Exercise XIX:

Flood Modeling

Introduction

This tutorial is designed to make you able to perform flood inundation mapping in ArcGIS

environment by using HEC-GeoRAS (pre- and post-processing of GIS data) and HEC-RAS

(processing-modelling / simulation).

Computer Requirements

Following programs are required to be installed on your Computer with windows operating system:

1. ArcGIS 10.1

2. HEC-GeoRAS 10.1

3. HEC-RAS version 4.x

Data Requirements/Provided

The dataset required for HEC-GeoRAS is the terrain data (TIN or DEM). Additional datasets to

ease the process are aerial photograph and land use information. You are provided with the

folder Data containing all these data to complete the tutorial.

Getting Started:

Pre-Processing:

➢ Install HecGeoRas 10.1.

➢ Open Arcmap.
➢ First of all, do environment setting.
➢ Now load the HEC-GeoRAS toolbar into ArcGIS by clicking on customize > Toolbars >
HEC-GeoRAS to see the toolbar as shown below:

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 ➢ Insert new dataframe and name the new data frame as Flood_Preprocessing and click OK.
➢ You can see the new data frame Flood_Preprocessing on the table of contents. Now, let’s
define its co-ordinate system.
➢ Click on Add button in ArcMap to add the terrain TIN1 to the map. The co-ordinate
system same to the tin is applied to the data frame.

➢ Because tin already has a projected coordinate system, it is applied to the

Flood_preprocessing data frame. You can check this by right-clicking on the data frame and
looking at its properties.
➢ Also, add image of same place named imag.tiff.
➢ Save ArcGIS document naming it as Preras.mxd.

Creating RAS Layers

➢ Click on RAS Geometry >Create RAS Layers. You will see a list of all the possible
attributes that you can have in the HEC-RAS geometry file. You can click on either
individual attribute to create a single layer at a time, or All to create all layers as per the
need.

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 ➢ HEC-GeoRAS creates a geodatabase in the same folder where the map document is saved,
gives the name of the map document to the geodatabase (Flood_Preprocessing.mdb, in this
case), and stores all the feature classes/RAS layers in this geodatabase.
➢ Since these layers are empty, our task is to populate these layers depending on our project
needs, and then create a HEC-RAS geometry file.

Creating River Centreline

➢ The river centerline is used to establish the river reach network for HEC-RAS.
To create the river centerline (in River_Center feature class), start editing, and choose
Create New Feature as the Task, and River_Center as the Target.

➢ Using the Sketch tool (highlighted above), start digitizing the river centerline from upstream
to downstream referencing soft edge(indicated by red line) and image. After finishing
digitizing, save the edits.

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 ➢ Now, To assign names to reaches, click on Assign RiverCode/ReachCode button .
Each river in HEC-RAS must have a unique river name, and each reach within a river must
have a unique reach name.
➢ With the button active, click on the upper River reach. You will see the reach will get
selected, showing the following window:

➢ Assign the River and Reach name as Riyu and Upper Reach, respectively, and click OK.
Now open the attribute table of River , and you will see that the information you just
provided on river and reach names is entered as feature attributes as shown below:

➢ Before we move forward let us make sure that the reaches we just created are connected,
and populate the remaining attributes of the River feature class. Click on RAS Geometry
Stream Centerline Attributes >Topology.

➢ Confirm River_Center for Stream Centerline and TIN1 for Terrian TIN, and click OK.
This function will populate the FromNode and ToNode attribute of the River feature class.
Next, click on RAS Geometry > Stream Centerline Attributes > Lengths/Stations. This
will populate the remaining attributes.

Note: HydroID is a unique number for a given feature in a geodatabase. The River and
Reach attributes contain unique names for rivers and reaches, respectively. The FromNode and

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ToNode attributes define the connectivity between reaches. ArcLength is the actual length of the
reach in map units, and is equal to Shape_Length. In HEC-RAS, distances are represented using
station numbers measured from downstream to upstream.

Use directional symbology for cross sections and stream centerlines during digitization for
the easiness.– Layer Properties ->Symbology -> Symbol -> Arrow at End

Creating Banks

➢ To create the left and right banks(in banks feature class), start editing, and choose Create
New Feature as the Task, and banks as the Target.
➢ Use the sketch tool to create bank. The left and rigsht bank must be digitized within the
floodplain in the downstream direction. Again, to be consistent, looking downstream first
digitize the left bank followed by the righankt b for each reach. After digitizing, save the
edits and stop editing.

Creating Flowpaths

➢ The flowpath layer contains three types of lines: centerline, left overbank, and right
overbank.
Click on RAS Geometry > Create RAS Layers > Flow Path Centerlines

➢ If you want to use the stream centerline to create the flow path centerline, Click Yes on the
message box as:

➢ Confirm River for Stream Centerline and Flowpaths for Flow Path Centerlines, and click
OK.

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 ➢ To create the left and right flow paths (in Flowpaths feature class), start editing, and choose
Create New Feature as the Task, and Flowpaths as the Target.
➢ Use the sketch tool to create flowpaths. The left and right flowpaths must be digitized within
the floodplain in the downstream direction. Again, to be consistent, looking downstream
first digitize the left flowpath followed by the right flowpath for each reach. After digitizing,
save the edits and stop editing.

➢ Now label the flowpaths by using the Assign LineType button. Click on the button,
and then click on one of the flow paths (left or right, looking downstream), and name the
flow path accordingly as shown below:

➢ Label all flow paths, and confirm this by opening the attribute table of the Flowpaths feature
class. The LineType field must have data for each row if all flowpaths are labeled.

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 Creating Cross-sections

Cross-sections are one of the key inputs to HEC-RAS. Cross-section cutlines are used to
extract the elevation data from the terrain to create a ground profile across channel flow.
These can be created either by manual or automatic method.

Manual method: Certain guidelines must be followed in creating cross-section cutlines:

(1) they are digitized perpendicular to the direction of flow;

(2) must span over the entire flood extent to be modeled; and

(3) always digitized from left to right (looking downstream);

(4) they must not intersect each other;

(5) Cross the stream line only once;

(6) Must be contained within DTM.

It is a good practice to maintain a consistent spacing between cross-sections and it can

even be imported from previously digitized data.

➢ To create cross-section cutlines (in XSCutlines feature class), start editing, and choose
Create New Feature as the Task, and XSCutlines as the Target.
➢ Let’s digitize cross-sections using the sketch tool. While digitizing, make sure that each
cross-section is wide enough to cover the floodplain. This can be done using the cross-
sections profile tool. Click, and then click on the cross-section to view the profile.

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 Automated Cross Sections Involves:

➢ Specified interval and width

➢ Perpendicular to stream centerline

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Note: Using this method, Cross section could end up crossing each other and the main
channel multiple times, so make sure that you are carrying out enough checks.

➢ After digitizing the cross-sections, save the edits and stop editing. The next step is to add
HEC-RAS attributes to these cutlines. Since all these attributes are based on the intersection
of cross-sections with other layers, make sure each cross-section intersects with the
centerline, banks and overbank flow paths to avoid error messages.
➢ Click on RAS Geometry > XS Cut Line Attributes > River/Reach Names. This tool uses
the River and Reach attributes of the centerline, and copy them to the XS Cutlines.
➢ Next, click on RAS Geometry > XS Cut Line Attributes > Stationing. This tool will
assign station number (distance from each cross-section to the downstream end of the river)
to each cross-section cutline.
➢ Next, click on RAS Geometry> XS Cut Line Attributes > Bank Stations. Confirm
XSCutlines for XS Cut Lines, and Banks_lines for Bank Lines, and click OK.

This tool assigns bank stations (distance from the starting point on the XS Cutline to the left and
right bank, looking downstream) to each cross-section cutline.

➢ Finally, click on RAS Geometry >XS Cut Line Attributes >Downstream Reach
Lengths. This tool assigns distances to the next downstream cross-section based on flow
paths.
Note: check its length. It should not be negative. If yes, change it to positive value using
modulus.

➢ The cross-section cutlines are 2D lines with no elevation information associated with them
(Polyline). You can convert 2D cutlines into 3D by clicking RAS Geometry >XS
CutLine Attributes Elevation. Confirm XSCutlines for XS Cut Lines, and TIN1 for
Terrian TIN. The new 3D lines (XS Cut Lines Profiles) will be stored in the
XSCutLines3D feature class. Click OK.

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 ➢ After this process is finished, open the attribute table of XSCutLines3D feature class and see
that the shape of this feature class is now PolylineZ.
➢ Similarly, any other geometrical structures like bridge, leeve, landuse, etc. can be created as
per the requirements of the project and purpose of the case study.

➢ The last step is to create a GIS import file for HEC-RAS so that it can import the GIS data
to create the geometry file. Before creating an import file, make sure we are exporting the
right layers. Click on RAS Geometry Layer Setup, and verify the layers in each tab. The
required surface tab should have tin for single Terrain option.

➢ The Required Layers tab should have River, XSCutLines and XSCutLines3D for Stream
Centerline, XSCutLines and XSCut Lines Profiles, respectively.

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 ➢ In the Optional Layers tab, make sure the layers that are empty are set to Null.

➢ Finally, verify the tables and Click OK.

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 ➢ After verifying all layers and tables, click on RAS Geometry > Export GIS Data.

➢ Confirm the location and the name of the export file (GIS2RAS in this case), and click OK.
This process will create two files: GIS2RAS.xml and GIS2RAS.RASImport.sdf. Click
OK on the series of messages about computing times. You are done exporting the GIS data!
The next step is to import these data into a HEC-RAS model.
➢ Save the map document.

Importing Geometry data into HEC-RAS

➢ Launch HEC-RAS by clicking on Start Programs > HEC HEC-RAS > HEC-RAS 4.X.

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 ➢ Save the new project by going to File > Save Project > Title: Processing GIS data and
save as File
Name: simulation.prj in your working folder and click ok.

➢ To import the GIS data into HEC-RAS, first go to geometric data editor by clicking on
Edit Geometric Data. In the geometric data editor, Click on File Import Geometry Data
> GIS
Format.

➢ Browse to GIS2RAS.RASImport.sdf file created in GIS, and click OK. In the Intro tab,
confirm SI Units for Import data as and click Next.

➢ Confirm the River/Reach data, make sure all

import stream lines boxes are checked, and click
Next.

➢ Confirm cross-sections data, make sure all Import Data boxes are checked for cross-
sections, and click OK (accept default values for matching tolerance, round places, etc).
Since we do not have Storage areas, click Finished-Import Data. The data will then be
imported to the HEC-RAS geometric editor as shown below:

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 ➢ Save the geometry file by clicking File > Save Geometry Data.
➢ To perform a quality check, In the geometric editor, go to Tools > Graphical Cross-section
Edit.

➢ Also, To avoid redundant points that might have existed when we extracted cross-sections
from a terrain using HEC-GeoRAS, we can use the cross-section filter in HEC-RAS.
➢ For this, Go to Geometric data editor, click on Tools >Cross Section Points Filter. You
can filter it by 2 ways: (i) Multiple Locations tab and (ii) Single Location tab

As an example, In the Cross Section Point Filter, select the Multiple Locations tab. From the
River drop down menu, select (All Rivers) option, and click on the select arrow button to select
all cross-sections for all reaches. Then select the Minimize Area Change tab at the bottom, and
enter 250 for the number of points to trim cross-sections down to. The minimize area change will
reduce the impact of change in cross-sectional area as a result of points removal. Click Filter
Points on Selected XS button. You will get a summary of number of points removed for the

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filtered cross-sections. Also, try it with Single Location tab to see the effect of points removal on
cross-sections.

You will get a summary of number of points removed for the filtered cross-sections. You will
notice that only a few cross-sections had points removal. Close the summary results box. You can
select the Single Location tab to see the effect of points removal on the cross-sections.

Entering Flow Data and Boundary Conditions

Flows are typically defined at the most upstream location of each river/tributary, and at junctions.
Also, you might need to define flows at different locations as per the field requirement. Each flow
that needs to be simulated is called a profile in HEC-RAS. The discharge values obtained from
HecGeoHMS are normally used as flow values. For this exercise, we will create 5 hypothetical
profiles.

Now proceed for the discharge input. Click edit /steady flow data as shown below in the main
application window of Hec-RAS.

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Let’s Create Profiles for 50 years.

➢ In the main HEC-RAS window, Enter 1 for number of profiles, and click Apply Data. To
change the profile name, Go to Option and Click Edit Profile Names.
➢

River Reach RS 50 yr
1 rate upper 42861.75 317.14
2 rate upper 32179.09 628.61
3 rate upper 19775.56 984.73
4 rate upper 14502.21 1208.99
5 rate upper 5171.314 1481.12

➢ For this, click on Flow Change location, Click on Add Multiple tab and select the
concerned River Station and Click OK.

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 ➢ The flow conditions defined in the above window are upstream conditions. To define
downstream boundary, click on Reach Boundary Conditions. Then select Downstream,
click on suitable boundary condition; let’s choose Critical Depth for this case.

➢ Click OK. Then, on Steady Flow Data Window, Click on Apply Data.
➢ Save the flow data (give suitable title; here we choose flow), and close the Steady Flow
editor. Now we are ready to run HEC-RAS!

Running HEC-RAS

➢ In the main HEC-RAS window, click on Run > Steady Flow Analysis.

➢ Select the suitable Flow Regime; lets select Mixed critical Flow Regime here, and
click on the COMPUTE button. If everything goes fine, following window appears:

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 ➢ After successful simulation, close this window and the steady flow window.
➢ Now, you can play with the different tools to see the changes after entering flow data

The cross section now appears as:

You’ll find changes on using other tools as well. We will now export HEC-RAS results to ArcGIS
to view the inundation extent.

Exporing HEC-RAS Output

➢ To export the data to ArcGIS click on File Export GIS Data in the main HEC-RAS

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 window.
➢ Click on Select Profiles to Export button, and choose the profile you want to export. Also
make sure that you choose required stuffs
➢ ; In cross section Surface Lines, Choose both User defined cross section and
Interpolated cross section with entire cross section selected. In additional layers,
choose the layers you need later for analysis:

➢ Click on Export Data button, which will create a SDF file in your working directory.
➢ Save the HEC-RAS project and exit. We will now return to ArcMap to create a flood
inundation map.

Flood inundation mapping

➢ In ArcMap, open new map, On the HecGeoRAS toolbar, Click on Import RAS SDF file
button to convert the SDF file into an XML file.
➢ In the Convert RAS Output ASCII File to XML window, browse to
hec_processing.RASexport.sdf, and click OK. The XML file will be saved with the input
file name in the same folder with an xml extension.

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 ➢ Now click on RAS Mapping Layer Setup to open the post processing layer menu as
shown below:

➢ In the layer setup for post-processing, first select the New Analysis option, and name the
new analysis as Visualization of Flood Inundation.
➢ Browse to hec_processing.RASexport.xml for RAS GIS Export File.
➢ Select the Single Terrain Type, and browse to TIN1.
➢ Browse to your working folder for Output Directory. HEC-GeoRAS will create a
geodatabase with the analysis name (Visualization of Flood Inundation) in your output
directory.
➢ For Rasterization Cell Size, smaller the map units, better is the output. Let’s try with 20,
see the results and again do it with 1 and check it.
➢ On clicking OK, a new map (data frame) with the analysis name (Visualization of Flood
Inundation) will be added to ArcMap with the terrain data. At this stage the terrain TIN
(TIN1) is also converted to a digital elevation model (DEM) and saved in the working folder
(Visualization of Flood Inundation) as dtmgrid. The cell size of dtmgrid is equal to the
Rasterization Cell Size you chose in the layer setup window.

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 ➢ Then, click on RAS Mapping > Import RAS Data. This will create a bounding polygon,
which defines the analysis extent for inundation mapping, by connecting the endpoints of
XS Cut Lines.

Also, other layers are added:

➢ After the analysis extent is defined, we are ready to map the inundation extent. Click
on RAS Mapping > Inundation Mapping >Water Surface Generation. Select all
the profiles, and click OK.

➢ This will create a surface with water surface elevation for the selected profile as

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 ➢ The TIN (tRP) that is created in this step will define a zone that will connect the outer
points of the bounding polygon, which means the TIN will include area outside the
possible inundation.

➢ At this point we have a water surface (tRP) TIN, and we have an underlying terrain
(TIN1 and dtmgrid). Now we will subtract the terrain (dtmgrid) from the water
surface TIN, by first converting the water surface TIN to a grid.
➢ Click on RAS Mapping >Inundation Mapping > Floodplain Delineation. Now,
select the profile with which you want to delineate the flood inundation, and click
OK.

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 ➢ At this stage, the water surface TIN (tRP2) is first converted to a GRID, and then
dtmgrid is subtracted from the water surface grid. The area with positive results
(meaning water surface is higher than the terrain) is flood area, and the area with
negative results is dry. All the cells in water surface grid that result in positive values
after subtraction are converted to a polygon, which is the final flood inundation
polygon.
➢ It processes the data and shows the message box showing all the operations involved
as:

➢ As the final output, a depth raster and the inundation polygon is created as:

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 ➢ Save the ArcMap document. Congratulations, you have successfully finished the
HEC-GeoRAStutorial! Remember that, the refinement of flood inundation results to
create a hydraulically correct output is an iterative process requiring several
iterations between GIS and HEC-RAS. And, the ability to judge the quality of terrain
and flood inundation polygon comes with the knowledge of the study area and
experience.

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