LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course provides the basic knowledge of the hydrological processes at the spatial and temporal scales of the drainage basin. Special attention is paid to the optimal use of the water resource for civil, industrial and energetic applications and for the defense from hydrologic hazards.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course provides the essential knowledge of fundamental hydrological processes, with specific attention to precipitation, soil-atmosphere interface processes and the formation of surface runoff and flood waves in river basins. For each element, specific essential elements, measurement techniques and mathematical and numerical models that can be adopted for the description and the forecast are examined.

The acquired operational skills will allow the student to understand factors that determine the main hydrological processes at different spatial and temporal analysis scales, to design and conduct measurement campaigns of the main hydrological quantities, to process the observed or available data in ephemerides for projects of use and management of the water resource or for flood defence projects.

TEACHING METHODS

Lectures 40 hrs, practical 16 hrs, seminars 4 hrs. Presentations used during teching hours are made available to the students at the beginning of the course.

Practical works on the main aspects of the program are evaluated as part of the final examination. The final examination consists in a discussion of practical works, integrated by oral questions. 

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The hydrological cycle. The hydrological balance. Energetic balance and fluxes. Rudiments of hydro-meteorology: soil atmosphere interaction. Rainfall analysis and prediction: rainfall recordings, depth duration curves, space and time distribution of design rainfall. Evaporation and transpiration. Infiltration and surface runoff: interception, surface retention, infiltration. Flood formation: internal description on the hillslopes and in the network; external description, linear and quasi-linear models, IUH, GIUH. Global models, elements of distributed modelling.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bras R.L.: Hydrology, Addison-Wesley, 1990.

Chow V.T.: Maidment DR & Mays, LW, Applied Hydrology, McGraw-Hill, 1988.

Dingman S.L.: Physical Hydrology, Prentice Hall, 2002.

Eagleson P.S.: Dynamic Hydrology, EGU, 2003.

Maidment D.R. (ed.): Handbook of Hydrology, McGraw-Hill, 1992.

Brutsaert W.: Hydrology: An Introduction, Cambridge University Press, 2005.

Hornberger G.M. et al.: Elements of Physical Hydrology, JHU Press, 2014.

Musy A. et al.: Hydrology: A Science for Engineers, CRC Press, 2014.