A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering, School of Engineering and Technology

Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1980

In early days, catchment simulation models assumed the hydrologic system to be a linear one, With the increase knowledge of the hydrologic cycle and its behaviour, the use of non-linear models became popular in the recent past. Non availability of sufficient data, and high speed computers together with lack of demand for high sensitive models delayed the development and use of distributed parameter models, which is the next step in the development of catchment simulation models. As a part of the development of a distributed parameter model, which this study aims at, a simple finite element or precisely a finite strip method is used to solve the governing equation, that has been derived from the basic hydrologic theories. In both, the derivation of governing equation and the application of finite element method, the approximations used are so great, that, if the discretization in both space and time is not sufficiently small, the errors evolved would be significant. Under these L circumstances, the model so developed, could be used to simulate only small watersheds for short periods of time. To ascertain the versatility of the model, an attempt is made to simulate a small catchment having an area of about 40 Sq. km. and for a storm lasting not more than few hours.