9/23/05

INTRODUCTION TO HEC-HMS:
A COMPUTER MODEL FOR RAINFALL-RUNOFF MODELING
Objectives of this class:
1) To demonstrate rainfall-runoff modeling in HEC-HMS and learn ho the land
com!onents of the h"drologic c"cle are re!resented on a atershed scale#
$) To learn ho to im!lement HEC-HMS for a sim!le rainfall-runoff modeling
e%ercise for a atershed#
Ste!s:
1) &o to the HEC-HMS ebsite at:
htt!:''#hec#usace#arm"#mil'softare'hec-hms'hechms-hechms#html
$) Clic( on )HEC-HMS* under the )+onload* button on "our left hand side# This
ill ta(e "ou to a !age here "ou need to donload the HEC-HMS version $#$$
,) +onload hms$$$single#e%e in "our local -C# This is a self-e%tracting setu! file
that ill install HEC-HMS once "ou double clic( on it#
.) /nstall HEC-HMS in "our s!ecified folder 0sa" HEC-HMS) and restart#
1) 2o run "our HEC-HMS# /t ill o!en a indo as follos:

FIGURE 1
3) The HEC-HMS that "ou have installed alread" has the necessar" h"drologic and
atershed data and !arameter files to run a rainfall-runoff modeling scenario for a
1
atershed# The atershed is called )4ittle 5iver* near Tifton6 &7# This is a
research atershed maintained b" 75S 07gricultural 5esearch Service) and
8S+7 08S +e!t# of 7griculture)# 9or more details on the atershed "ou ma"
refer to: htt!:''sacs#c!es#!eachnet#edu'serl'4ittle5iver'littleriver#htm
:) ;ou ill no see three different items in each column that define the rainfall-
runoff modeling for HEC-HMS: a) 8nder <asin Model6 "ou have =Tifton> ? this
item contains all the necessar" h"drologic data of the river basin 0such as
!arameters for infiltration6 surface runoff6 area of atershed6 soils t"!e etc#)# The
name )Tifton> is arbitrar" as ? for "our on s!ecific !roblem and atershed "ou
can have "our on name@ b) 8nder )Meteorologic Model*6 "ou have )Tifton
H"etogra!h* ? this item contains all the necessar" files for meteorologic in!ut to
the modeling !rocess ? mainl" the rainfall file@ c) 8nder =Control S!ecifications*
"ou have the item that controls ho "ou ill simulate the rainfall runoff !rocess6
mainl" "our timeste! and the total time !eriod for simulation#
A) 2o clic( on )Tifton* under <asin Model# This o!ens a ne indo that
gra!hicall" re!resents the atershed as a landsca!e unit for simulation of rainfall-
runoff !rocess#

FIGURE 2
B) Essentiall"6 all the major atershed h"drologic !rocesses are re!resented b" the
green bo%6 even though "ou do see the actual atershed delineation ith the river
$
netor(# 2OTE: /t is onl" a conce!tualiCation and it +OES 2OT mean that the
!rocesses are !h"sicall" ta(ing !lace there# <asicall" the green bo% re!resents the
=average> atershed !rocesses6 hence the ensuing runoff as overland flo is
=routed> via the river netor( to the basin outlet# 7gain6 the river netor( is also
idealiCed as a straight !i!eline for trans!orting the generated runoff from rainfall#
9inall"6 "ou have a blue junction s"mbol at the basin outlet that basicall"
indicates# 4et>s not orr" about hat the =junction> actuall" means at this stage
other than re!resenting a t"!ical eir t"!e structure to measure observed flo
draining out of the basin#
1D) 2o right clic( on the green bo% for atershed !rocess and then clic( =edit># This
ill o!en a indo here "ou can decide on the s!ecific submodels'techniEues
to solve're!resent the h"drologic sub !rocesses 0e#g# infiltration6 groundater
flo6 ET6 river flo etc#)# ;ou also assign the atershed area here 0in this case6 it
is 1B#$: mile
$
)
FIGURE 3
11) The =4oss 5ate* is used to re!resent /nfiltration@ =Transform* re!resents ho the
surface runoff or direct runoff ill reach the river netor( from the u!stream hills
and the )<aseflo* re!resents the groundater flo !rocess# ;ou can clic( on
,
an" of these lin(s to modif" the !arameters or in!ut needed to model the
!rocesses#
1$) Ma(e sure "ou are still on the )4oss 5ate* !age and notice carefull" ho the
current model setu! for Tifton is configured# The infiltration is being modeled b"
a method called SM7 0Soil Moisture 7ccounting)# <ut "ou can actuall" change it
to sa"6 &reen and 7m!t or the 25CS 0in this case6 SCS) curve number method# /
ant "ou to !la" ith these lin(s and connect hat "ou see to hat "ou have
learned so far in class 0focus mainl" on &reen and 7m!t and SCS method for
infiltration)# Fe shall ignore =<ase 9lo Method* and )Transform* for the time
being#
1,) Running !" M#$"%: 9irst "ou need to clic( on )Control S!ecifications* )0Gan 1
? Gun ,D6 1B:D) to define "our timeste! and total !eriod of simulation# The default
configuration is Gan 1- Gun ,D6 at hourl" timeste!# 2e%t6 clic( on =Simulate* 0on
the indo that is generated hen "ou clic( on the <asin Model 0see figure $)#
Therein6 clic( on =5un Configuration># Select all the items "ou see ? i) <asin
Model ii) Met Model id and iii) Control id@ &ive the =5un> an" number "ou ant#
FIGURE &
2o clic( on =Com!ute 5un> under =Simulate># ;our configured HEC HMS model
should run to com!lete the rainfall runoff simulation from Gan 1 to Gun ,D
.
1.) 'i"(ing/)n)%*+ing M#$"% #u,u: 5ight clic( on the green bo% to vie results
for the atershed !rocesses 0e#g# infiltration !attern in time6 baseflo in time etc#)#
;ou can also clic( on the basin outlet blue bo% 0junction) to vie results for the
outflo h"drogra!h# -lease !la" around a little bit to find out ho "ou can actuall"
save the out!ut data in te%t format to do "our reEuired anal"ses#
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