Aquaveo & Water Resources Engineering News

Creating a Pathline for Every Time Step With MODPATH

By aquaveo on May 30, 2023

Have you ever wanted to be able to visualize the movement of particles along every time step in a MODFLOW simulation using MODPATH? MODPATH is a program in the Ground-water Modeling System (GMS) for tracing particles that is utilized in conjunction with the flow data in a MODFLOW simulation. MODFLOW defaults to showing particle movement one time step at a time, but it is possible to show all time steps at once by making use of the Pathlines → Arcs feature.

Example of pathlines generated by MODPATH

To create the particle pathlines as arcs, you need a complete MODFLOW and MODPATH simulation. Once you have that, creating arcs to represent every time step is as simple as going to the MODPATH menu and selecting Pathlines → Arcs. This will create new coverages under your Map Data, the number of which will depend on how many Particle Sets exist in the simulation. It may be useful to go to your display settings and make sure that vertices are turned on under Map Data to see the time steps along the pathline arc more clearly. Each segment of the arc represents a single time step, with the subsequent segment starting where the previous ended.

By right-clicking on one of the particle sets, you can select View Pathline Report, which will show the same data from the arcs on a table. By doing this, you can view the exact values for each point and vertex along the pathline arc. You can also export this data as a text file, which can be opened in Excel in order to view the data outside of GMS. Additionally, you can view the data in several different types of plots by using the Plot Wizard under the Display menu.

You can also export the data from each particle set as a shapefile, making it simple to import the pathline arc data into a different project or program. To do this, all you need to do is right-click on the particle set, export the data, and save it as a Pathline Point Shapefile (*shp).

Head over to GMS and try out the different ways to visualize particle data with MODPATH and MODFLOW today!

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GMS

Filling Missing Raster Data

By aquaveo on May 23, 2023

Do you have a raster that has holes in it? The Fill Nodata can fix small holes in raster data. Available in GMS, SMS, and WMS. In this article, we will explore the ways that the Fill Nodata tool can be used in WMS.

The Fill Nodata tool fills in small areas or gaps in a raster where no elevation data exists. It is located in the Rasters/Fill Nodata section of the Toolbox. The tool will interpolate an elevation to raster cells that are classified as "NODATA". Then the tool will create a new raster in the project that has the fillable no data areas filled.

Example of the File Nodata tool

These holes in the raster can occur for a number of reasons, one of the most common being that the data is incomplete. WMS is flexible enough that it can use a raster with small amounts of missing data for most simulations. However, it is recommended that you have data that is as complete as possible to ensure the generated model is as accurate. Therefore using the Fill Nodata tool can help ensure the accuracy of your model.

The Fill Nodata tool has a few input parameters to keep in mind. The input raster is the most important parameter. This needs to be a raster that has been imported into the project. The maximum distance to interpolate determines how far out WMS will look to fill data. It will use pixel units to do this. The number of 3x3 average filter smoothing iterations to run determines how many smoothing interactions will be run after the interpolation has been calculated. Additional interactions can help in improving the fill data.

Keep in mind that the tool was not intended to create data for large regions of missing data cells, especially regions on the border of the raster. If you have a large area of missing data, it would be best to use other processes to fill in the missing data, such as downloading the missing data and merging it with your raster.

The Fill Nodata tool is one of thetools provided in WMS to let you modify and edit raster data. Try out the Fill Nodata tool in WMS today!

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WMS
SMS
GMS

Converting a 2D Mesh to a CAD Surface

By aquaveo on May 16, 2023

Using CAD files can be a useful way to transfer project data between different modeling software that may not support all of the same file types. The Surface-water Modeling System (SMS) supports the conversion of terrain in the form of scatter surfaces and mesh surfaces to and from CAD data for easy transfer between systems that utilize CAD data.

To save a terrain from SMS as a CAD surface file:

  1. Deselect everything in the Project Explorer that doesn't contain the terrain data you want to work with. Depending on the amount of data currently in the Project Explorer, the simplest way to achieve this may be to right-click on an empty section of the Project Explorer and select "Uncheck All".
  2. Reselect the terrain data in the Project Explorer.
  3. Right-click in any empty space in the Project Explorer and select "Save as CAD". A save window will pop up and you'll be able to name the CAD surface file and choose where it will save outside of SMS.

The CAD surface data will then also appear in the Project Explorer. Once you assign a name to the file, you should be able to import it into your CAD software and make modifications. This file set will contain all the necessary surface data, including elevation, node, and element information.

Using CAD Faces to 2D Scatter Triangles

When importing CAD surface data into SMS, you'll need to convert it into a form that SMS can recognize so you can make changes and use the information stored in the file. To convert the data back into a form you can use within SMS, you just need to right-click on the CAD data under the CAD Data file folder in the project explorer. Then, select the "Convert → CAD Faces → 2D Scatter Triangles" command.

Head over to SMS and see how using CAD data can benefit your project today!

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SMS

Converting a 3D UGrid in GMS

By aquaveo on May 9, 2023

Have you ever had an unstructured grid (UGrid) or mesh in your project in the Groundwater Modeling System (GMS) that you want to convert to another geometry? While there isn't a specific tool for converting UGrids in GMS, it can still be achieved by following a few simple steps. Typically a UGrid will need to be converted to a scatter set and from there the scatter set can be converted to other geometries. Converting UGrids or mesh into scatter points can be a good way to compare data between models, especially if one of the models is older and doesn't, or can't, include a UGrid or mesh. If this is something that interests you, this article will explain how to get from a UGrid or mesh to either 2D or 3D scatter points.

Example of converting a scatter set

First, go to the Display menu above the macros in the GMS window. Then choose Convert to CAD. Note: CAD data. is generated from whatever is currently visible in the Graphics window, so make sure that everything you need is displayed before you continue. The new CAD data will appear in the project window as a (*.dwg) file. Now right-click on the CAD data and convert CAD Points to TIN Points. A dialog window will appear asking you to designate which layers of the data you want to include in the conversion and to name the new TIN. You can customize this in whichever way best suits your needs.

This new TIN data can be converted directly into a scatter set. Right-click on the TIN and convert it into a 2D scatter set. 3D scatter sets can be made by simply executing a conversion one more time with the 2D scatter set.

If ultimately you want to compare scatter data with another model, it may be helpful to be able to view both sets of data in the same window. You can easily export the scatter set from GMS by right-clicking on the scatter set in the project window and selecting Export, then open the newly exported file in the GMS window with your other project. The scatter set can also be used to create a boundary for a 2D or 3D Cartesian grid which could be used with an older version of MODFLOW.

Head over to GMS and try converting UGrids into scatter sets today!

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GMS

Working with ADCIRC Levees in SMS

By aquaveo on May 2, 2023

As a oceanic modeler working with hydrodynamic modeling, you may have an ADCIRC levee structure in your project that you need to check or fix. Fortunately, SMS provides a couple of tools that can assist you with this task. These tools are part of the SMS Toolbox and allow you to test and verify that levees are working properly. In this article, we'll take a closer look at these tools and how they can be used to enhance your surface-water projects.

To access the ADCIRC levee tools, you can open the Toolbox and expand the ADCIRC folder. The first tool available is called Fix Levee Crest Elevations. This tool checks the ADCIRC boundary conditions coverage that contains the levee arcs. It compares the Z crest attributes against a set of elevation lines, which are known as check lines. The tool will perform a check on any selected levee arc or all levee arcs if none of them have been selected previously. If the elevation values are outside of the check lines, the tool will adjust them to fix the values.

Another tool in the toolbox is the Check/Fix Levee Ground Elevations. This tool checks the elevations of an ADCIRC domain based on the crest elevations defined in an ADCIRC boundary conditions coverage. If necessary, the tool will lower the elevations of a domain based on the elevations defined in the boundary condition coverage. This tool also creates a new dataset that can be mapped as an elevation for the 2D mesh if desired.

Example of the Check/Fix Levee Ground Elevations tool

Both of these tools check the validity of the levee. If the levee does not line up with a hole in the mesh, the tool will determine it to be invalid. If the tool determines the levee to be valid, it will run, and the output datasets will be loaded onto the input domain mesh in SMS.

The ADCIRC levee tools are just some of the tools available in the SMS Toolbox. Additional tools will be added in the future to enhance the capabilities of the toolbox. By using the Toolbox for your surface-water projects in SMS, you can easily test and verify the effectiveness of levees and ensure that they are functioning as they should be.

In conclusion, if you need to check or fix an ADCIRC levee structure in your project, SMS provides helpful tools in its toolbox to assist you. These tools, such as Fix Levee Crest Elevations and Check/Fix Levee Ground Elevations, allow you to test and verify the effectiveness of levees, ensuring that they function correctly. So, try out the SMS toolbox today for your surface-water projects, and make your work easier!

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SMS