Hydrologic and hydraulic modeling software, event-based versus continuous simulation, steady versus unsteady flow, model calibration and validation against real data, and how modeling output becomes a design decision.
The hand methods covered earlier in this program — the Rational Method, Manning's equation, single-pipe Hazen-Williams sizing — simplify a system to a single lumped area, pipe, or flow rate. This module covers how modeling software solves the same continuity, energy, and momentum physics simultaneously across a full connected watershed, channel network, or pipe system, treated conceptually rather than tied to any specific commercial package: hydrologic and hydraulic modeling, model calibration against gage data, validation, sensitivity analysis, and turning a modeled result into a design decision.
By the end of this module you should be able to explain why a model that fits its calibration event well but performs poorly in validation is a warning sign, not a passing result — a distinction Module 16's infrastructure design decisions and Module 18's case studies both rely on modeled output to support.