As most HEC-RAS users quickly find out, there are some convenient tools for managing your view in an HEC-RAS graphic. Zoom In, Zoom Previous, Zoom Out, Full Plot, and Pan. These generally work how you think they should and are available on all of the HEC-RAS graphics including the geometry schematic, profile plots, cross section […]
Have you ever looked at your profile plot from an unsteady flow model and found “walls of water” on top of your bridge? Or just unexplained unrealistically large amounts of energy loss over a bridge? Take this for example: Notice the three large “steps” in energy grade line (and water surface elevation). It’s hard to […]
As a follow up to the just-posted Critical Depth Primer, I want to share a trick for getting HEC-RAS to compute and display critical depth at every cross section for unsteady flow. As I mentioned in the previous post, if you are running a steady flow model, there is an option to have RAS compute […]
Critical depth is an important hydraulic parameter when evaluating hydraulic modeling results. As we know from our college hydraulics 101 class, water flowing at depths less than critical depth is supercritical and water flowing at depths greater than critical depth is subcritical. Supercritical flow is characterized by relatively shallow depths and high velocities. Subcritical flow […]
Hey 5.0 Beta users. Please get a new copy of HEC-RAS 5.0 Beta. It has some of the early problems already fixed. See below for instructions and have fun. Please read everything below before you download. NOTE!!! Latest October 2014 beta version is available here: http://hecrasmodel.blogspot.com/2014/10/updated-hec-ras-version-50-beta-now.html Dear HEC-RAS 5.0 Beta (with 2D) tester, You […]
To my international HEC-RAS user friends. It’s time again to remind everyone that you need to have your Region and Language Windows settings set to English (United States), particularly if you are running unsteady HEC-RAS models. If you live somewhere other than the USA, and you get an error message relating to the “time” data, […]
A few testers have discovered a dll conflict when trying to open the new 5.0 beta version of HEC-RAS. The following message appears: This happens if you’ve installed the HDF5 Viewer as described in the new “Combined 1D and 2D Modeling with HEC-RAS” document on page 115. HDF5 is a new file format used by […]
Alright, this won’t wow everyone. It might even induce a few yawns. But I’m surprised how few people know this option, or if they do know it, use it. I’m talking about the HEC-RAS option to open the last project on startup. This little nugget is found under Options…Program Setup in the main HEC-RAS window. […]
***Note-this post was for the old 5.0 beta version. Please get the latest version here: http://hecrasmodel.blogspot.com/2014/10/updated-hec-ras-version-50-beta-now.html Hey RAS Modelers-The long awaited HEC-RAS Version 5.0 with 2D Modeling is finally out in beta form! Please read the message below from Gary Brunner that provides instructions for downloading and installing HEC-RAS 5.0 beta. Please note that there is a […]
I’m starting a new series called “Exploring HEC-RAS”. Each post will discuss a feature in the menu items, starting with the Tools menu item in the Geometry Schematic. Today’s topic is “XS Interpolation Within a Reach”. There are two options for interpolating cross sections in HEC-RAS: “Within a Reach…”, let’s call this Option A, and […]
Another simple, yet very convenient tool not found discussed in the manuals is the ability to zoom in on one of the axes of a graphical plot. This is especially useful when trying to determine if you’ve captured the true peak discharge in a steeply rising hydrograph. Take the following example: an unsteady flow dam […]
I don’t think you’ll find this anywhere in the manuals, but HEC-RAS has a very convenient tool for measuring lengths and slopes in the Geometry window and just about any graphical plot. It only works in the geometry window if your RAS model is georeferenced, as it measures distances based on coordinates. However, in the […]