HEC-RAS v5.

0: 2-D applications
Tom Molls, Will Sicke, Holly Canada, Mike Konieczki, Ric McCallan

David Ford Consulting Engineers, Inc. Sacramento, CA

September 10, 2015: Palm Springs FMA conference

What did we do?

Applied HEC-RAS v5.0 to several 2-D flow cases and

analyzed the results.
1 project study (spillway + floodplain)
1 laboratory study (180 bend)

2
Short introduction
1-D and 2-D
HEC-RAS v4.1 (SAs are bathtubs and
channels are 1-D)

4
HEC-RAS v5.0 (gridded SAs are smart
bathtubs and channels can be 2-D as well)

5
Results in RAS mapper

Water pooling
in 1-D SA

Overland flow
in 2-D flow area

6
 Full 2-D depth-averaged (Saint
Venant or shallow water) equations
To make pretty 2-D pictures you need to solve these
equations.

+ + =0

2
+ 2 + + = + + +
2
2
+ + 2
+ = + + +
2

where,

2 + 2 2 + 2
= = = =
2 43 2 43

= 2 = + = 2

7
 Approximate 2-D depth-averaged
(diffusive wave) equations
Neglect convective acceleration terms.

+ + =0

0
2 0

+ 2 + + = + + +
2
0 2 0
2

+ + + = + + +
2

where,

2 + 2 2 + 2
= = = =
2 43 2 43

= 2 = + = 2

8
Flow in a spillway chute
Supercritical flow with a hydraulic jump
Project background

PMF study
Spillway capacity study
Original study used HEC-RAS 1-D
Inundation and erosion potential study
Used HEC-RAS 2-D
Extended 2-D model into spillway chute to provide proper
inflow conditions to the floodplain
Updated original 1-D spillway study with 2-D spillway
results near the hydraulic jump
2-D analysis includes supercritical flow in spillway chute,
and hydraulic jump in stilling basin

10
Terrain

Stilling
basin

Spillway
11
 Updated
Model domain 2-D mesh
1-D SAs

2-D flow area

jump

Inflow
hydrograph
12
Manual spillway mesh refinement
Original Updated
2-D mesh 2-D mesh HEC-RAS geometry file
Storage Area Is2D=-1
Storage Area Point Generation Data=0,0,10,10
Storage Area 2D Points= 18960
X-coord Y-coord X-coord Y-coord
X-coord Y-coord X-coord Y-coord
X-coord Y-coord X-coord Y-coord
X-coord Y-coord X-coord Y-coord
...........
...........

13
Inundation results (maximum depth)

jump

deeper

Inflow
hydrograph

14
Inundation results (maximum velocity)

jump

faster

Inflow
hydrograph

15
Spillway characteristics
Width: B20 ft
Slope: So0.27, 15
Q7,247 cfs (Vmax60 fps)
Fmax4.5

So

1

16
Spillway WSP results
HEC-RAS:
Jump height: d2/d1 3.4
Jump length: 125ft < L < 150ft

d15.5ft d218.6ft
V160fps V29.3fps
F14.5 F20.38

HEC-RAS 2-D
HEC-RAS 1-D

17
Spillway hydraulic jump (comparison
with USBR measurements)
Jump height:
HEC-RAS: d2/d1 3.4
USBR: d2/d1 5.7
Jump length:
HEC-RAS: L 135ft
USBR: L 190ft from USBR EM 25 (1984) Hydraulic design
of stilling basins and energy dissipators

USBR results represent upper limit because some flow

leaks over our spillway walls and the spillway
becomes slightly wider

18
Spillway 2-D model summary

2-D mesh was manually refined in the spillway

Modeled supercritical flow in the spillway
Hydraulic jump was modeled internally (without
boundary condition influence)
Flow entering the floodplain was modeled internally
(with proper model computed velocity and depth)
High speed spillway flow:
Required using full momentum equations
Required a small time step for stability purposes
Resulted in longer model run times

19
Flow around a 180 channel
bend
Subcritical flow with superelevation and velocity redistribution
Molls (1992, 1995)
Developed a 2-D model and applied it to several
verification test cases (including a 180 bend).

21
Bend characteristics

180 bend with rectangular (B=0.8 m) cross section

and straight upstream and downstream reaches
Horizontal bottom (S0=0)
Tight bend, mean radius-to-width ratio of 1.0
Smooth channel, n = 0.01
Subcritical flow, Q = 0.0123 m3/s and F = 0.11
No flow separation at bend exit
Experimental data collected by Rozovskii (1957) and
reported in Leschziner and Rodi (1978) and Molls and
Chaudhry (1995)

22
Bend data

23
Bend data
h=0.058 m dh7-8 mm

0.4 m/s

Flow Flow

Velocity Depth 24
Spiral flow in a bend (not captured by 2-D
equations)

vr

vz

25
from Blanckaert and de Vriend (2004)
180 bend vs natural meander

180 laboratory bend

Single tight bend with rectangular cross section
Fixed bed
Faster velocity along inner wall, at bend entrance
Faster velocity along outer wall, at bend exit
Natural meander
Series of gentler bends with irregular cross section
Moveable bed
Main flow path along outer wall
Deposition inside, erosion outside

26
 180 bend vs natural meander (diagram)

Photo by Eric Jones

adapted from California rivers and streams

(1995) by Jeffrey Mount

Faster velocity inside Main flow path toward outside

27
Bend HEC-RAS initial setup
HEC-RAS results show proper trends
Vmag (m/s)

h0.057 m

Rc=0.8 m

Q=0.0123 m3/s
dx=dy=0.04 m
B=0.8 m 28
 2 grids with similar grid cell size but
different orientation

HEC-RAS generated grid Curvilinear grid (manually created)

(initial setup) 29
 Vmag (m/s)

Effect of grid orientation

V0.12 m/s V0.19 m/s

V0.33 m/s V0.34 m/s

HEC-RAS generated grid Curvilinear grid (manually created)

(initial setup) More closely matches experimental data, 30
but bend inner wall velocity is too low
Bend HEC-RAS final setup
(yields bestresults)
Full momentum equations
Curvilinear grid with dx = 0.02 m (reduced from 0.04)
dt = 0.05 s (Cr 1)
Other default parameters (no eddy viscosity)
h0.057 m

Vmag (m/s)

Q=0.0123 m3/s
31
 Bend HEC-RAS final velocity results

F F
E

E D
C
A

A
Q=0.0123 m3/s
Vmag (m/s)
U0=0.265 m/s
B

HEC-RAS 2-D B

32
Note: Ut/U0=1.5 Ut=0.4m/s
Bend HEC-RAS final depth results
F

E
D
C
A F
B E

A C

D Depth (cm)
6.2 HEC-RAS 2-D (inner)
HEC-RAS 2-D (outer)

33
5.0
Courant Number (Cr)
Numerical stability criterion that imposes a
constraint on the time step (dt), the grid cell
size (dx), and the flow velocity (V)
Cr = V(dt/dx)
Rearranging provides a way to estimate the
computational time step:
dt = Cr(dx/V)
Typical Cr range: 0.5 < Cr < 5
A rule of thumb is to start with Cr1

For final setup: dt 1(0.02/0.4) = 0.05 s

34
 Vmag (m/s)
Effect of Courant Number
(same grid, different time step)

V0.22 m/s V0.19 m/s

V0.33 m/s V0.39 m/s

Cr0.2 ; dt=0.01 s Cr1 ; dt=0.05 s

More closely matches experimental data 35
 Bend HEC-RAS Courant sensitivity
velocity results

F F
E

E D
C
A

A
Q=0.0123 m3/s
Vmag (m/s)
U0=0.265 m/s
B

HEC-RAS 2-D
Cr1.0 ; dt=0.05s B
Cr0.2 ; dt=0.01s

36
Note: Ut/U0=1.5 Ut=0.4m/s
Bend HEC-RAS Courant sensitivity
depth results
F

D E
C
A F
B E

A
C

D Depth (cm) HEC-RAS 2-D

6.2
Inner (Cr1.0 ; dt=0.05s)
Inner (Cr0.2 ; dt=0.01s)
Outer (Cr1.0 ; dt=0.05s)
Outer (Cr0.2 ; dt=0.01s)
37
5.0
180 bend 2-D model summary

Use full momentum equations

HEC-RAS results:
Reproduce properly the bend flow characteristics
(superelevation and velocity redistribution)
Are consistent with previous 2-D results and match well
with the experimental data
Are influenced by grid cell size and orientation
Are influenced by the computational time step

2-D studies should include grid cell size and time step
sensitivity test

38
2-D modeling is a new
feature in HEC-RAS v5.0
but its been around for quite a while
Kuipers and Vreugdenhil (1973)

40
Questions?

Tom Molls:
tmolls@ford-consulting.com

Presentation and data available at:

www.ford-consulting.com\highlights

HydroCalc:
www.hydrocalc2000.com

41
Backup slides

42
Superelevation (design manual equation)

Approximate bend flow as irrotational vortex

Assume: vr=0 ; vz=0 ; dv/dz=0 ; dp/d=0 ; d/dt=0
(1/)p/r = v2/r
Assume: p=gh ; v=V=Q/A ; r = Rc
(/)gh/r = V2/Rc v

ho V2 ro vr=0
h= dr
hi gRc r z
i

V2 r
ho hi = r r
gRc o i dh

2
V B vz=0
dh=
gRc
43
Superelevation (design calculation estimate)

B=0.8 m
Rc=0.8 m
Q = 0.0123 m3/s
hin 5.8 cm
Vin = Q/Ain = 0.265 m/s

2 2
V B 0.265 0.8
dh= = =0.0072 m
gRc 9.810.8
Corps EM1110-2-1601 Hydraulic Design of Flood Control Channels

dh7-8 mm

44