sub-basin 4 27 88 10
Sub-basin 5 27 88 4
Sub-basin 6 19 91 5
Sub-basin 7 22 90 20
Sub-basin 8 22 90 40

Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat

 TRANSFORMATION OF THIS
EXCESS RAINFALL INTO
RUNOFF
• HEC-HMS refers to the process of direct runoff of excess
precipitation on a watershed as “Transformation” of
precipitation excess into point runoff.
• With HEC-HMS, there are two options for these transform
methods:
• 1) Empirical models - These are the traditional unit
hydrograph models. The system theoretic models attempt to
establish a causal linkage between runoff and excess
precipitation without detailed consideration of the internal
processes.
• 2) A conceptual model - The conceptual model
included in HEC-HMS is a kinematic-wave model of overland
flow. It represents, to the extent possible, all physical
mechanisms that govern the movement of the excess
precipitation over the watershed land surface and in small
collector channels in the watershed.
Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat
 SNYDER ’ S UNIT HYDROGRAPH
METHOD
The standard lag as given by Snyder is calculated by
•

the following equation:-

•t = C C (LL )0.3
p 1 t c
•
Sub - Basin Standard lag ( Hr ) Peaking Coefficient
Sub-Basin 1 1.3 0 .4
Sub-Basin 2 1.23 0 .4
Sub-Basin 3 1.55 0 .4
Sub-Basin 4 1.89 0 .4
Sub-Basin 5 1.65 0 .4
Sub-Basin 6 1.54 0 .4
Sub-Basin 7 1.55 0 .4
Sub-Basin 8 2.65 0 .4

Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat

 FLOOD ROUTING ALONG THE
STREAM
• Each of the flood routing models included in HEC-
HMS computes a downstream hydrograph, given
an upstream hydrograph as a boundary condition.
• They do so by solving the continuity and
momentum equations.
• Muskingum Cunge is one of the simpler and more
popular methods for the purpose of routing.
• This method allows the entire hydrograph to be
obtained at required cross sections instead of
requiring solution over the entire length of the
channel.

Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat

 MUSKINGUM – CUNGE METHOD
• The different data required are reach length,
reach slope, manning’s constant, bottom width
and side slope.
• The reach length is calculated by using the
length measuring tool in Google Earth Pro v5.1.
• Manning’s constant has a value of 0.03.
• From the Tapi data collected from SMC, Surat
office, we can get the RLs at the two end points
of the reach. Knowing the horizontal distance
between them we can get he slope of the
reach.
• From the cross-sections of the relevant section,
they are converted into equivalent trapezoidal
sections and the bottom width and side-slope
are calculated
Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat
MUSKINGUM – CUNGE METHOD

Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat

 MUSKINGUM – CUNGE METHOD
Reach Length Slope Manning's Shape Bottom Width Side
(m) Constant (m) Slope
Reach 1 15350 0.000289 0.03 Trapezoidal 157.5 0.257

Reach 2 38240 0.000663 0.03 Trapezoidal 150 0.304

Reach 3 19160 0.000571 0.03 Trapezoidal 264.665 0.424

Reach 4 10550 0.0000602 0.03 Trapezoidal 372.345 0.275

Reach 5 11610 0.000189 0.03 Trapezoidal 189.762 0.493

Reach 6 7640 0.00004 0.03 Trapezoidal 370 0.584

Reach 7 17340 0.00002 0.03 Trapezoidal 430 0.41

Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat

 RESULTS
•Once again referring back to the model produced
in HEC-HMS:-

Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat

 RESULTS
The resulting hydrograph at Sub-basin 1:-
•

Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat

 RESULTS
The resulting hydrograph at Junction 6:-
•

Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat

 RESULTS
The resulting hydrograph at Junction 1:-
•

Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat

 RESULTS
The resulting hydrograph at the outlet i.e. Junction 5:-
•

Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat

Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat
 CONCLUSION
• The rainfall is averaged over the entire catchment using
Theissen Polygon method and then the volume of runoff is
calculated using SCS Curve Number method. This volume
of precipitation is transformed into runoff by using
Snyder’s Unit Hydrograph method. Thus, the runoff
reaches the main stream. From one point on the stream to
the other, hydrologic routing has been carried out using
Muskingum–Cunge method. It uses the principle of
continuity to add the incoming inflows at one junction to
produce the outflow. Thus, the outflow hydrographs can
be obtained at the necessary cross-section including the
outlet point.
• The peak discharge at the outlet of the catchment is
measured to be 189.5 cumecs on 31st July, 2006. The
floods in Surat, however, occurred from 6th to 8th August,
2006. This goes on to show that the runoff due to the
Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat
rainfall in the catchment is not the main contributor to the
 LIMITATIONS
The results of the study are constrained by the following
•

assumptions:-
• The rainfall over the entire weighted area is assumed to
be the same as that at the rain gage station.
• The equivalent cross-section is assumed to be uniform
throughout the length of the reach.
• Some of the coefficients considered in the SCS curve
Number method and the Snyder’s Unit Hydrograph
method are calibrated values and their actual values on
the field may be different.
• During flow routing in the channel using Muskingum –
Cunge method, it is assumed that there are no losses.
• The linear and area measurements accuracy are limited
by the accuracy of Google Earth data.
• No baseflow is Civil
considered. In the event of a baseflow, the
Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat
 REFERENCES
• Biswa Bhattacharya, Doddi Yudianto and Fransisca
Mulyantri(2008) Training On Hydrological Modelling
with HEC-HMS, UNESCO-IHE Flood Modelling for
management Online Course
• Chow, V.T., Maidment D.R., and Mays, L.W. (1988).
"Applied Hydrology." McGraw-Hill, New York, NY.
• Chow, V.T. (1959). “Open channel flow.” McGraw-Hill,
New York, NY
• Calabro, P.S. (2004) Design Storms and Water
Quality Control, J. Hydrol. Eng., 9(1), 28-34.
• Daniil, E.I. and Michas S.N. (2005) Discussion of
“Factors Affecting Estimates of Average Watershed
Slope” by A. J. Hill and V. S. Neary, J. of Hydrologic
Eng., ASCE
•

Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat

 REFERENCES
• Singh, V.J. and Woolhiser W. (2002) Mathematical
Modeling of Watershed Hydrology, JHydrologic Eng., 7(4),
270-292
• Sharma J.P., Shyampura and R.L., Sehgal J. (1994), Soils
of Gujarat for Optimising Land Use, Soils of India series 2,
National Bureau of Soil Survey & Land Use Planning
(Indian Council of Agricultural Research), ISBN 81-85460-
13-2
• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Hydrologic Engineering
Center (HEC), “Hydrologic Modeling System, User’s
Manual.” (2008).
•http://www.hec.usace.army.mil/software/hec-hms/-documentation/C

• United States Army Corps of Engineers, Hydrologic

Engineering Center USACE- HEC_2000_. Hydrologic
modeling system HEC-HMS technical reference manual,
Davis, California.
• Watershed Modeling System _WMS_. _1999_. “WMS V6.1
tutorials.” Brigham YoungDepartment,
Civil Engineering University, Environmental
SVNIT, Surat
THANK YOU

Civil Engineering Department, SVNIT, Surat