75205 - Advanced Hydrology

Academic Year 2015/2016

Learning outcomes

A successful learner from this course will be able to: use, compare and develop hydrological models, in particular models for simulating the physical processes that contribute to the formation of the river flows; apply techniques and policies for the management of water resources, in particular reservoirs and water supply systems.

Course contents

The lectures include: (1) an introduction to the hydrological cycle and an overview of climate variability in different regions of the world, (2) principles of hydrological modelling, (3) generation of synthetic hydrological data, (4) rainfall-runoff models, (5) calibration and validation of hydrological models, (6) uncertainty assessment for hydrological models, (7) assessment of human impact on rivers and flood risk, (8) introduction to decision theory in hydrology, (9) scientific visions and future perspective for hydrological modelling

Readings/Bibliography

Water Resources Systems Planning and Management: An Introduction to Methods, Models and Applications by Daniel P. Loucks and Eelco van Beek with contributions from Jery R. Stedinger, Jozef P.M. Dijkman, Monique T. Villars, freely available at http://ecommons.cornell.edu/handle/1813/2798http://ecommons.cornell.edu/handle/1813/2798

Teaching methods

Students should preliminarily possess knowledge of open channel hydraulics and basic hydrology (estimation of extreme rainfall, estimation of peak river flow with simple approaches, river flow routing).

The course is taught through lectures. Part of them are dedicated to the solution of practical water resources management problems, that are developed at the computer.

Assessment methods

The preparation of the student will be assessed through an oral colloquium whose duration is about 30 minutes. The student may present at the exam a brief report of the exercises that were developed during the course. Students are asked to reply to 3-4 questions focusing on the topics that were treated during the lectures. Students may be asked to solve a short exercise. The exam is passed if the student proves to be prepared on the theoretical principles and analytical derivations that were taught during the lectures. The teacher will explicitly mention to students during the lectures what are the basic questions that one needs to rigorously address in order to pass the exam. The speaking capability will also be evaluated but it is not a cause of failure. The laude is reserved to students who are excellently prepared and prove to have integrated their preparation with personal in-depth analysis.

Teaching tools

The teacher will made available notes on his personal web-site. Scientific papers will be distributed during the lectures as well as summaries of recent research outcomes. Moreover, the teacher makes available videos of the lectures at http://www.youtube.com/user/albertomontanari/videos?view=1.

Links to further information

http://www.albertomontanari.it

Office hours

See the website of Alberto Montanari