Inflows¶
Water enters the domain in one of two ways, and they are separate inputs with separate layers:
| Input | Geometry | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Rainfall | Polygon | Applies a rainfall intensity (mm/hr) over an area |
| Surface Flow | LineString | Injects a volumetric flow rate (m^3/s) along a line |
A scenario needs at least one of the two, and it can reference one of each, so a rain-driven catchment with a creek entering it is a single scenario.
What a feature carries¶
Features are drawn in the map interface. Each one takes a Title and a Data value, and Data is where the choice is:
- Constant: one number that applies for the whole run, in mm/hr for rainfall or m^3/s for surface flow.
- A saved time series: a Hyetograph / Design Storm for rainfall, or a Hydrograph for surface flow. The dropdown only offers series of the right kind for the input you are editing.
There is no type field to fill in. A feature is rainfall or surface flow because of which layer it lives in, not because of a property you set.
One Inflow can hold several inflow locations, each with its own hydrograph, which is the usual way to bring two tributaries into one model. Adding another location to the same Inflow is not the same as creating a second Inflow layer, and a scenario references only one Inflow.
Timing¶
A time series is applied as a step function, and outside its own range the rate is zero rather than the nearest sample. A series that does not overlap the model window at all aborts the Run instead of quietly contributing nothing. See Rainfall for the detail, which applies to both kinds.