CIV E 632-COMPUTATIONAL HYDRAULICS AND HYDROLOGY
FALL 2021
MIDTERM EXAM (virtual mode)
OCTOBER 11, 2021, 1730-1845

Instructions: Closed book, closed notes, no web help. Answer only ten (10) questions. When finished, submit in pdf form to the course email. Your work should be neat and clear, and the pdf file 100% readable. Submit NO LATER than 1900 hours (15-min grace period).

  1. Compare the celerity and attenuation properties of kinematic, diffusion, dynamic, and gravity (Lagrange) waves. State in tabular form.

  2. What do overland flow and slow-rising flood waves have in common that they lend themselves to description by kinematic and diffusion wave models?

  3. What did Cunge do to advance the science of hydraulics? How did he do it?

  4. What are the differences between constant and variable-parameter Muskingum-Cunge routing? State in tabular form.

  5. What is the Courant number? What Courant number optimizes numerical diffusion and minimizes numerical dispersion in Muskingum-Cunge routing?

  6. What is grid independence in the context of numerical modeling? Why is the Muskingum-Cunge method grid independent, while the kinematic wave and convex methods are not? State the reason while this is the case.

  7. What is the cause of attenuation in unsteady open-channel flow?

  8. What is kinematic shock? Under what four physical conditions is the kinematic shock more likely to develop? What is the killer wave?

  9. How do the Hayami, Dooge, and Ponce hydraulic diffusivities differ from each other?

  10. What are the two (dimensionless) parameters describing convection, diffusion and dispersion in a dimensionless treatment of flood wave propagation?

  11. What is runoff diffusion? How does it differ for reservoirs, channels, and watersheds? Explain.

  12. How did Ponce improve Ferrick's convection-diffusion-dispersion equation?