Managing Flood Risk with

HEC-RAS 5.0 thru Case Studies

GAFM 2016 Conference
Eric Zgonina, P.E., CFM
 RAS 5.0 Officially Released

2 | HEC-RAS 5.0, GAFM 2016 Conference

 Overview of Version 5.0

Capabilities include
1D unsteady-flow modeling (unchanged from 4.1)
2D unsteady-flow modeling
Implicit finite volume solution algorithm
Full Saint Venant equations
Diffusion Wave equations generally good for most flood
applications and inherently more stable
Combined 1D/2D unsteady flow modeling
1D/2D solutions are coupled at each time step and can
iterate back and forth between 1D and 2D

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 Dewberrys Testing of RAS 5.0

Tested and employed for several situations in

support for clients
Coupled 1D/2D riverine model with lateral weirs
(levees)
Breakline incorporation
2D only dam break modeling in:
NC Piedmont region dam (well confined inundation)
FL Coastal plain dam (unconfined inundation)
Depth and Velocity Applications
Stream stabilization fine resolution mesh

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 Finite Volume with RAS 5.0

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 2D Computational Grid Generation
1D/2D
Connections

SA/2D
Connections

1D/2D
Connection

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 Variable Cell Sizes in RAS 5.0

Createdbyimporting
Breakline

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 Advanced Unstructured 2D Computational Meshes
Currently the HEC-RAS 5.0 mesh generation tools are somewhat
limited, but by applying 2D coastal modeling mesh development
techniques, the 2D geometry file can be manipulated to allow for
variable cell sizes within the computational mesh.

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 Advanced Unstructured 2D Computational Meshes

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 Terrain Development RASMapper

Associating terrain
to 2D grid is done in
RAS Mapper

Program requires
input terrain in floating
point grid format (.flt)

Ability to
modify/improve terrain
based on cross
section data

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 Connecting 2D Flow Area to 1D
Hydraulic Elements

1. Use of a lateral structure

2. Directly from an upstream river to downstream 2D flow area

3. Directly from upstream 2D flow area to downstream river

4. From 2D flow area to storage area using hydraulic structure

5. Connecting two 2D flow areas using a hydraulic structure

6. Hydraulic structures inside 2D flow area

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 Bartow County, GA
Storage area is
converted to a 2D
computational
grid in RAS.

Railroad
Stream

PhotoAngle
(nextslide)

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 Bartow County, GA
Fillfromchannelexcavation
actingasincompletelevee

Lookingdownstream

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 Lateral Structure Connection
Set TW to 2D
flow area

Update weir
coefficient

FacePointLS
connections

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 Lateral Weir Coefficients
Excellent new guidance provided by the USACE HEC!

Brunner,GaryW.Combined1Dand2DModelingwithHECRAS.HydrologicEngineeringCenter.October,2014.

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 External 2D Boundary Conditions

Flow Hydrograph
Stage Hydrograph
Normal Depth
Rating Curve
SA/2DAreaBCLine

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 Viewing Results in RAS Mapper

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 Comparison to 1D Limited Detail Study

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 Summary of Other Capabilities
Spatially varied Mannings roughness layers
Multiple grid domains with varying cell sizes
Velocity plotting and particle tracing animation

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 Depth and Velocity Applications

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 Confined Inundation
Piedmont Plain

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 Unconfined Inundation/Tidal
Coastal Plain

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 Stream Stabilization
Gwinnett County Stream Stabilization project

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 Stream Stabilization
Gwinnett County Stream Stabilization project

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 Current Limitations/Challenges

2D Flow Areas
Can be difficult adding hydraulic structures
Cannot use bridge modeling techniques
Cannot perform sediment transport
Cannot perform water quality modeling
Cannot connect pump stations

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 Questions?

EricZgonina,PE,CFM
WaterResourcesEngineer
Dewberry
ezgonina@dewberry.com

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