SMS

Rebuilding an SRH-2D Restart File

By aquaveo on July 6, 2022

Have you ever needed to rebuild an SRH-2D restart file for a project you were working on? Perhaps you lost the restart file or maybe you made modifications to your mesh, so the restart file is no longer valid for the model you have. Regardless of the cause, rebuilding a restart file can be a vital step in completing the model you're working on.

To start rebuilding your restart file, see if you can do a dry run of your simulation:

Example of the SRH-2D Model Control Set to Use a Dry Run
  1. Right-click on the simulation in the Project Explorer and select Duplicate.
    2. This ensures that the original simulation is preserved if needed.
  2. In the newly-created simulation, right-click and select Model Control to open the Model Control dialog.
  3. In the dialog on the General tab, for the Initial Condition drop-down select "Dry".

Every run of SRH-2D creates restart files for the model. Initially, it creates a restart file for every time step as determined by the Output Frequency in the Model Control dialog. However, when the solution is loaded into SMS, the software only saves the restart file for the final time step. If a restart file for a different time step in the simulation is desired, then please complete the following before clicking Load Solution in the Simulation Run Queue dialog:

  1. Browse to where the project is saved.
  2. Double-click on the folder with the same name as the SMS project.
  3. Double-click on the SRH-2D folder.
  4. Double-click on the folder with the same name as the simulation run.
    5. This is where restart files were written for every time step. The file that ends in "_TSO.dat" is a text file with information about which restart files correspond to each time step. Open it in a program that can read plain text files to make sure that you select the restart file with the desired time step. The restart files end in "_RST" followed by the time step number (e.g. "Standard_Run_RST12.dat").
  5. Once you have determined the restart file you want to save, copy and paste it in a different folder on your hard drive.
  6. Then click Load Solution in SMS.

SMS loads the results into SMS and keeps only the restart file for the final time step. It's important to remember that changing anything in the mesh necessitates the creation of a new restart file. Restart files should only be used with a model that uses the exact same mesh as the simulation that generated the restart file. Using the restart file with a slightly modified mesh might yield inaccurate results.

SRH-2 with SMS provides powerful tools for surface-water modeling. Use SMS today!

Blog tags: 
SMS

Trimming and Extending Arcs in SMS 13.2 Beta

By aquaveo on June 29, 2022

Do you have arcs in a project that you need to extend or trim to match another arc? For example, you may be modeling a bridge with two arcs to represent the bridge in SMS. If you want to make certain the two arcs are the same length, you will need to extend or trim one of the arcs. A new tool introduced in SMS 13.2 allows you to trim or extend the length of arcs to match the length of another arc. This article will discuss how to trim or extend arcs as well as the advantages of doing so.

To use the Trim/Extend tool, do the following:

  1. Select one arc and, holding down the Shift key, select another arc. It is important to take note of what arc IDs are selected, trimming or extending the wrong ones can cause problems in the model.
  2. Right-click and select the Extend or Trim Arc command to open the Trim/Extend Arc tool.
  3. In the tool, there are two different options: one to select the arc that will be extended or trimmed and another option to select which arc will be used as the base arc for the length.
Example of Trim/Extend Arc in SMS

There are a few ways to differentiate between wether you are extending or trimming an arc. With the extend option, the number of intersections included in the arc selection will indicate to the tool to use the "extend" operation. Whereas with the trim option, if one or more intersections are included in the selection, this indicates a "trim" operation. This will allow a node to be inserted into the first arc at the first intersection and delete the first portion of the newly split arc.

It should be noted that you can only select up to two arcs otherwise the option to trim or extend will not appear. Try trimming or extending arcs in SMS 13.2 beta today!

Blog tags: 
SMS

Merging Map Coverages in SMS

By aquaveo on June 8, 2022

Do you have an SMS project that might benefit from merging coverages together? It’s not uncommon to have feature objects on different map coverages in SMS that would be useful to have on one coverage. For example, you might have feature objects from a shapefile on one coverage that you would like to merge with feature objects you have created on another coverage. This post will cover some tips to merge coverages as well as the effects of merging coverages.

To merge map coverages:

  1. Select one coverage in the Project Explorer then hold down the Ctrl key and select another coverage.
  2. Next right-click and the Merge Coverages command will appear.
  3. After clicking the Merge Coverage command, a warning dialog will ask you if you want to keep or delete the coverages being merged.
  4. Upon completion a new merged coverage will appear in the Project Explorer.
Example of Merging Map Coverages in SMS

Merging coverages comes with a lot of benefits when working with a large number of feature objects. When merging coverages here are a few items to keep in mind:

  • When merging coverages of different types, the new merged coverage will be converted to the Area Properties type.
  • When merging coverages of the same type, the new merged coverage will be the same type. For example, if you had two map coverages that are both ADCIRC materials they are going to remain ADCIRC Materials after they have been merged together.
  • When merging, only the feature objects will be merged together–any defined attributes on the feature objects will be reverted to the default setting for that coverage type. For example, the default for SRH-2D boundary conditions coverage type is the wall boundary condition. When two SRH-2D boundary condition coverages are merged all the arcs will be set to have the wall attributes.
  • When only wanting to copy a few feature objects from one coverage to another, use the Copy to Coverage feature instead of merging entire coverages.

These are just a few tips to help with merging coverages in SMS. Try out merging coverages in SMS 13.2 today!

Blog tags: 
SMS

Comparing SRH-2D and HEC-RAS Solutions

By aquaveo on May 25, 2022

Have you ever wanted to compare model results between SRH-2D and HEC-RAS models? The SMS 13.2 interface allows you to view both SRH-2D and 2D HEC-RAS results for the same model at the same time.

Say, for instance, that you have created an SRH-2D simulation in SMS and you want to compare results using HEC-RAS. First, if you do not have the project in both SRH-2D and HEC-RAS, you will need to create an HEC-RAS simulation in SMS and use it to export the SRH-2D mesh into a file format that HEC-RAS can use. Then you can import the mesh into HEC-RAS and set up the boundary conditions and other attributes of the simulation.

Comparing a SRH-2D and HEC_RAS simualtion

Once you have a completed simulation for both SRH-2D and HEC-RAS, you can import the results of the HEC-RAS simulation into the SMS project containing the SRH-2D solution. To do this, simply open the "*.p**.hdf" file generated by HEC-RAS in SMS. This will import the HEC-RAS solution into your SMS project. The HEC-RAS simulation solution will appear on a 2D UGrid.

There are many different comparison options available, a few are listed below:

  • The first comparison is often a quick visual check. Switching between the two models in the Project Explorer will let you make quick visual comparisons. You may need to adjust your contour display options to make this easier.
  • Using the Data Calculator, you can make a comparison dataset. Since the HEC-RAS solution will be on a UGrid and the SHR-2D solution will be attached to a 2D mesh, you may need to convert data to be in the same module in order to do this.
  • Observation Plots are another way to compare the models. You can plot the solutions from both models using the same observation coverage.

Try out comparing SHR-2D and HEC-RAS models in SMS 13.2 today!

Blog tags: 
SMS

Pages