CHAPTER 3

THE HEC-HMS MODEL: HYDROLOGIC MODELING SYSTEM

It is designed to simulate the precipitation-runoff processes of dendritic watershed systems. It is
designed to be applicable in a wide range of geographic areas for solving the widest possible range
of problems. This includes large river basin water supply and flood hydrology, and small urban or
natural watershed runoff. Hydrographs produced by the program are used directly or in conjunction
with other software for studies of water availability, urban drainage, flow forecasting, future
urbanization impact, reservoir spillway design, flood damage reduction, floodplain regulation, and
systems operation.

The program has an extensive array of capabilities for conducting hydrologic simulation

Watershed Physical Description Parameter Estimation

Meteorology Description Analyzing Simulations

Hydrologic Simulation GIS Connection

3.1. Major Steps to run the software

1. Create a new project by selecting File New… from the menu bar. Enter a project “Name,” enter a project
“Description,” select a “Location” for storing project files, and choose the “Default Unit System” in the
Create a New Project screen

Begin the process of importing a HEC -1 By clicking File - Import - HEC-1 File… Command.

An Import HEC-1 File window opens where you can specify the HEC-1 file to be imported (Shown
in figure below). If you do not know which file you want to import, you can click the button to the

Page 1 of 12
right of the file name field to open a file browser. Use the browser to navigate the file system and
find the correct HEC-1 file

Select the Tools-Program Settings… menu item. Set “Loss” to Initial and Constant, “Transform”
to Snyder

Unit Hydrograph, “Base flow” to Recession, “Routing” to Muskingum, “Gain Loss” to None,
“Precipitation” to Gage Weights, “Evapotranspiration" to None, and “Snowmelt” to None. Click
the OK button to save and close the Project Options window

3.2. Input Data

3.2.1 Basin Model Manager

Page 2 of 12
Begin creating the basin model by selecting the Components basin Model Manager Menu item.
Create a new basin model with a “Name” of Castro-1 and a “Description” of Existing Conditions.

Page 3 of 12
3.2.2 Create the Meteorology Model Manager

Components Meteorology Model Manager Menu item. Click the New… button in the
Meteorology Model Manager window. In the Create a New Meteorology Model window enter
Gage Wts for the “Name” and Thiessen weights, 10-min data for the “Description.” Open the
Component Editor for this meteorological model by selecting it in the Watershed Explorer. In the
Component Editor make sure the selected “Precipitation” method is Gage Weights

A meteorology model will have to be created for the precipitation data. Thiessen polygon weights
(Table 9) will be used for the user gage weighting precipitation method. Total rainfall measured
by the Proctor School and Sidney School gages was 1.92 and 1.37 inches, respectively. Storm
rainfall is to be distributed in time using the temporal pattern of incremental precipitation from the
Fire Department gage. The Fire Department gage data has been stored in the HEC-DSS file named
CASTRO.DSS with the following pathname:/CASTRO VALLEY/FIRE
DEPT./PRECIPINC/16JAN1973/10MIN/OBS/. This DSS file is part of the Castro example
project. Example projects can be installed by selecting the Help Install Sample Projects… menu
option.

Page 4 of 12
Click the “Basins” tab in the Component Editor as in the above figure for the Gage Wts
meteorology model. Set the “Include Sub basins” option to “Yes” for the Castro 1 basin model.
After this step, all sub basins in the Castro 1 basin model are added to the meteorology model.

Add the Proctor School and Sidney School non-recording gages to the meteorology model. Select
the Precipitation Gages node in the Watershed Explorer to open the “Total Storm Gages” editor.
This node should be located one level under the meteorology model. Enter Proctor for the “Gage
Name” and 1.92 for the “Total Depth”. Add the Sidney total storm gage in the same manner 1.37.

In the Watershed Explorer, click the plus sign next to the Subbasin-1 element and select the Gage
Weights sub-node as shown below (First Figure). A Component Editor will open with two tabs,

Page 5 of 12
“Gage Selections” and “Gage Weights.” Depth and time weights are required for all precipitation
gages with the “Use Gage” option set to “Yes.” For this example, the Fire Dept. gage will be used
for all sub basin elements because it contains the storm pattern; the other gages only contain total
storm depths. Once the correct precipitation gages are included for Subbasins-1 (2ND Figure),
select the “Gage Weights” tab and enter the correct “Depth Weight” from Table 9 for Subbasin-1.
The “Time Weight” will be 1.0 for the Fire Dept. gage in all sub basins (3RD Figure). Complete
this step for the remaining sub basins.

3.2.3 Define Control Specifications Create the control specifications by selecting the
Components –Control Specifications Manager menu item. In the Control Specifications
Manager window, click the New… button and enter Jan73 for the “Name” and 16 January 1973
for the “Description.” In the Component Editor, enter 16Jan1973 for both the "Start Date" and
"End Date" (in Figure below). Enter 03:00 for the "Start Time" and 12:55 for the "End Time."
Select a time interval of 5 minute from The Time Interval” drop-down list. In case, it could not
receive Click File -Import -Control Specification -Select Jan 73 Control

3.2.4 Times-Series Data Manager

Page 6 of 12
Select the Components -Time-Series Data Manager menu item. Make sure the “Data Type” is
set to Precipitation Gages. Click the New… button in the Time-Series Data Manager window. In
the Create A New Precipitation Gage window enter Fire Dept. for the “Name” and Castro Valley
Fire Department for the “Description”. Click the Create button to add the precipitation gage to the
project. The Fire Dept. precipitation gage is added to the Precipitation Gages folder under the
Time-Series Data Folder in the Watershed Explorer.

Page 7 of 12
To view a time series table and graph of precipitation data, first click on the “Time Window” tab.
Enter a “Start Date” and “End Date” of 16Jan1973, a “Start Time” of 03:10, and an “End Time”
of 09:50. Click on the “Table” tab to view a table and click the “Graph” tab to view a graph of the
Fire Dep’t precipitation data.

Create a discharge gage for the observed hydrograph at the watershed outlet using the same
procedure
for creating the precipitation gage. Select the Components Time-Series Data Manager menu
item. Make sure the “Data Type” is set to Discharge Gages. Click the New… button in the Time-
Series Data Manager window. In the Create A New Discharge Gage window enter Outlet for the
“Name” and Castro Valley Outlet Gage for the “Description”. Click the Create button to add the
discharge gage to the project. Open the Component Editor for the discharge gage and select the
Data Storage System (HEC-DSS) “Data Source” option. Navigate to and select the
CASTRO.DSS file and choose the record with the /CASTRO

VALLEY/OUTLET/FLOW/16JAN1973/10MIN/OBS/ pathname using the appropriate buttons.

Using the same steps as described for a precipitation gage, create a time window from 16 January,
1973 at 03:00 hours to 13:00 hours. Click the “Graph” tab to view the observed discharge
hydrograph.

Page 8 of 12
3.2.5 Paired Data Manager

Create a paired data table for the modified Puls routing method. Select the Components Paired
Data Manager Menu option. Make sure the “Data Type” option is set to Storage-Discharge
Functions and click the New… button in the Paired Data Manager window. Leave the “Name”
as Table 1 and enter a “Description” of Reach-2 in the Create A New Storage-Discharge Function
window. Click the Create button to add this storage-discharge function to the project. In the
Component Editor for this paired data function, make sure the “Data Source” is set to Manual
Entry and the “Units” to AC-FT: CFS. Click the “Table” tab and enter the storage-discharge
relationship

Page 9 of 12
3.3. Create and Compute a Simulation Run

Create a simulation run by selecting the Compute Þ Create Simulation Run menu item. Keep
the default name Run 1. Select the Castro 1 basin model, Gage Wts meteorologic model, and Jan73
control specifications using the wizard. After the wizard closes select the “Compute” tab of the
Watershed Explorer. Select the Simulation Runs folder so that the Watershed Explorer expands
to show Run 1. Click on Run 1 to open the Component Editor for this simulation run. Change the
description for this simulation run by entering Existing conditions, 16 January 1973 storm (as
shown in Figure below).

Click the right mouse button when the mouse pointer is on top of the Run 1 name in the Watershed
Explorer and select the Compute option in the popup menu. A window opens showing the
progress of the compute. Close this window when the compute finishes

3.4. View Model Results

Select the Global Summary Table tool from the tool bar to view summary results of peak flow
for all elements in the basin model (See table below). Print the table or make a note of the computed
peak discharge for Subbasin-2. View graphical and tabular results for the Subbasin-2 element.
Place the mouse over the Subbasin-2 icon in the basin model map and click the right mouse button.
Select the View Results - Graph menu item. Select the View Results -Summary Table menu
item to view the sub basin element summary table. Select the View Results Þ Time-Series Table
menu item to view the sub basin time-series table.

Page 10 of 12
3.5. Simulate Future Urbanization

Page 11 of 12
Consider how the Castro Valley watershed response would change given the effects of future
urbanization. The meteorologic model and control specifications remain the same, but a modified
basin model must be created to reflect anticipated changes to the watershed.

3.6. Create and Compute an Optimization Trial

Model optimization involves adjusting parameter values so that the simulated results match the
observed stream flow as closely as possible. Before an optimization trial can be created, a
simulation run using a basin model with observed flow must exist. An optimization trial is created
by selecting the Compute Create Optimization Trial menu option

To add a parameter, click the right mouse button when the mouse is on top of the optimization
trial’s name in the Watershed Explorer and select Add Parameter (Figure). A new sub-node is
added to the Watershed Explorer with the name Parameter 1.

3.7. Create and Compute a Depth-Area Analysis

The depth-area analysis automates the process of producing flow estimates due to frequency
precipitation at multiple points of interest within a watershed. Before a depth-area analysis can be
created, a simulation run using a frequency storm meteorologic model must exist. A depth-area
analysis is created by selecting the Compute- Create Analysis menu option.

Page 12 of 12