iRIC Software

Changing River Science

River2D Tutorials

iRIC Software
Changing River Science

River2D Tutorial 1

Confluence of the Colorado River, Blue River and Indian Creek, Colorado, USA

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River2D Tutorial 1

TUTORIAL 1: RIVER2D STEADY SOLUTION OF THE CONFLUENCE OF THE

COLORADO AND BLUE RIVERS
This tutorial employs data collected at the confluence of the Colorado and Blue Rivers near
Kremmling, CO. An aerial overview of the area of interest is shown below. This tutorial explores
the basic functionality of iRIC for unstructured grids using the River2D solver. In this tutorial you
will import data including topography, measured water-surface elevations, and a Background
image. You will build a unstructured grid and apply boundary conditions to the grid. You will
initialize and run the model and visualize the results.

Flow direction

Area of interest
Colorado River

Blue River

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Contents

TUTORIAL 1: RIVER2D STEADY SOLUTION OF THE CONFLUENCE OF THE COLORADO AND BLUE
RIVERS .............................................................................................................................................. 2
1. Getting Started .......................................................................................................................... 4
2. Preparing Bathymetric Data ...................................................................................................... 4
3. Creating the Computational Mesh ............................................................................................. 6
4. Defining Inflow and Outflow Boundaries .................................................................................. 10
5. Bed Resistance Model............................................................................................................. 14
6. Running the Model .................................................................................................................. 15
7. Visualization of Results ........................................................................................................... 17
8. Refining the Solution ............................................................................................................... 18

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1. Getting Started
iRICs basic concepts and terminology can be found in the FaSTMECH solver Tutorial 1 and it is
assumed you have already completed that tutorial for a basic understanding of how to import
data, build grids, run the solver and visualize the results.

2. Preparing Bathymetric Data

Start iRIC with a new project and select River2D in the Select Solver window. In the first step we
are interested in importing the bathymetric and topographic information into iRIC, which is located
in file CB_topo.tpo.
Use command Import | Geographic Data | Elevation from the main menu bar and
select file CB_topo.tpo to load the topographic information. Remember that the file has
extension .tpo, which must be set appropriately in the filter of the Select file to import
window.
Leave the Filtering Setting to 1 (Fig. 2.1) and click Ok. A TIN will be created for the loaded data.
and
(recall that
After some zooming to the area of interest with the main toolbar tools
zooming in and out can also be accomplished by rotating the mouse wheel), the results look as
shown in Fig. 2.2.

Figure 2.1
In this tutorial, the visual feedback to build the SToRM simulation will be given by a georeferenced image, which is located in file CB_aphoto.jpg.

Load the image into iRIC using the command Import | Background Image from the
main menu bar and selecting file CB_aphoto.jpg.

The area of interest for this tutorial is the immediate neighborhood of the confluence of
the two rivers. Pan and zoom to the area of interest to maximize the useful area of the
canvas. iRIC should look like Fig. 2.3.

It is now a good time to save your work

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Figure 2.2

Figure 2.3

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3. Creating the Computational Mesh

The first stage in the preparation of a River2D run consists in defining the computational domain
and grid. River2D uses an unstructured type of computational grid based on triangles, therefore
set the grid to unstructured mesh:
Use command Grid | Select Algorithm to Create Grid to select Create grid from
polygonal shape. Click OK.
The computational domain is defined by a polygon that encompasses the area of interest.
Define it by left-clicking the mouse at the desired polygon vertices. Double-click the last
point or press <Enter> to finish the polygon. In this example we are interested in the
region in close proximity to the confluence of the two rivers. Use Fig. 3.1 to guide you to
create the mesh polygon.
It is possible to edit (delete and add) and change the location of the vertices of the grid polygon.
To accomplish these operations do the following:
Left click on Grid Creating Condition in the Object Browser window. This will activate
. Next, in the graphics view
the editing menu bar
use the mouse to left click on the polygon you just created. This activates the polygon and
its vertices appear as black squares.
The mouse can now grab individual vertices: when left clicking the vertex, the cursor
changes from an open hand shape to a closed hand shape, which means it is grabbing
in
that vertex. After any action you can undo you move by selecting the undo button
the Main Toolbar. Select a vertex and move the mouse without releasing the left button
and the vertex will move with it. Release the mouse button at the desired new vertex
location. This process is depicted in Fig. 3.2, where the cursor is placed near a vertex and
takes the shape of an open hand (Fig. 3.2, left), then the mouse is clicked and the vertex
is moved (Fig. 3.2, right).
Grabbing near or on top of a vertex moves the vertex; grabbing the frame moves the
entire polygon to a new location.
button, then left click
New vertices can be added to the grid polygon: left click on the
on the desired location for the new vertex. This location must be on the polygon, and not
inside or outside of it.
Similarly, and existing vertex can be deleted from the polygon: left click on the
then left click on the vertex to be deleted.
The above operations can be undone using the undo button

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button,

in the main toolbar.

Figure 3.1

Figure 3.2
In iRIC, the computational grid is generated automatically by a triangulation program that uses
quality constraints specified by the user. To start the automatic mesh generator:

Right-click on Grid [No Data] in the Pre-processing Window and select Create grid
in the pop-up menu.

The geometric constraints required by the mesh generator are specified in the pop-up window
that appears. They relate to mesh quality: minimum internal angle and maximum area of the
triangles, and are shown in Fig. 3.3. The first constraint avoids stretched triangles with poor
2
interpolating properties. The second constraint defines their maximum size, in area (m ) (the
mesh generator sets the triangles size based on boundary conditions, on mesh smoothness, and
on the quality requirements just defined). It is desirable to create a mesh with the appropriate
density: too many triangles and the run takes too long, too few and the flow is under-resolved.
The triangles area is the parameter used by the mesh generator to control the density of the grid.
Both constraints are used in this tutorial, as indicated by the checkmarks in the respective check
boxes, as shown in Fig. 3.3. The triangle area can be set by trial-and-error, until visual inspection
indicates a good distribution of points in the computational grid.

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Figure 3.3
The mesh generator runs and a pop-up window that allows the user to map the geographic data
to the grid. Click Yes to continue. The result is shown in Fig. 3.4. Note the new name for the grid
in the Object Browser window: Grid (3144). This indicates the number of elements used in this
mesh.

Figure 3.4
We can visualize the bed elevation mapped to the grid by checking Grid (3144) | Node
attributes | Elevation in the Object Browser window. This is shown in Fig. 3.5, which was
obtained after changing the default color pattern used. Changes to the color map are
accomplished in the Grid Node Attribute Display Setting window, which can be reached by
right clicking the mouse on Grid (3144) | Node attributes | Elevation and selecting Property in
the pop-up menu. The particular numerical values corresponding to the colorization scheme
chosen are presented in Fig. 3.6.

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Figure 3.5

Figure 3.6
Finally, note that the grid must be generated anew every time that the grid polygon is changed.
This is a good point to save your work (File | Save or File | Save As). Remember to save
often.

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4. Defining Inflow and Outflow Boundaries

The next step involves the definition of the inflow and outflow boundaries. In subcritical flow, the
flow velocity is always specified at the inflow boundaries (i.e., the upstream-most cross sections)
and the stage at the outflow boundaries (the downstream-most cross sections). There can be any
number of inflow and/or outflow boundaries. Each boundary is defined by specifying a string of
adjacent nodes located on the grids bounding polygon.
In this example, there are Three inflow boundaries at the right, and one outflow boundary at the
left of the computational domain of Fig. 3.5. Flow is from right to left (i.e., from East to West). This
section describes all the steps involved in defining the inflow boundaries and their associated
parameters. It may be convenient to zoom in to the appropriate area of the domain to have a
more detailed view of the mesh. The first inflow boundary is the inflow of the Colorado River.

Zoom in the area of interest in the mesh boundary.

Right-click on Boundary Condition item in the Pre-processing Window and select Add
Inflow Condition in the pop-up window.

Assign the inflow condition a name and click Ok. Here, we use Colorado (Fig. 4.1).

In this case we will be using a Fixed Discharge of 10 m /s.

There are two methods for selecting the boundary condition nodes:

1. Left-click on the first node and then holding the Shift key to select the remaining
nodes belonging to the outflow boundary. Do not skip nodes and select the
nodes in order. When finished, right click the mouse in the Graphics View and
select Assign condition from the pop-up menu. The defined inflow boundary is
shown in Fig. 4.2.
2. Use Ctrl + Left-Mouse Button to rotate the view such that the boundary is
perpendicular to the horizontal or vertical direction and then select the boundary
nodes by using the mouse to left click and drag a rectangle surrounding the
boundary nodes only. When finished, right click the mouse in the Graphics View
and select Assign condition from the pop-up menu. The defined inflow
in the
boundary is shown in Fig. 4.2. You can reorient the view by selecting
Main toolbar.

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Figure 4.1

Figure 4.2
Note that a new entry can be found in the Object Browser, under the Boundary Condition item.
Each boundary will have a similar entry, with the name designated by the user. Repeat the same
steps to define the second and third inflow boundaries for the Blue River and Indian Creek. Use
3
3
the values shown in Fig. 4.3, i.e., use Q = 20 m /s for the Blue River and Q = 1 m /s for Indian
Creek. The result is shown in Fig. 4.4.

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Figure 4.3

Figure 4.4
For each inflow boundary condition a synthetic flow velocity field is then generated with velocity
vectors that are perpendicular to the string. Due to the artificial nature of this velocity distribution,
it is recommended that inflow boundaries should be placed away from areas of interest, where
accurate solutions are sought. When possible, these boundaries should be constructed by
placing the string of nodes perpendicularly to the channel centerline and away from curved flow
areas and recirculation zones whenever possible.

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It is also necessary to define the outflow boundaries. Each outflow boundary is the set of nodes
that defines a downstream-most cross section of the modeled reach, where the flow exits the
area being modeled. Outflow boundaries are defined following the same steps carried out when
defining the inflow boundaries.

Pan and/or zoom to the area where the boundary is located.

Right-click on Boundary Condition item in the Pre-processing Window and select Add
Outflow Condition in the pop-up window.

Assign the outflow condition a name, here we use Outflow (Fig. 4.5).

Enter the Fixed Elevation for the water surface elevation and click Ok. In this example,
only one value is entered (Stage = 219.01 m in Fig. 4.5).

Left-click on the nodes belonging to the outflow boundary without skipping any. When
finished, right click the mouse and select Assign boundary condition from the pop-up
menu. The defined inflow boundary is shown in Fig. 4.6.

Figure 4.5

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Figure 4.6
Sometimes, it is easy to make an error creating a boundary-node string. Any string can be
deleted by right-clicking on its name and selecting Delete in the corresponding pop-up menu.
Similarly to what was recommended for the inflow boundary, the outflow boundary nodes should
form a line perpendicular to the channel centerline, away from recirculation areas, and far
downstream from the areas of interest in the study.
Save your work.

5. Bed Resistance Model

River2D uses a non-dimensional Chezy coefficient to close the stress terms. The Chezy coefficient (Cs)is
related to the effective roughness height ks as follows:

Cs = 5.75log[12*(H/ks)]
Where flow resistance is due primarily to bed material roughness, a good starting point for ks is 1-3 times
the largest grain diameter. However, final values of roughness should be calibrated to measured water
surface elevations. In iRIC roughness can be set by drawing polygons (sometimes called coverage
polygons) over the areas of interest. Follow these steps to set the roughness:

In the Pre-processing Window, under Geographic Data right-click on Roughness and

select Add and Polygon in the respective pop-up menus.
Draw a polygon covering the entire computational grid. Finish by double-clicking the last
node of the polygon (or by pressing <Enter>). The polygon may look like what is shown in
Fig. 5.1.
Enter the value of the roughness, as in Fig. 5.2.

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Map the roughness values to the computational grid by selecting from the Menu Bar Grid
| Attributes Mapping | Execute.

Figure 5.1

Figure 5.2
Only one coverage polygon is used in this example, but multiple polygons can be defined, each
covering only some part of the computational grid. A roughness value must be given for each
polygon, and all the grid nodes within that polygon will have the ks -value thus assigned.

6. Running the Model

The River2D solver uses a set of parameters that must be specified by the user. These
parameters concern the selection of the desired numerical techniques used in computing the flow
solutions. This selection is accomplished in a series of entry screens described in this section.
Model parameters are defined in the Calculation Condition window. In iRICs menu bar, select
Calculation Condition | Setting to open the Calculation Condition window. Different groups
of parameters can be defined by selecting the appropriate name on the left column. Enter the

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parameters as shown in Figure 6.1. More information on each variable can be found in the
River2D.pdf document.

D
Figure 6.1
After the data preparation, River2D is run by clicking the run button ( ) on the main toolbar. A
window pops-up (see Fig. 6.2) where the progress of the computation can be followed. At each
iteration the following information is given:
Current Time: the current time in seconds since the start of the calculation
Time Difference: The time step used in the current iteration.
Solution Change: The relative change in solution variables over the last time step.
Total Inflow: Sum of all the inflow boundary conditions
Total Outflow: Flow at the outflow boundary condition.
This example takes approximately 10 minutes to run in an average desktop computer.

Figure 6.2
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in the main
A model run can be stopped while in progress. This is done by clicking on button
toolbar and clicking on Yes when prompted by the Confirm Solver Termination window.

7. Visualization of Results
After the computations are completed, a visualization window can be open by issuing the
command Calculation Result | Open new 2D post-processing window or by clicking on the
button in the main toolbar. Different quantities can be plotted by activating them in the left window
pane called Object Browser. Figs. 7.1 through 7.3 show the results of this simulation: the water
depth and computational grid in Fig 7.1; the velocity vectors and magnitude in Fig. 7.2; then the
water surface elevation, and finally water depth. Only wetted computational cells are displayed.
Save the project.

Figure 7.1

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Figure 7.2

Figure 7.3

8. Refining the Solution

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iRIC contains tools that allow the computational mesh to be easily refined and/or coarsened. A
mesh is refined when the new mesh uses smaller triangles than the original, and coarsened when
larger triangles are used. Refinement and coarsening of the computational grid is done
selectively, i.e., the mesh is refined and/or coarsened only in selected areas of the domain.
Selective refinement may be advantageous when only a small part of the reach needs a fine
mesh, while the solution for the remainder of the reach can be obtained by the use of a larger
mesh. Areas where finer grids are needed are areas where the variables (water and/or flow
velocity) change rapidly, such as in recirculation areas behind obstacles, around the tip of groins
or other salient features, etc. Using selective refinement is a good way to avoid having too many
grid triangles where a few are enough, this reducing the total number of computational points,
resulting in increased computational efficiency (i.e., River2D runs faster).
Areas of mesh refinement and coarsening are created by defining polygons within the main mesh
area. For this tutorial, we are interested in refining the solution in a small area at the confluence of
the Blue and Colorado rivers. The refinement polygon is created in the same manner as when
creating the main computational grid polygon.

Before beginning save the project with a new name from the Menu Bar using File | Save
As.
Left-click on Grid Creating Condition on the Object Browser of the Pre-processing
.
Window. This will bring up a toolbar:
to create a refinement polygon as shown in Fig. 8.1. Click <Return> (or
Use button
double-click the last point) when completed.

Figure 8.1
2

When asked by the Refinement maximum area window, use a maximum triangle area of 5 m
for this newly defined region and enter it in the pop-up window. Rebuild the mesh as before: rightclick on Grid (in the Object Browser panel) and select Create Grid from the pop-up menu. For
the main grid, use the same parameters as those chosen earlier (Fig. 3.3). The resulting mesh is
shown in Fig. 8.2. After the mesh is created:

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Map attributes to the new grid: Grid | Attributes Mapping | Execute from the main
menu.
The inflow and outflow boundaries need to be redefined. Re-do the steps described in
section 4 titled Defining Inflow and Outflow Boundaries.

Fig. 8.2 shows the completed mesh, colorized by bed elevation and with the new boundary node
strings. This new mesh has 4316 nodes.

Figure 8.2
button in the main
Open a post-processing visualization window to view the results using the
toolbar (or the pull-down menu Calculation Result | Open new 2D post-processing window in
the main menu bar). Create a pair of figures to compare the solution between the Refined Grid
and Unrefined Grid as follows:

Create a figure of the velocity magnitude as shown in Figure 8.3A by using the Save
Snapshot from the File menu or from the Main Menu toolbar.
Open the previous project with the unrefined grid and create a similar figure as shown in
Figure 8.3B.
Insert the figures into a document and note the differences.

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B
Figure 8.3

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