Hydraulic Modeling

One of the most significant improvements to the United States Army Corps of Engineers River Analysis System (HEC-RAS) program is the addition of two-dimensional modeling functions. Many engineers are accustomed to preparing one-dimensional (1D) models. Therefore, 2D modeling can be a little daunting at first. However, 2D modeling is not any more difficult than 1D … Read more

Many people who use the HEC-RAS Controller to automate HEC-RAS write their code in the Microsoft Excel VBA environment. This is probably because Breaking the HEC-RAS Code, which is the book that outlines how to use the HEC-RAS Controller was written for VBA. However, there are many people who are seeking to use other programming … Read more

HEC-RAS allows users to model a variety of structures including bridges, culverts, inline structures, and lateral structures. The lateral structure element is typically used to model flow coming out of a river into a storage area. However, lateral structures can be used to model a variety of hydraulic structures such as morning glory spillways, berms, … Read more

When I am manipulating station-elevation data for HEC-RAS, I often do this in Microsoft Excel. However, it can be tedious to copy and paste data for each cross-section into the Geometric Data Editor. In order to solve this problem, I used the HEC-RAS Controller to write a macro in Excel that automatically creates an updated … Read more

I have been using HEC-RAS for many projects and at several companies. Throughout my experience as an HEC-RAS user, I have learned how to develop hydraulic models more accurately and efficiently. There are many things I know now that I wish I could tell my younger self when she was struggling through her first hydraulic … Read more

Water resources engineering can be considered a broad field as it involves aspects of the physical sciences, engineering, biology, ecology, and even the social sciences. In this article, I will be focusing on the hydrologic and hydraulic aspects of water resources engineering. Hydrology is the study of how water moves across the land. Hydraulics is … Read more

When I am manipulating station-elevation data for HEC-RAS, I often do this in Microsoft Excel. However, it can be tedious to copy and paste data for each cross-section into the Geometric Data Editor. In order to solve this problem, I used the HEC-RAS Controller to write a macro in Excel that automatically creates an updated … Read more

RAS Mapper has allowed hydraulic modelers to more easily perform Geographic Information System (GIS) operations. Many people think that the RAS Mapper and the Geometric Data Editor will eventually merge into one interface. If you want to use this increasingly popular feature in HEC-RAS (RAS Mapper), you must add a projection to your HEC-RAS project. … Read more

Preparing a stable unsteady HEC-RAS model is a common problem among hydraulic modelers. This is particularly true when preparing a dam-break model in HEC-RAS. An unstable HEC-RAS model results in numerical errors that grow until the results start to oscillate. As a result, the errors grow until the model computations cannot continue. There are many … Read more

Lately, I have been working on several dam inundation studies. As part of this work, I have been developing HEC-RAS models to route breach flows through the downstream area. HEC-RAS Version 5.0.5 allows users to culverts to 2D Flow Areas. However, modeling every bridge or culvert in HEC-RAS can be very time-consuming. The good news … Read more