What are reservoir and streamflow routing?

In hydrology, a reservoir is usually a natural pond that is enlarged or made using a dam to keep the water clean. Reservoirs or dams can be constructed in several ways, including controlling the existing watercourse, disrupting the watercourse to form embayment within it, by digging or building any number of retaining walls.

Described as a liquid reservoir, ponds may hold water or gases, including hydrocarbons. Tanks keep these in inflow, outflow, or dug tanks. Water storage tanks are also called tanks. Many underground reservoirs are used to store liquids, especially water or petroleum, underground.

The streamflow routing provides a set of methods for describing and predicting the flow of water from one place to another near a river. Typically, this process involves predicting the hydrograph position at the bottom of the river from a point in a station, water tank, or pool. This first requires an understanding of the basic principles of flow and how water is stored and drained from the canal. From there, information and statistics based on the flow and features of the channel beds are applied to hydrologic routes, which are based on storage, and hydraulic route methods, which use flexible statistics. This module provides a complete introduction to these route concepts and processes through diagrams, animations, and sample exercises, with a strong focus on hydrologic pathways.

Lake Vyrnwy and Dam in Powys, Wales.
CC BY-SA 3.0 | Image credits: https://commons.wikimedia.org | Sean the Spook

Types of reservoir

Dammed valley reservoir

The dam built in the valley depends on the environment to provide a large portion of the lake. Dams are usually found in the narrow part of the valley below the natural river. The sides of the valley serve as natural walls, with a dam located in a very small area to provide energy and very low construction costs.

The construction of a dam in the valley usually requires that the river be diverted in the middle of the building, usually through a temporary tunnel or passageway.

Coastal reservoirs

Coastal dams are freshwater reservoirs near the mouth of the river to store river floodwaters. Since the construction of a ground-based dam is rife with landslides, the coastal lake is economically and technically preferred because they do not take up space. Many coastal dams are built in Asia and Europe.

Bank-side reservoirs

When water is pumped or drunk from a river of varying sizes, coastal pumpkins may be constructed to store water. Such dams are usually built-in part by excavation and in part by building a complete perimeter or fence, which may exceed 4 miles in circumference. Both the floor of the pool and the pile should have an impermeable lining or texture, these were originally made of clay with ponds, but this is often replaced by the modern use of folded clay. The water stored in those ponds may remain there for several months, during which time normal biological processes can significantly reduce pollution and almost eliminate any pollution.

Types of streamflow routing

In hydrology, routing is a method used to predict changes in the state of a hydrograph as water inflows to a river or a reservoir. In flood forecasts, navigators may want to know how heavy rainfall in the northern part of the city will change as it arrives in the city. The route can be used to determine if rainfall reaches the city as a flood or as a dripping.

The streamflow can also be used to predict the position of the hydrograph following multiple rainfall events in different small water bodies. The timing and duration of rainfall events, as well as factors such as precipitation conditions, river structure, and water composition, top slopes, geology/hydrogeology absorbing rain and releasing it slowly in the following weeks and months, and the length of the river streamflow all plays a role here. The result could be an additional impact (a major flood if each small area of each hydrograph peak reaches the mouth of the river at the same time, thus effectively causing the "accumulation" of the hydrograph peaks), or further distribution- the effect of time.

If the flow of water somewhere in a stream is measured over time by a flow gauge, this information can be used to construct a hydrograph. A short period of heavy rain often referred to as a flood, could cause a landslide, as the water recedes downstream, reaches the A-flow gauge, and flows through it. If another flow gauge in B, downstream A is set, one can expect a graph to have the same shape. However, the shape of the river and the resistance to flow in the river can affect the shape of the floodwaters. In most cases, the floodwaters will be reduced.

Hydraulic routing

The hydraulic channel is based on the solution of different calculations for the upstream flow of the channel. Statistics used are Saint-Venant statistics or associated wave estimates. Hydraulic models require large data collections related to river geometry and morphology and use multiple computer resources to solve problems with numbers.

Flood routing

A flood routing is a process of determining the time and magnitude of a flow (a flow hydrograph) in an area of ​​water from a known or imagined hydrograph in one or more places. The process is especially known as floodplain if the flow is a flood. After routing, the maximum value decreases, and a time lag is introduced. To determine changes in the condition of a flood hydrograph as it travels in a natural river or artificial streamflow, different flood simulation methods can be used.

Traditionally, hydraulic tracking systems and hydrologic are widely known as dispersed and compact systems for hydraulic and hydrologic workers, respectively, and can be used. Hydrologic models require measuring hydrologic parameters using recorded data on both river upstream sections and using robust development strategies to address conservation in one-size and continuous conservation.

On the other hand, hydraulic models require more outflow data collection related to river geometry and morphology and use more computer resources to solve problems with numbers. Simple realistic ideas with a common river feature that includes channel geometry, access length, solid coefficient, and slope are used to measure model parameters without complex numerical and expensive solutions. Typically, based on available field data and project objectives, one of these methods is used to mimic floods in rivers and canals.

Muskingum method

The Muskingum method, developed by McCarthy, is a popular method of lumped flow. The Muskingum one way is to transmit hydrographs by broadcasting access, well established in hydrological texts and its modest data requirements make it attractive for practical use. The Muskingum method sometimes produces the first negative points that are absurd in integrated hydrographs. However, it gives a fairly accurate description of the effects of the slow-moving, slow-moving floods that flow into the lower mild-to-steep rivers. The Muskingum route is based on the imaginary relationship of the line between channel storage and outbound and outbound; and as a result, it calculates the prism and wedge storage. Storage below the line along the streambed is called prism storage; water is located between this line and the actual wedge storage profile. Routing parameters in models are usually obtained by measurement using a limited output hydrograph.

Context and Applications

This topic is important for professional exams in both graduate and postgraduate studies and in particular:

  • Bachelors of Technology in Civil Engineering
  • Masters of Technology in Civil Engineering

Practice Problems

1. The high rate at which water rises during a severe flood is known as-

  1. Flood routing level
  2. Full reservoir level
  3. Outflow level
  4. Hydraulic routing level

Answer: Option b

Explanation: Full reservoir level is the high rate at which water rises during a severe flood.

2. What is the graphical representation of runoff and time?

  1. Hydrograph
  2. Outflow graph
  3. Hydrology
  4. Hydrologic cycle

Answer: Option a

Explanation: Hydrograph is the graphical representation of runoff and time.

3. Which of the following factors does not affect the water infiltration of a formation?

  1. Vegetative cover
  2. The thickness of saturated level
  3. Wind velocity
  4. Temperature

Answer: Option c

Explanation: Wind velocity does not affect the water infiltration of a formation.

4. What is the infiltration of soil by less water called?

  1. Inflow
  2. Downstream
  3. Outflow stream
  4. Rapid rate of runoff

Answer: Option d

Explanation: Rapid rate of runoff is the infiltration of soil by less water.

5. Which of the following is not a process in the hydrologic cycle?

  1. Muskingum method
  2. Evaporation
  3. Precipitation
  4. Surface runoff

Answer: Option a

Explanation: Muskingum method is not a process in the hydrologic cycle.

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