SMS

New Color Ramp Options for SMS

The contour options in the Surface-water Modeling System have been overhauled and expanded in SMS 13.3. It includes many new color palettes to apply to a selected mesh or grid, making it so you can customize your project more than ever before.

SMS's color palettes are accessed by clicking Color Ramp… on the Contours tab in the Display Options dialog. When you right-click on a color palette in the Choose color ramp dialog, two options appear: "Make favorite" and "Make editable copy". If you select "Make favorite" a new folder will appear at the top of the dialog with your favorites. This is a good option if there is a specific color palette you want to keep track of for use in future projects. If you select "Make editable copy", you’ll see more options in the right-click menu. The new options in the right-click menu for the newly editable color palette are edit, rename, duplicate, and remove from project.

Example of the Choose Color Ramp dialog in SMS 13.3

There are five sections on the Choose color ramp dialog:

  • Favorites: this folder will appear when you designate a color palette as a favorite. This is a great option to keep track of your favorite color palettes, and save any color palettes that you've customized so you don’t lose them if you want to use them later.
  • This project: includes every color palette selected for use in the current project. SMS allows you to customize the contours of any mesh or grid in the project, or even every mesh or grid, if that is something you want.
  • Aquaveo: we took note of the palettes that are most commonly used, and we put a pre-generated version of those palettes under the Aquaveo folder so it is easy for you to access.
  • Colorcet: this includes various additional folders that categorize specific color palettes. These folders consist of:
    • Categorical: Contains color palettes where colors are assigned to specific values or categories.
    • Colorblind: Contains color palettes designed for individuals with color blindness.
    • Cyclic: Contains color palettes optimized for cycling through the colors in a seamless manner.
    • Diverging: Contains color palettes that primarily consist of two colors separated by white or black.
    • Linear: Contains monochromatic or dual chromatic color palettes.
    • Rainbow: Contains color palettes with a full spectrum of colors.
    • Relief Shading: Contains color palettes specifically optimized for use with relief shading.
  • FHWA: contains a list of FHWA specified color palettes. We worked with the Federal Highway Administration to develop specific palettes for use with their two-dimensional hydraulic modeling technologies. The use of these palettes isn't limited to FHWA models, but you should definitely check them out if you’re working with models developed by FHWA on a regular basis.

There is a "Reverse color ramps" button next to every color palette. This button does exactly what it sounds like. It reverses the color gradient so that the color the color palette previously ended with is now the starting color, and vice versa.

A Legacy options… button is in the Choose color ramp dialog, which will take you to the Color Ramp Options dialog that you may be more familiar with from previous versions of SMS. If you're used to the way that the color ramp options used to work and prefer to stick with that, we've got you. This dialog has everything you knew and loved about customizing color ramps from the older versions of SMS, and will work the same way.

There are many color palettes and contour options to explore, download SMS 13.3 and see how they can enhance your project today!

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Utilizing SMS's Gravity Waves Tools

Are you working with a coastal model in the Surface-water Modeling System (SMS) that includes a representation of how particles move through a mesh or grid? Did you know that the toolbox has Gravity Waves tools, which can help you visualize and find data about those particles more easily? This blog post will give you an overview of both the Gravity Waves Courant Number tool and the Gravity Waves Time Step tool and how they can help you with your ocean models such as ADCIRC.

Gravity Waves tools in the SMS Toolbox

The Courant number is a value that represents the amount of time a particle stays in the cell of a mesh or grid. The purpose of the Gravity Wave Courant Number tool is to help maintain the stability of a numerical engine and, potentially, to help choose the most suitable time step measurement. If the methods used to solve numerical problems are restricted by the Courant condition, things can become unstable if the Courant number goes beyond the allowed limit. By looking at the highest Courant number in the dataset, you can get an idea of how stable the mesh is with respect to the chosen time step.

There are three necessary input parameters for the Gravity Waves Courant Number tool, the first being a dataset. This tool requires a dataset that represents the particle’s velocity magnitude. Second, you need to enter a gravity value. Lastly, you’ll enter a computational time step value. For the output parameters, you’ll choose a name for the new dataset. It should be something short and easily recognizable, possibly referencing the input dataset.

The Gravity Waves Time Step tool functions as somewhat the opposite of the Gravity Waves Courant Number tool. The purpose of the Gravity Waves Time Step tool is to calculate the time step needed to achieve the desired Courant number, based on the provided mesh and velocity field. You can then choose a time step for analysis that is equal to or greater than the highest value in the resulting dataset of time steps.

The required input parameters for the Gravity Waves Time Step tool are first, an input dataset, which should be set for depth. Note that it is important that the dataset is specifically for depth, not elevation. Second, enter a gravity value. Lastly, enter the Courant number you’re searching for. Choosing a value for the Courant number under the maximum threshold may increase the stability of the computation because the resulting computation is approximate. The output parameters are where you’ll specify a name for the new dataset. As with the Gravity Waves Courant Number tool, the name should be something short and descriptive.

Try out the Gravity Waves tools for yourself, and see what they can do for your SMS project today!

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Converting an Unprojected Raster to Vector Maps in SMS

In the field of hydraulic engineering, understanding flow dynamics in channels is crucial for effective design and analysis. Converting unprojected rasters with u and v components from a Large Eddy Simulation(LES) model to a vector map in the channel can provide valuable insights. However, this process can be challenging without the right workflow. In this post, we will explore one approach to achieve this in SMS.

  1. Preparing the Data
    To begin, project component rasters to the correct coordinate system. This ensures that the data is in the correct coordinate system for further processing. This can be done in SMS by importing the raster data in the GIS module. Then use the projection command
  2. Importing and Triangulating the Ugrid
    Next, drag the projected rasters in and convert the u component raster to a Ugrid format using the Raster to Grid tool in the toolbox for SMS 13.2. However, since the resulting Ugrid is created from a raster, the data points are not triangulated for proper interpolation. To address this, select the Ugrid in the project explorer and choose Cells | Triangulate. This allows the data to be interpolated across the surface accurately.
    Alternatively, you can create your own UGrid that encompasses the raster area. Make certain the UGrid has the correct projection.
  3. Incorporating Bankfull Channel Bathymetry
    To add the bankfull channel bathymetry from a raster, interpolate the bankfull elevation to the UGrid points. Use the Data | Map Elevation command to overwrite the existing Z dataset with values from the bankfull dataset. This step ensures that the bathymetry aligns with the UGrid for an accurate representation of the channel.
  4. Example of the Filter Dataset Values tool
  5. Displaying Vectors and Refining the Results
    After combining the u and v components, display the resultant vectors. However, it is common to encounter null vectors outside the channel, which may disrupt the visualization. To address this, utilize the filter and map activities in the dataset toolbox. These tools enable you to mask or remove the null vectors, ensuring a clean representation of the flow hydraulics in the channel.

By following this workflow, you can effectively convert unprojected rasters with components from an LES model to a vector map in the channel using SMS. Proper triangulation, incorporation of bathymetry data, and handling null vectors are critical for accurate visualization of flow dynamics. SMS proves to be a valuable tool in streamlining this process, empowering professionals to gain deeper insights into channel hydraulics and make informed decisions for various engineering applications.

Try out working with raster data in SMS today!

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New Unstructured Grid Generation Tools in SMS 13.3

The Surface-water Modeling System (SMS) allows use of unstructured grid (UGrid) geometries with multiple numeric models. With that, we have been adding functionality to make generating UGrids easier and more convenient. The toolbox in SMS offers many tools to help speed up UGrid creation and simplify the process. SMS 13.3 beta offers the same tools as before, as well as some new ones. As of now there are fifteen tools under the Unstructured Grids folder in the toolbox. The tool types cover conversion from different types of data to a UGrid, import and export tools, and more. This blog post will explore just two of the many different options in the toolbox.

UGrid creation tools in SMS 13.3

The first UGrid creation tool we will explore in this blog post is the UGrid from Coverage tool. The UGrid from Coverage tool takes the feature objects on a selected coverage and generates a UGrid from the properties of those feature objects. The tool can work with multiple coverage types. Like using the mesh generator coverage to create 2D meshes, the spacing of vertices on the arcs will determine the refinement of the generated UGrid. To generate a UGrid, the coverage must have at least one polygon in it. The parameters required when executing the tool are a coverage, and a name for the new UGrid. We recommend choosing a name that is short, but references the input data for easy reference.

The second UGrid tool we will explore is the UGrid from Surface tool. The UGrid from Surface tool takes an existing mesh, scatter set, or Cartesian grid and creates a new UGrid with copies of all of the datasets. This can be useful because it changes the data into a form that can be modified and manipulated while still preserving the original data. The input parameters include an input mesh, scatter set, or Cartesian grid, and an output grid name. Again, we recommend choosing a name that is short and references the input data.

All of the UGrid tools are accessible by clicking on the toolbox macro at the top of the window, then expanding the Unstructured Grids folder.

Download the SMS 13.3 beta and explore how the UGrid from Coverage and UGrid from surface tools, as well as the numerous other UGrid tools, can help your project today!

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