Scientific Papers. Series E. Land Reclamation, Earth Observation & Surveying, Environmental Engineering. Vol.

XI, 2022
Print ISSN 2285-6064, CD-ROM ISSN 2285-6072, Online ISSN 2393-5138, ISSN-L 2285-6064

THE STUDY OF HYDROLOGICAL REGIME MODELING USING

HEC-RAS MODEL. CASE STUDY RIVER BASIN BAHLUEȚ

Gabriela DAMIAN (DORIN), Claudiu PRICOP, Florian STĂTESCU

"Gheorghe Asachi" Technical University of Iasi, 65 D. Mangeron Blvd, Iasi, Romania

Corresponding author email: [email protected]

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a hydrological simulation using HEC-RAS model within the Bahlueț river basin. In
this study, the basin was modelled from the headwaters to the Târgu Frumos hydrometric station. 6 date profiles were
processed between the source and Târgu Frumos hydrometric station. Precipitations were measured directly at the 2
stations considered, Cârjoaia and Târgu Frumos. Data recorded by rainfall stations over 3 days, in May 2021, were
taken into account for hydrological modelling. Values reach up to 175 mm/h were recorded during the rain. At the
Târgu Frumos station were recorded rainfall values of 12 mm/h, which proves the heterogeneity of the rain. Also, it is
observed that the rain starts in Târgu Frumos around 16:00, stopping around 18:00. The rain continues measured at
the Cârjoaia rainfall station from 18:40, with values of 175 mm/h being recorded. The data recorded at both rainfall
stations shows that the river basin is subject to a variable rainfall in space and time.

Key words: hydrological simulation, HEC-RAS, precipitations, runoff.

INTRODUCTION Hydrological modelling predicts the runoff

from rainfall in a catchment and hydraulic
Water is one of the fundamental resources for modelling aims to assess the area flooded by
life. The occurrence of extreme events such as rainfall.
droughts and floods, resulting from land use Regardless of their degree of complexity,
and climate change, has increased in recent hydrological methods have at least one thing in
decades. Over the years, land use has changed common: they cannot do without the infor-
through: expansion of agriculture, increased mation provided by measurement networks,
deforestation, intensive grazing and increased and their performance is closely linked to the
urbanisation. Understanding the associated availability of data (in time and space).
effects of land use and climate change on water Flood hazard maps provide information on the
resources is of paramount importance for extent of flooded areas, water depth and, where
prevention and mitigation actions. appropriate, water velocity, for floods that may
Many studies have focused on understanding occur over a given period. These maps are
the relevant hydrological processes to create produced using various techniques such as
flood risk management plans. Knowledge of hydrological and hydraulic modelling based on
the different hydrological variables is an detailed mapping of the river and major
important aspect for the proper management of riverbed.
water resources. In this way, researchers in
different fields have improved and imple- MATERIALS AND METHODS
mented several tools related to water resources,
including hydrological models. The study was carried out on the Bahlueț
According to Abbaspour et al. (2015), catchment which has a cumulative area of 551
hydrological models are important for planning km², Figure 1.
water resources to meet various demands by The average rainfall in the basin is 502.3 mm at
helping in their sustainable use. Hydrological Târgu Frumos and the annual temperature is
modelling is the mathematical modelling of the 9.1°C. Hydrometrically, the basin has a
rainfall-runoff process on slopes, resulting in a temperate continental climate with cold winters
hydrograph of flow in the closing section of a and warm summers with more frequent winds
catchment. from the NW in winter and from the SE in
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 Scientific Papers. Series E. Land Reclamation, Earth Observation & Surveying, Environmental Engineering. Vol. XI, 2022
Print ISSN 2285-6064, CD-ROM ISSN 2285-6072, Online ISSN 2393-5138, ISSN-L 2285-6064

spring. This climate is characterised by heavy 3. Development of a hydrological model that

rainfall in early summer, which generates simulates rainfall-runoff modelling processes
flooding, but also has periods of dry season. and generates results for the study area.
4. Validation of HEC-RAS model results.
In terms of input data, the HEC-RAS model
requires a stream of observed data, knowledge
of the topography of the catchment using a
digital terrain model, a land use map of the
study area and other information that will
ultimately lead to valuable results.
However, water pathways, from the moment
the raindrop meets the land surface to the
possible flow in a river, depend on a multitude
of factors variable in space and time (HL -
hydraulic length, representing the longest path
of a water droplet from the point of rainfall to
Figure 1. Area of interest under study
the control section); Tlag - the time between
the centre of gravity of the rain and the top of
Seasonal precipitation losses occur in this area
the flow hydrograph; Concentration time - the
as surface fluxes: winter: 13.96%, spring
time it takes for the furthest droplet to reach the
48.62%, summer 27.58%, autumn 9.84%.
control section (equals in principle 1.67 Tlag
The city of Târgu Frumos, due to its
and represents the duration of the
geographical position, is vulnerable to flooding.
computational rainfall) (Balan, I. et al., 2015).
The Bahlueț River is the subject of the present
study, constituting a potential hazard for the
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
city and its surroundings. It is in this
perspective that this study comes to create and
In the case of the study, sub-basin modelling
manage the database on flood risk in the
was carried out from the source to the Târgu
Bahlueț basin.
Frumos hydrometric station within the Bahlueț
The chosen approach involves a hydrological
catchment over an area of 63 km² (Figure 2).
study, the choice of profiles and the
construction of a model using the most
common free modelling software HEC-RAS
(Hydrologic Engineering Center - River
Analysis System).
For the catchment under consideration for
which recorded flow data were available, the
program provides, from local rainfall data, the
calculation of rainfall in the catchment and its
transformation into flow by HEC-RAS.
In this study, hydrological modelling was
performed with the HEC- RAS 6.0 program
with two-dimensional version and according to
the following methodology: Figure 2. The simulation area considered
1. Preparation of topographic data.
Topographic data provide a physical The hydrological behaviour of the catchment is
description of the area. The DTM for the area governed by all the physical characteristics.
of interest was extracted using ARCGIS and Slope, geology, pedology, degree of
Global Mapper software. anthropisation, vegetation cover are all physical
2. Preparation of hydrological data. These data factors that can have an impact on runoff
include rainfall, input data and boundary velocity, runoff rate, infiltration and flood
conditions. control (Stătescu et al., 2011).

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Characteristic land use layers and information because of their favourable position with
on existing soils within the study catchment respect to the whole basin.
were added to determine the CN (Figure 3). Precipitation was measured directly at the two
stations considered, at Cârjoaia and Târgu
Frumos.
The analysis of the rainfall recorded at the rain
gauge stations shows significant differences
between the two rain gauge stations Cârjoaia
and Târgu Frumos, (Figure 5).

Figure 3. Land use in the Bahlueț catchment area

Land use within the Bahlueț watershed is

predominantly agricultural, with cultivated land
and pasture (Figure 4).
Figure 5. Rain gauge and hydrometric stations

The data of 6 profiles between the top of the

basin and the Târgu Frumos hydrometric
station were processed (Figure 6).

Figure 4. Soils within the Bahlueț catchment area

Physico-chemical characterisation of the initial

state of soils is carried out to determine the
condition of a site before any work is started.
Research carried out in the Bahlueț catchment
revealed a variety of soil cover. According to Figure 6. Implementation of line profiles
their characteristics and limitations, soils in the
studied area were classified into 5 classes, from The selected profiles are perpendicular to the
II to VI (SRTS 2012) (Dorin G. et al., 2021). direction of flow, they do not intersect each
The predominance of soils of the cernoziom other, cover the entire floodplain and take into
type is observed: cambic, clayey but also grey account the geomorphological changes of the
soils, erodic anthrosoil, rocky, pseudoglacial, major riverbed.
lacustrine and pseudorendzine. They are soils A rain gauge allows only a single measurement
of different fertility due to their physico- which is not always representative of the
chemical properties (Dorin G. et al., 2021). rainfall received by a catchment. For the
Data recorded by rain gauge stations during 3 selected sub-basin from the top of the
days from May 1 to May 3, 2021 were taken catchment to the Târgu Frumos hydrometric
into account for the hydrological modelling. station, rainfall was calculated using the
The two rain gauge stations were chosen Thiessen polygon method (Figures 7 and 8).

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 Scientific Papers. Series E. Land Reclamation, Earth Observation & Surveying, Environmental Engineering. Vol. XI, 2022
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from 18:40 at the Cârjoaia rain gauge station,

recording cumulative rainfall values of
175 mm/h (Figure 10).

Figure 7. Precipitation calculated by Thiessen method at

Cârjoaia rain gauge station

Figure 10. Hydrological rainfall simulation results

Modelling is the basis for identifying and

prioritising the right measures. It can flag
potential problems/risks before they arise.
Modelling answers the "what if" question.
Allows modelling of urban areas that usually
have complex two-dimensional behaviour,
surface runoff and sewerage system (Balan, I.
Figure 8. Precipitation calculated by Thiessen method at et al., 2016).
Târgu Frumos rain gauge station The data recorded at the two rain gauge stations
show that the catchment is subject to a spatially
Based on the entered rainfall data as well as the variable rain field. In order to limit the
other parameters, the program was run to dispersion of the shape coefficient it is
simulate the entered rainfall. The run was indicated to avoid too large time steps therefore
carried out in several steps and was analysed a time step of 10 minutes was chosen in the
with great care (Figure 9). study.
It is observed that the magnitude is consistent
in areas with regular slopes, whether they are
steep or not.
Modelling runoff from hydrological
precipitation allowed us to both visualise
surface runoff and predict it in the studied
catchment (Figure 11).

Figure 9. Hydrological rainfall simulation results

It is noted that during the rainfall considered,

values of up to 175 mm/h were recorded. At the
Târgu Frumos rain gauge station rainfall values
of 12 mm/h were recorded, which proves the
heterogeneity of the rainfall.
The rain started in Târgu Frumos around 16:00
and stopped around 18:00. The rain continues Figure 11. Curve number CN

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 Scientific Papers. Series E. Land Reclamation, Earth Observation & Surveying, Environmental Engineering. Vol. XI, 2022
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Forested areas show low surface runoff values increasing resource capacity, hydrological
due to their excellent infiltration capacity as modelling has increased enormously from
well as their ability to recycle water back into global to distributed modelling.
the atmosphere creating a perfect balance for Adequate knowledge of rainfall runoff
the environment. These forested areas have processes is essential to estimate the amount of
flood mitigation potential if they are located runoff produced in a basin for planning and
upstream of the catchment or if a substantial management of sustainable water resources
part of the catchment is occupied by continuous projects. Activities for estimating runoff
forests. volumes and flood peaks can be easily
Grasslands have the most balanced water simplified by adopting a modelling concept and
retention capacity compared to arable and understanding rainfall partitioning and the main
artificial land, and have a high potential for factors that trigger runoff.
interception, infiltration and storage of The process of transforming rainfall into runoff
rainwater falling on the soil surface. over a basin is complex and exhibits both
Arable land shows high values of surface temporal and spatial variability. However,
runoff with low water holding capacity within a catchment the variability is mainly
compared to other vegetation types especially controlled by the physical and chemical
where the soil through different agricultural properties of the ground surface.
practices can be compacted. Runoff occurs when the rainfall rate over a
Artificial areas, such as housing, industrial and given area exceeds the rate at which water can
commercial buildings, have a substantial local infiltrate into the soil. Runoff occurs more
impact on water runoff, as soil sealing and frequently in areas where rainfall intensities are
compaction prevent or drastically decrease the high and the infiltration capacity of the soil is
capacity of soils to allow water infiltration and reduced due to surface sealing.
exchange with the atmosphere, favouring the The generation of runoff is an important factor
shutdown of the natural circuit and increasing in both soil loss and the movement of nutrients
temperatures (Stătescu et al., 2004). from the soil surface, resulting in reduced soil
It has been shown that the volumes of water productivity and crop yields, especially in
transported by floods and the volumes of runoff agricultural land. Some studies have shown that
generated by rainfall follow the same spatial in areas with fine textured soils, runoff can
distribution. range from 8% to 49% of annual rainfall
At the same time, flood amplification or depending on prevailing conditions.
attenuation downstream of the basin depends The Bahlueț catchment covers an area of 551
on the amount of rainfall received by the basin, km². Within the catchment, lands with slopes
but a flood can be attenuated downstream even ranging from 9-19% dominate, thus showing
if the rainfall amounts are significant. that slopes create the dominant landscape of the
Rainfall can be evenly distributed over a period studied area and it is observed that most of the
or can vary greatly over the same period. The catchment describes a hilly landscape.
duration can also be long or very short. The town of Targu Frumos and its
The hydrological study is a very important step surroundings have experienced excessively
in the study of flood protection, its objective violent floods over time causing significant
being to recognise floods by peak flow aspects. damage. Overflows of the Bahlueț River during
This stage is essential for the hydraulic rainy periods are one of the main sources of
simulation of the Bahlueț River. flood risk for the city which continues to
increase due to human action.
CONCLUSIONS This study presents a simulation of the May
2021 flood event and focuses on the upstream
The second half of the 20th century saw section from the headwaters to the Tg. Frumos.
considerable advances in the understanding of This simulation is performed using the two-
rainfall-runoff processes, emphasizing the dimensional capabilities of the new HEC-RAS
fundamental role of saturated zones in the version 6.0 program. The simulation provides
generation of streamflow. Also, due to very useful information for decision makers.

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