C&ENVENG 7115 - Advanced Topics in Flood Hydrology

North Terrace Campus - Semester 2 - 2016

Floods place severe social and economic stress on the affected communities, with global flood damage in 2011 alone estimated at $70 billion, leading to more than 6000 fatalities. Civil and environmental engineers play a critical role in estimating flood risk, and identifying infrastructure and planning solutions to manage the adverse consequences of flooding. This course explores approaches and methods for estimating flood risk that are commonly used in engineering practice, to be selected from the following topics: meteorological and hydrological processes that lead to flooding, two dimensional flood modelling, rare and extreme floods, interaction of extreme rainfall and storm surge in the coastal zone, use of regionalised approaches, and the estimation of climate change impact assessments. Approaches to support the planning and management of floods will also be explored.

  • General Course Information
    Course Details
    Course Code C&ENVENG 7115
    Course Advanced Topics in Flood Hydrology
    Coordinating Unit School of Civil, Environmental & Mining Eng
    Term Semester 2
    Level Postgraduate Coursework
    Location/s North Terrace Campus
    Units 3
    Contact 4 hours per week
    Available for Study Abroad and Exchange Y
    Assumed Knowledge C&ENVENG 3077, C&ENVENG 3079
    Course Description Floods place severe social and economic stress on the affected communities, with global flood damage in 2011 alone estimated at $70 billion, leading to more than 6000 fatalities. Civil and environmental engineers play a critical role in estimating flood risk, and identifying infrastructure and planning solutions to manage the adverse consequences of flooding.
    This course explores approaches and methods for estimating flood risk that are commonly used in engineering practice, to be selected from the following topics: meteorological and hydrological processes that lead to flooding, two dimensional flood modelling, rare and extreme floods, interaction of extreme rainfall and storm surge in the coastal zone, use of regionalised approaches, and the estimation of climate change impact assessments. Approaches to support the planning and management of floods will also be explored.
    Course Staff

    Course Coordinator: Professor Seth Westra

    Course Timetable

    The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from Course Planner.

  • Learning Outcomes
    Course Learning Outcomes
    On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
    1. Identify the key hydrological processes involved in conversion of rainfall to runoff, and  assess the conditions under which certain processes are important.
    2. Calculate the probable maximum precipitation event, and describe the likely impacts of anthropogenic climate change on Australian flood problem.
    3. Calculate interception, infiltration and baseflow, and the unit hydrograph, and differentiate between alternative methods for estimating direct runoff.
    4. Explain the theory of 2D hydraulic modelling. 
    5. Use the software packages ‘ArcGIS’ and ‘TUFLOW’, and apply this software to a realistic flood estimation problem.
    6. Solve a complex engineering design problem, accounting for a range of constraints and competing objective.
    7. Produce high-quality professional engineering design report.
    University Graduate Attributes

    This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:

    University Graduate Attribute Course Learning Outcome(s)
    Deep discipline knowledge
    • informed and infused by cutting edge research, scaffolded throughout their program of studies
    • acquired from personal interaction with research active educators, from year 1
    • accredited or validated against national or international standards (for relevant programs)
    1-5
    Critical thinking and problem solving
    • steeped in research methods and rigor
    • based on empirical evidence and the scientific approach to knowledge development
    • demonstrated through appropriate and relevant assessment
    5,6
    Teamwork and communication skills
    • developed from, with, and via the SGDE
    • honed through assessment and practice throughout the program of studies
    • encouraged and valued in all aspects of learning
    6
    Career and leadership readiness
    • technology savvy
    • professional and, where relevant, fully accredited
    • forward thinking and well informed
    • tested and validated by work based experiences
    5
  • Learning Resources
    Required Resources
    Lecture notes and slides are required resources and will be available on MyUni. The two-dimensional hydraulic model TUFLOW will be used to develop flood estimates, and will be available in the CATS (Computer Assisted Teaching Suites) in the Inkgarni Wardli Building.
    Recommended Resources
    References for additional resources are provided in the lecture notes and/or on MyUni.
    Online Learning
    All course material including lecture notes and slides, readings, assessment information and announcements will be provided on MyUni. It is your responsibility to check these regularly, as content will be added and updated regularly throughout the course.

    The use of the discussion board on MyUni is also strongly recommended, and technical questions related to course content and assessments should be asked through the discussion board rather than through direct emails with the lecturer and/or tutors. This will allow the whole class can benefit from the responses.

    Please note that lectures will typically be recorded but they should be considered complementary to, rather than a substitute for, attendance. In the event of technical failure it will be the student's responsibility to find an alternative source of information.

    Finally, note that assignments are to be submitted online, with instructions to be provided through MyUni announcements and/or during lectures.
  • Learning & Teaching Activities
    Learning & Teaching Modes
    The course will be delivered through a combination of lecturers, interactive learning exercises and tutorials. In addition, computer laboratory classes will be scheduled to develop the skills required to complete the course assignments.
    Workload

    The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

    In line with University guidelines, it is expected that the average student should spend 12 hours per week on this course. In addition to the lectures (2 hours) and the practical session (2 hours), students are expected to spend an additional 8 hours per week reviewing lecture material and working on the online quizzes and design projects.
    Learning Activities Summary

    No information currently available.

  • Assessment

    The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

    1. Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
    2. Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
    3. Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
    4. Assessment must maintain academic standards.

    Assessment Summary
    The overall assessment schedule is given in the table below. The submission time for all assessment tasks inthis course is 4 pm on the due date, unless otherwise specified. Note that dates provided below are subject to changes, so please refer to announcements through the MyUni portal for the latest information.

    Task Title % Group/Individual Type Calendar Date
    1 Online Quizzes 5 Individual Online multiple choice TBA
    2-1 Assignment 1 10 Individual Assignment with calculations Friday, Week 4
    2-2 Assignment 2 20 Individual Assignment with calculations Friday, Week 7
    2-3 Assignment 3 20 Group (2) Assignment with modelling Friday, Week 11
    3 Exam 45 Individual Numerical / Short Answer TBA
    TOTAL 100

    Note that for the third assignment, groups are self-selected. Each group member is expected to contribute equally to the overall task. 

    This course includes peer assessment for the tasks undertaken within groups. Further detail of the peer assessment is contained on MyUni. To maintain the integrity of the assessment tasks there is a requirement that all students within a group contribute to each assessment task. Where there is evidence that group members have not sufficiently contributed to a group assessment task, the Academic Honesty Policy may be applied.

    The timetable for the online quizzes is given below - see MyUni to access the online quizzes. Dates provided below are subject to change, so please refer to announcements on the MyUni portal.

    Quiz Topics Covered Due Date
    1 Floods, meteorology and GIS Friday, Week 3
    2 Climate change and interception Friday, Week 5
    3 Runoff generation, baseflow and flood routing Friday, Week 7
    4 2D hydrodynamic modelling and spatial data Friday, Week 9
    5 Flood risk management and estuarine extremes Friday, Week 11


    Assessment Related Requirements
    A hurdle of 40% is in place for the final exam. If the exam hurdle is not met students will receive a course result of the lesser of their calculated grade and the nominal grade of 45 (Fail). An additional assessment exam will be available to eligible students. Students should refer to the Modified arrangements for coursework assessment policy for eligibility criteria.

    Requests for exemption from coursework components will only be considered when presented on an Exemption from Attendance Form. All exemption requests must be made by the end of Week 3 of Semester. Exemptions will not be considered for exams or in-class quizzes. 3

    Intelligible English expression (for all assessments) and legible hand-writing (for exam) are considered to be integral parts of the assessment process, and may affect marks.
    Assessment Detail
    Further details of each assessment will be provided in lectures and/or via MyUni well before the due date.
    Submission
    Digital submissions should be submitted by the appropriate MyUni portal for the particular assessment. Further information will be provided through the course’s MyUni website.

    Late submissions will only be accepted for the design projects. There will be a loss of 10% of the marks obtained if the submission is less than 24h late, 20% if the submission is between 24 and 48h late and so on.  Extensions will only be granted in special circumstances (e.g. illness) and must be sought for each assessment task individually. Extensions will not be granted less than 24h before the deadline for a given task, with the exception of a medical certificate.
    Course Grading

    Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

    M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme)
    Grade Mark Description
    FNS   Fail No Submission
    F 1-49 Fail
    P 50-64 Pass
    C 65-74 Credit
    D 75-84 Distinction
    HD 85-100 High Distinction
    CN   Continuing
    NFE   No Formal Examination
    RP   Result Pending

    Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

    Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

    Final results for this course will be made available through Access Adelaide.

  • Student Feedback

    The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

    SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.

  • Student Support
  • Policies & Guidelines
  • Fraud Awareness

    Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student’s disciplinary procedures.

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