An understanding of hydrology is important for many civil engineering, environmental engineering, and geotechnical related projects. A good starting point is review of the hydrological cycle, watershed characteristics, precipitation, and the rainfall/runoff process, topics included in this course, which is the first in a 'Hydrology Review Series'. These topics provide a start on the review of hydrology and preparation for studying more advanced areas of hydrology.

Topics: At the conclusion of this course, the student will: • Be familiar with the processes by which water is transported and converted from one form to another in the hydrological cycle • Be familiar with watershed characteristics and the way that they affect runoff from the watershed in response to precipitation • Be able to determine probability of occurrence in a single year for storm of given return period and vice versa. • Be able to obtain values for the Manning roughness coefficient for overland and sheet flow for various specified ground covers. • Be able to obtain values for the intercept coefficient for use in the velocity vs slope equation for specified type of flow and ground cover. • Be able to estimate velocity for overland flow using the velocity slope equation • Be able to estimate velocity for pipe and channel flow using the Manning equation • Be able to calculate time of concentration by the velocity method.

Intended Audience: for hydrologists, civil engineers, hydraulic engineers, highway engineers, geotechnical engineers and environmental engineers.

Note from Author: An attendee of this course will gain knowledge about the hydrological cycle, introductory hydrology topics and precipitation. Upon completing this course, the student will be prepared to study additional hydrology topics.

Publication Source: US DOT (Federal Highway Administration)