MODELING EXERCISE 1:

SINGLE BASIN MODELING USING HEC-HMS

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INTRODUCTION

The Hydrologic Engineering Center – Hydrologic Modeling System (HEC-HMS) is designed

to simulate the complete hydrologic processes of watersheds. The software includes many
traditional hydrologic analysis procedures such as event infiltration, unit hydrographs, and
hydrologic routing. In this exercise, you will be introduced to the user interface and basic
functions of the HEC-HMS modeling system.

OBJECTIVE(S)

At the end of this exercise, you will be able to:

(a) create a single basin model within the HEC-HMS environment.

(b) run a simple simulation and interpret its output.
(c) understand the meaning of different files associated to HEC-HMS such as the .hms file,
the .basin file, the .met file and the control file.

DATA REQUIREMENT(S)

(a) Numerical Inputs

Rainfall : Hourly Rainfall Hyetograph in mm

Watershed Area : 75 km2
Curve Number : 55
Lag Time : 30 minutes
Simulation Time Step : 5 minutes
Simulation Start Time : 20 March 2020, 09:00AM
Simulation Time Period : 1-2 days

(b) Text Inputs

Loss Method : SCS Curve Number Model

Transform Method : SCS Unit Hydrograph Model
Baseflow Method : None

Note: The instructions of this exercise were based on the HEC-HMS 4.3 user interface.
However, you can still accomplish the procedures using any version of HEC-HMS but some
of the images may not exactly match with what you see on your screen.

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PROCEDURES

1. Open HEC-HMS. The

HEC-HMS user 1
interface consists of a
menu bar, tool bar,
watershed explorer,
component editor,
Menu Bar
desktop, and message
log.
Tool Bar

2. To create a new project,

on the menu bar click
File>New. Specify a
project name,
description and
location. The default
unit system must be
Metric. Click Create.
Watershed
Explorer Desktop

Component
Editor
Message Log

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3. After creating a project, 3
navigate to the location
where you saved your
project and see the
different folders and
files created.

Creating a Basin Model

A basin model represents the

physical description of the
watershed in a HEC-HMS
project. This contains all the
necessary information
needed to create a complete
description of a watershed. A
basin model also includes
information on the
mathematical equations that 4
will be used in simulating the
different hydrological
processes of the basin. The
variables in all equations are
referred to as parameters.

4. Go back to the HEC-

HMS window. To create
a basin model, click
Components>Basin
Model Manager. Click
New and specify a basin
name and description. 5
Click Create.

5. In the watershed
explorer pane, a Basin
Models folder was
added. Expand the
folder by clicking the
“+” sign. Click on
Basin 1 (or whatever
name you specified to
your basin model). An
empty white window
will appear on the
desktop pane. Save your
project by clicking the
Save Current Project
icon on the tool bar.

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6. When a basin is created,
some tools will be 6
activated and available
for use. These elements
are (from left to right):
subbasin creation tool,
reach creation tool,
reservoir creation tool,
junction creation tool,
diversion creation tool,
source creation tool and 7
sink creation tool. A
subbasin is used for
rainfall-runoff
computations on a
watershed. A reach is
used to route streamflow
downstream. A reservoir
is used to model the
detention and
attenuation of a
hydrograph caused by a
reservoir or detention
pond. A junction is used
to combine flows from
upstream reaches and
subbasins. A diversion is
used to model
abstraction of flow from
the main channel. A
source is used to
introduce flow into the
basin model. A sink is
used to represent the
outlet of the physical
watershed.

7. To create a single
subbasin, click the
subbasin creation tool.
Hover over the basin
model window (the
white window on the
window pane) and left-
click on it. Specify a
subbasin name and
description. Click
Create.

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8. Expand Basin 1 and
Subbasin-1 in the 8
watershed explorer. The
information found in
Subbasin-1 are the
different methods in the
basin model. These
methods are the different
hydrological processes
within the basin. These
can be edited in the
component editor.

9. Click Subbasin-1. You

will see in the
component editor the
different information
you can attribute to the
subbasin. The last 5
items pertain to the 9
different hydrological
processes. The canopy
method allows users to
model the interception
and evapotranspiration
in the basin. The surface
method allows users to
represent depression
storage. The last three
methods (loss, transform
and baseflow) were
discussed during our
lectures. In the area box
of the editor, enter 75
km2. Click None for
both canopy and
surface methods. For
the loss method, click
SCS Curve Number.
For the transform
method, click SCS Unit
Hydrograph. Click
None for the baseflow
method.
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10. Each method you
specified will require
parameters. To add
parameters to the loss
method, click the Loss
tab on the component
editor. Specify an initial
abstraction of 0 mm, a
curve number of 55 and
percent impervious of
0%.

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11. Click the Transform tab
on the component 11
editor. Enter a lag time
of 30 mins. Leave the
graph type as Standard
(PRF 484). Save your
project. You have now
entered all necessary
information describing
your watershed.

Creating a Precipitation
Gage

Now that you have a basin

model, you need some input 12
to drive the simulation. The
primary driver of a
hydrologic event is
precipitation. To provide
rainfall input, you need to
create a precipitation gage.

12. To create a precipitation

gage, on the menu bar
click Components>Time
Series Data Manager.
On the data type drop-
down menu, click
Precipitation Gages and
click New. Leave the 13
default gage name and
provide a gage
description. Click
Create.

13. You will see on the

watershed explorer pane
that a new folder called
Time-Series Data was
added. Expand this
folder and expand the
Precipitation Gages
folder and you will see
Gage 1. We will have to
populate Gage 1 with an
hourly rainfall data in
mm from 9AM to 3PM
on 20 March 2020.

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14. On the watershed
explorer, click Gage 1. 14
On the component
editor, select Manual
Entry as data source,
Incremental Millimeters
as units and 1 Hour as
time interval.

15. On the watershed

explorer, click on the
time stamp under Gage
1. You will notice that
three more tabs will
appear on the
component editor beside
the Time-Series Gage
tab. Click the Time 15
Window tab and specify
the necessary
information.

16. Click the Table tab and

populate the table with
the rainfall input shown
in the figure.

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17. Click the Graph tab to
see the resulting
rainfall hyetograph.
You now have your
precipitation data.

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Creating a Meteorologic
Model 18

After creating the

precipitation gage, you still
need to link it to the
subbasin. This can be done
by creating a meteorologic
model. A meteorologic
model or file contains
meteorologic information to
drive the hydrologic
simulation. You cannot run a
HEC-HMS simulation
without a meteorologic
model.
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18. To create a meteorologic

model, on the menu bar
click Components>
Meteorologic Model
Manager. Click New.
Accept the default name
and add a description.
Click Create.

19. A Meteorologic Models

folder was now added to
the watershed explorer.
Expand this folder and
you will see Met 1. Click
the Meteorology Model 20
tab on the component
editor. Change “Abort
Compute” in the
replace missing option
to “Set to Default”.
Leave the other options
unchanged.

20. Click the Basins tab on

the component editor.
Change “No” under the
Include Subbasins
column to “Yes”. This
will link Gage 1 to Basin
1.

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21. Select the Specified
Hyetograph label on the 21
watershed explorer. On
the component editor,
select Gage 1 under the
Gage column. This will
link Gage 1 to Subbasin-
1. Save your project.
You now have your
basin model and
meteorologic model.

Creating a Control
Specifications Model

It is necessary to provide
some basic information
regarding the time-step to
run the model. You know
from the given data that the 22
rainfall occurred from 9AM
to 3PM. However, you are
aware that the water from
this event will continue to
flow into the river even after
3PM. A simulation start and
end much later than 3PM
must be specified. This is
done by creating a control
specifications model.

22. To create a control

specifications model, on 23
the menu bar click
Components>Control
Specifications Manager.
Click New. Accept the
default name and
specify a description.
Click Create.

23. A Control Specifications

folder was added to the
watershed explorer.
Expand this folder and
click Control 1. On the
component editor,
specify the start and end
date and time of the
simulation. Basically,
you will run the model
longer than the rainfall
event to make sure all
water flowing into the
outlet is accounted for.
Save your project. The
model is now ready for
simulation.

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Creating a Simulation Run
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24. To create a simulation
run, on the menu bar
click Compute>Create
Compute>Simulation
Run. Accept the default
name and click next.
Accept all the default
models and finish
creating the run. If you
had more than one
model for Basin,
Meteorology and
Control Specification,
you get to select them
during this step. Because
you only have one
model for each, the 25
process is
straightforward. Save
the project.

Running a Simulation

25. On the watershed

explorer, click the
Compute tab. Expand
the Simulation Runs
folder and click Run 1.
On the menu bar, click
Compute>Compute
Run. The simulation
should not take more
than a minute to run.

Viewing Simulation Results 26

26. Click the Results tab on
the watershed explorer.
Expand the Simulation
Runs folder and click
Run 1. Click Global
Summary.

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27. Expand Subbasin-1.
Click Graph to view the 27
resulting hydrograph
from the input
precipitation. You can
also view the amount of
precipitation loss.

28. Click Summary Table.

You can see a summary
of the loss volumes,
precipitation volume,
excess volume, direct
runoff volume and
discharge volume. You
can also see the peak
discharge and time to
peak. 28

29. To view simulation

results at each time-step,
click Time-Series Table.

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 SINGLE BASIN MODELING PROCESS FLOW

Prepared by: JONAH LEE I. BAS, MSCE [email protected]

REFERENCES

US Army Corps of Engineers Hydrologic Engineering Center (2000). Hydrologic Modeling

System HEC-HMS Technical Reference Manual.
Merwade, V. (2019). Single Basin HEC-HMS Modeling.

SPECIAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Special thanks to Dr. Venkatesh Merwade of Lyles School of Civil Engineering, Purdue
University, for giving formal permission to reproduce some phrases and procedures in this
exercise.

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