Introduction to Hydrology Studio

Hello and welcome to Hydrology Studio. Hydrology Studio is an easy-to-use, stand-alone desktop application. It was developed primarily for practicing civil and environmental engineers, landscape architects and other related professionals involved with: Urban watershed modeling; Commercial site design; Pre- and post-development studies; and detention pond design. This video provides an introduction to the software and will walk you through a sample watershed modeling project. I’ll begin with a quick overview of the software’s user interface. Hydrology Studio can generate up to 100 hydrographs at once. Each hydrograph contains up to 8 return periods for a grand total of 800. Most watershed modeling functions are selected from the Ribbon menu located at the top of your screen which contains two tabs labeled, Home and Edit. On the Home tab there are three unique sub-tabs for which you can display and process your work. The Basin Model tab is where you visually construct your watershed schematic. The Table tab is basically a numerical version of the Basin Model but with key computed results added. The Charts tab presents both graphical and numerical combinations of the first two tabs. So here’s the basic procedure for building your watershed model. You add hydrographs to your model by simply clicking one of the buttons in either the Runoff Hydrographs group or in the Process Hydrographs group on the Ribbon menu. Your model should always start at its upstream end and work downstream. Icons representing each hydrograph are automatically inserted on the Basin Model canvas. Clicking an icon on the canvas populates this Input Window on the right. There you can enter or edit the associated input data as well as compute results. Let’s get started with an example watershed model. I’ll begin by selecting New Project from the File Menu. Here’s a simple watershed model which consists of 3 drainage areas and an intermediate channel. Our task here is to develop the downstream hydrograph which outfalls into the lower horizontal channel. To model this watershed we’ll follow these steps: The first step is to develop runoff hydrographs for sub-areas “DA1” and "DA2”. We’ll call these Hydrographs 1 and 2. Because they converge at the same point, Step 2 combines Hydrographs 1 and 2 to form Hydrograph 3. Step three routes Hydrograph 3 through the intermediate channel to create hydrograph number 4. Step Four creates a runoff hydrograph for sub-area “DA3”. And lastly, we’ll need to combine Hydrographs 4 and 5 to create Hydrograph 6. For this example, we’ll create our model using the SCS method while using the Standard 6-hour design storm for generating runoff hydrographs. I’ll begin by clicking the SCS button on the Ribbon menu. The program automatically places an SCS hydrograph icon near the top center of my working canvas. I’ll click the SCS button again to add the second sub-basin… DA2. Now I need to combine these two hydrographs. I do this by first selecting them. Note that you can select multiple hydrographs by clicking them while holding down the Shift key; or by dragging a rectangle around them. After they’ve been selected, I’ll click the Junction button on the Ribbon menu. It automatically adds the corresponding icon to my model. Next, I need to route Hydrograph number 3 through the intermediate channel to create hydrograph number 4. I can do this by selecting Hydrograph 3, indicating that it’s the inflow hydrograph; and then clicking the Reach button on the Ribbon menu. My model is updated. Next I’ll create another runoff hydrograph representing drainage area 3. As in the first step, I’ll simply click the SCS button. That hydrograph needs to be combined with the channel reach hydrograph. I’ll select hydrographs 4 and 5 as I did in Step 2. Then click the junction button on the Ribbon menu. There. My model is complete. Note that you can reposition the icons on the canvas to better mimic world conditions by simply dragging them around. You can also reposition groups of icons by holding down the shift key while dragging. To return to the default arrangement, click the Reset button on the side toolbar. Now let’s add data to these hydrographs. One of the things I like most about Hydrology Studio is its flexibility, in that you can add data to any hydrograph at any time. In other words, you can build out the entire model as we’ve done here, and then add data. Or you can add the associated data as you add hydrographs to your model. There's no particular order you need to follow. I do recommend however starting with the most upstream hydrographs and work down. Especially when you are dealing with junctions, channel reaches or detention pond routings. To begin, I’ll click on Hydrograph number 1. And fill in the blanks on the data input window to the right. For this hydrograph, its name is Drainage Area 1, or “DA1” for short. Its runoff area is 2.5 acres. Curve Number is 80. We’ll enter a User Defined” Time of concentration of 20 minutes. Click Compute to render the hydrograph. Now I’ll do the same for Hydrograph 2. Where its name is “DA2”. It has a drainage area of 3.0 acres. A Curve number of 74. And it takes 25 minutes for a drop of water to flow from the remotest point in this drainage area to the downstream end. Clicking Compute generates the hydrograph. Next is the junction; Hydrograph number 3. I’ll name it “Confluence”. Notice how the inflow hydrographs are already filled in based on the Basin Model we created. Click Compute to build the combined hydrograph. Next is the channel reach. Its name is “Intermediate Channel”. Its inflow hydrograph has already been set to Hydrograph 3. We’ll use the Muskey method as we call it. And the Section type will be trapezoidal. The reach length is 1,000 feet at a slope of 0.1 percent. The channel roughness coefficient is 0.05 The channel width is 5 feet and has 2.5 to 1 side slopes. The next three items are disabled because they not required for this method. Clicking Compute generates the hydrograph. The next hydrograph is for Drainage Area 3 and we’ll name it “DA3”. It has an area of 5.2 acres; with a Curve Number of 76. Its Time of Concentration is 30 minutes. Clicking Compute takes care of that one. And finally, the combined hydrograph. Its name is “Inflow to Channel” And click Compute. That’s it. The model is now set up and is computed. At this point you may be wondering where these hydrographs are. Let’s take a look. I’ll first select, say, Hydrograph DA1. Then click the Charts tab. Here we see Hydrograph 1. You can select from this list box on the left, any hydrograph to view its corresponding chart. Multiple selections can be made by clicking while holding down the Shift key. Use the Control key to select non-adjacent hydrographs. For example Hydrographs 2 and 6. Note that Hydrology Studio computes hydrographs for all active return periods at once. The frequency selector bar across the top allows you to choose which one to view. We’ll cover Active Return Periods in a separate video regarding Rainfall and Design Storms. This chart as well as any other chart in this program can be zoomed by simply dragging a rectangle from the upper left to the lower right of a desired viewport. Double-click the chart to return to full extents. It's inevitable that once your basin model has been constructed, you'll need to make some changes. For example, the Curve Number for "DA2" might change from 74 to say, 81. That's easily accomplished by selecting the Hydrograph, editing its Curve Number, and clicking Compute. However, DA2 is an inflow hydrograph to other downstream hydrographs. For example, Hydrograph number 6 is left unchanged. So they will need to be recomputed as well. Rather than re-computing each and every hydrograph separately, this is easily accomplished by simply clicking Run on the Ribbon menu. This re-computes all of them automatically, beginning from the top. Lets return to the Basin Model tab and we’ll discuss getting output. Getting printed reports in Hydrology Studio is quite easy. Reports are available at any time and there's no rigid procedure to follow or any preparation work. Just click the Reports button located on the Ribbon menu, and Hydrology Studio displays a Reports Menu. The Reports menu offers a wide array of report types, styles and lots of options. Feel free to pick and choose until you get to know the ones you like best. For this project I’m going to select Basin Model, Hydrograph Summary and Hydrograph Reports. I can choose a specific range of hydrographs but in this case, I want to print all of them. And I want them as graphic rather than numeric. For the Frequency, I just need the 10 year. Next, click the Generate button which opens up the Document Viewer where you'll see a preview. From here you can send them to your printer. This concludes our introduction. Hopefully this video will allow you to hit the ground running with the program and perhaps has sharpened your watershed modeling skills. Thanks for watching and thanks for choosing Hydrology Studio.