hydrologic and Hydraulic evaluation
Hydrologic and Hydraulic (H&H)
At AQUALIS, our engineers are experts at hydrologic and hydraulic (H&H) analysis and dedicated to delivering technical expertise while leveraging our extensive local and national regulatory experiences. In the face of climate change and aging infrastructure, our H&H engineering services are crucial for protecting water resources, assets, and safety for property owners, communities, and industries. We offer solutions that address complex water management challenges, enhance resilience, promote sustainability, and uphold environmental stewardship.
What are the Differences Between Hydraulics and Hydrology?
Hydrologic and hydraulic analysis are often used together to assess the interaction between natural water systems and development. Hydrology examines how water interacts with the Earth’s surface, including precipitation, evaporation infiltration, groundwater flow, surface runoff, and streamflow. In contrast, hydraulics focuses on how water moves through systems such as pipes, rivers, and channels.
Why Do I Need a Hydraulic Analysis?
Hydraulic analysis is used to evaluate or determine appropriate sizes of conveyance systems. Conveyance systems consist of pipe, channels, streams, culverts, ditches, and other means of moving water from one point to another. Design of conveyance systems require hydraulic analysis to determine both their size and material requirements to move the desired amount of water. Hydraulic analysis is also used to evaluate existing conveyance to determine how well they function during specific rainfall events. For example, flood maps are determined by using hydraulic analysis to evaluate how an existing stream channel moves the 100-year recurrence rainfall event, and where the excess water floods once water leaves the channel.
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Why Do I Need a Hydrologic Analysis?
Hydrologic analysis is often a precursor to hydraulic analysis, and the most common hydrologic analysis related to land or site development is quantification of the volume and rate of runoff from an area of land. If development changes the surface materials of a site, it will impact runoff amount and rate, and ultimately impact receiving waters. For example, if you add a parking lot to a previously grassed lot, precipitation can no longer infiltrate into the ground and is alternately redirected to a pipe, which moves it much more quickly to the receiving surface water. Depending on the size of the development, regulations require controlling runoff volume and/or flow after development to mimic that during pre-development conditions.
Hydrologic & Hydraulic Services can Include:
- Flow monitoring
- Watershed studies and hydrologic modeling
- Bridge, scour and culvert hydraulics
- Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI)
H&H Services
AQUALIS has the expertise to assist clients for all their H&H needs. We provide services that benefit from H&H analysis for the following sectors:
H&H helps develop designs and long-term maintenance for water distribution and treatment systems, and stream restoration and stabilization designs, as well as drainage design for highways/roadways, residential, municipal and commercial developments.
H&H Analysis provides insights for other analysis services, including risk or uncertainty analysis, volume and quantity analysis, and system overflow evaluations.
H&H analysis is used during FEMA Floodplain Analysis for flood insurance studies, and FEMA Letters of Map Amendment or Revision.
Using H&H helps assess and ensure adequacy of hydraulic structures while also used to investigate and treat contaminations on a site.
H&H analysis helps with dam breach analysis, inundation mapping and developing Emergency Action Plans (EAP).
Uses of H&H
H&H services at AQUALIS involves the quantification of runoff produced in a drainage area and how that water moves through our hydrologic systems. H&H analysis includes complex modeling, and is critical for Flood Management, design, permitting, monitoring, and site documentation.
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