Hydraflow & ICPR

[matt015]

My company is looking at doing more pond routing and simulations. I was given a report created using the latest version of ICPR V3 and tasked with duplicating the results with Hydraflow. The report had multiple, more than 2, interconnected ponds and at least 30 nodes with pipes and channels. Hydraflow only allows you to interconnect ponds in pairs. When I modeled the interconnected ponds, I connected them in series with the last pond in the model linked to the first. After inputting the data used in the report I was unable to duplicate the results.

Would it be possible to duplicate the results of a report prepared by ICPR V3 or HydroCAD with Hydraflow Hydrographs? Is Hydraflow a FEMA approved hydraulic model?

 

[froude]

Matt,

I can't speak towards the modeling...however the following link contains hydraulic modeling software accepted as part of the NFIP. Hydraflow is not listed.

[URL unfurl="true"]http://www.fema.gov/plan/prevent/fhm/en_hydra.shtm[/url]

 

[beej67]

My experience is it's flat impossible to do what ICPR does in Hydraflow, unless Hydraflow has changed recently. As far as I'm aware, Hydraflow only allows fixed tailwater on an outlet control device, and it routes everything sequentially instead of simultaneously, so none of the upstream ponds know anything about what's happening downstream of them. It's as if each pond were on a hill, with water falling through space into the next pond.

Hydraflow is not FEMA approved, although its results from runoff nodes should be accurate enough to plug in to HEC-RAS. Just don't try to do any hydraulics or time series routing that might involve tailwater.

If I were you I'd fork over the cash for an ICPR license. If you're looking for a cheaper solution, HydroCAD (Peter Smart's software, look a couple forums down the list) looks a bit like Hydraflow in its input and output, and does dynamic tailwater fairly well unless you really push it. You can also always grab a copy of EPA-SWMM for free and use that, although it's interface is considerably more complex.

You have to be very careful with dynamic models. They tend to explode if you don't massage them properly. ICPR is known to be pretty robust.



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