SMS SRH-2D SedimentTransport
SMS SRH-2D SedimentTransport
SMS SRH-2D SedimentTransport
SMS v. 12.2
SRH-2D Tutorial
Sediment Transport Modeling
Objectives
This tutorial demonstrates how to perform sediment transport simulations in SRH-2D.
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1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 2
1.1 Background...................................................................................................................... 3
2 Getting Started....................................................................................................................... 3
3 Boundary Conditions ............................................................................................................ 4
3.1 Creating the Boundary Condition Coverage .................................................................... 4
3.2 Assigning the Boundary Conditions ................................................................................ 7
3.3 Assigning Monitor Lines ................................................................................................. 8
4 Assigning Monitor Points ...................................................................................................... 9
5 Assigning Sediment Material Properties ........................................................................... 11
6 Defining the SRH-2D Simulation ....................................................................................... 13
6.1 Linking Components ..................................................................................................... 14
6.2 Assigning SRH-2D Parameters ..................................................................................... 14
6.3 Model Check ................................................................................................................. 15
6.4 Running SRH-2D .......................................................................................................... 15
6.5 Viewing SRH-2D Output .............................................................................................. 16
7 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 19
1 Introduction
The Sedimentation and River Hydraulics Two-Dimensional (SRH-2D) model is a
hydraulic, sediment, temperature, and vegetation model for river systems developed by
the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) and sponsored by the United States
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).
Sediment Transport modeling is an advanced topic. This tutorial assumes that the user is
knowledgeable and experienced with the SMS interface and the SRH-2D hydraulic
model. Furthermore, this tutorial demonstrates how to set up and run a sediment transport
simulation in SRH-2D with SMS, but does not provide background on sediment transport
theory or the analysis methodology.
Users should have proper training in sediment transport theory before performing and
relying on sediment transport simulations. Some guidance is provided in the SRH-2D
articles in the SMS documentation (http://www.xmswiki.com/wiki/SMS:SRH-2D). but
this is not considered as comprehensive or sufficient for proper training. Refer to
Hydraulic Series 6 1 and other sediment transport texts for additional background.
For this tutorial, a previously developed SRH-2D hydraulic simulation is extended to
include sediment transport simulations. The primary interest for FHWA is in relation to
bridge scour, and SRH-2D sediment transport simulations can be very informative for
estimating contraction scour, which is essentially an erosion and sediment transport
problem. SRH-2D also provides detailed hydraulic output that can be used to estimate
pier and abutment scour potential.
1
Richardson, E.V., Simons, D.B. and Lagasse, P.F., 2001. River engineering for highway encroachments-
highways in the river environment, Federal Highway Administration, Hydraulic Series No. 6, Washington,
DC. Publication NHI-01004.
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1.1 Background
The Cimarron River example from the SMS SRH-2D overview tutorial was modified for
use in this tutorial. The modifications included converting the model to U.S. Customary
units and adjusting the material types to provide additional detail in the overbank areas.
Further modifications included adjusting the flow, up- and downstream boundary
conditions and restart file to represent the 50-year peak flow event. The 50-year flood
discharge was selected because it comes close to overtopping the road, although a road
overtopping discharge could also have been selected.
The Cimarron River hydraulic model is well suited for sediment transport analysis
because the level of detail in the channel and floodplains is good without being too
refined. The number of elements (approximately 28,000) is well within the target for
SRH-2D sediment transport simulations (targeting less than 30,000 elements and upper
limit of generally less than 40,000 elements). Run times for sediment transport
simulations can be extremely long, so limiting the number of elements is necessary and
excessively large networks may not even run as sediment transport simulations.
Hydraulic models with more than 40,000 elements may need to be reconfigured for fewer
elements while still maintaining an adequate representation of the channel and floodplain.
This tutorial will cover defining sediment parameters and properties including sediment
material types, boundary conditions, transport equation, and other input parameters. This
tutorial is for instruction purposes and is not intended as an analysis of actual conditions
at this bridge crossing.
2 Getting Started
To start this tutorial:
1. Launch the SMS application.
2. Select File | Open to bring up the Open dialog.
3. Browse to the file Cimarron_Sed.sms located in the data files folder for this
tutorial.
4. Click Open to import the project file and close the Open dialog.
This file opens the existing hydraulic model as shown in Figure 1. The project includes
results from a hydraulic run of the 50-year recurrence flood condition, which is used as a
restart condition for the sediment transport run. This project will be modified to perform
sediment transport simulations.
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3 Boundary Conditions
Boundary conditions force certain hydrodynamic conditions and sediment transport rates
onto the model. For this model, an inflow water and sediment boundary conditions will
be specified at the upstream boundary and a water-surface elevation will be specified at
the downstream boundary.
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Note: The maximum number of bin sizes in SRH-2D is nine; the more bin sizes,
the longer the simulation time. The smallest bin size (0.0025 to 0.0625 mm in
this case) can be used for cohesive sediment transport modeling. This will be
demonstrated in another tutorial.
There are seven sediment transport equations available including Engelund-Hansen
(1972), Meyer-Peter Mller (1948), Parker (1990), Wilcock-Crowe (2003), Wu et al.
(2000), Yang (1973) Sand with Yang (1984) Gravel, and Yang (1979) Sand with Yang
(1984) Gravel. In addition, there is a mixed option, where the user can specify a Sediment
Size Class Cutoff and two sediment transport equations. One equation applies to sediment
sizes less than the Sediment Size Class Cutoff, and the other equation applies to sediment
sizes greater.
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11. For this example, leave the transport equation and parameters at the defaults:
a. Sediment Transport Equation set to Engelund-Hansen.
b. Water Temperature to 12 (degrees Celsius).
c. Adaption Coefficients for Suspended Load2 to:
Deposition Coefficient to 0.25.
Erosion Coefficient to 1.
There are five methods available for setting the Adaption Length for Bedload Transport,
including the Constant Length, Phillips-Sutherland Saltation Length Formula, Van
Rijn Sand Dune Formula, Van Rijn Saltation Length Formula, and the Seminar et al.
(2002) Formula. The SRH-2D pre-processor provides the following guidelines:
Constant Length is recommended for gravel bed rivers (Length=1 to 5 channel widths),
the Phillips-Sutherland Saltation Length Formula is recommended for sandy bed rivers.
12. Set Mode, under Adaption Length for Bedload Transport, to Phillips-Sutherland
Saltation Length Formula.
There are two methods to set the Active Layer Thickness of the surface layer: Constant
Thickness and Thickness Based on D90. The SRH-2D pre-processor provides the
following guidelines for the Thickness Based on D90 method: Set the thickness scale
from 1 to 3 times the D90 for gravels, 5 to 14 for sands.
13. Set the Mode under Active Layer Thickness Specification to Thickness based on
D90 and set the Thickness/Thickness Scale to 10. (These are defaults.)
14. Leave the Cohesive Sediment Modeling option set to Off.
The BC Type Parameters dialog should look like Figure 2.
15. Click OK to close the BC Type Parameters dialog.
2
For more information on the adaption coefficients, see:
Greimann, B., Lai, Y. and Huang, J., 2008. Two-dimensional total sediment load model equations. Journal
of Hydraulic Engineering, 134(8), pp.1142-1146.
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sediment load coming in to the model must be defined since this was not part of the
hydraulic simulation. This tutorial will use the Capacity option to estimate the sediment
load at the upstream boundary.
To assign boundary conditions at the upstream boundary:
1. Click on BC_Sed under Map Data in the Project Explorer to make it
active.
2. Using the Select Feature Arc tool, double-click on the arc on the left
(upstream) side. This will open the SRH-2D Linear BC dialog. Since this
boundary condition was copied from the hydraulic simulation, the hydraulic
parameters should already be:
a. Type set to Inlet-Q (subcritical inflow)
b. Discharge (Q) to Constant.
c. Constant Q to 178208 (ft3/s).
d. Constant Q flow unit to cfs.
e. Distribution at Inlet to Conveyance.
3. Under Sediment Inflow, leave the setting as Capacity which is the default
option.
4. Click OK to exit the SRH-2D Linear BC dialog.
To verify the boundary conditions at the downstream boundary:
1. Using the Select Feature Arc tool, double-click on the arc on the right
(downstream) side to bring up the SRH-2D Linear BC dialog. The values should
be:
a. Type set to Exit-H (subcritical outflow).
b. Water Elevation (WSE) to Constant.
c. Constant WSE unit to Feet.
d. Constant WSE to 896 feet.
2. When done, click OK to exit the SRH-2D Linear BC dialog.
3. Save (Ctrl + S) the project.
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when the model reaches steady state conditions. For example, by comparing the predicted
water-surface elevations over time and at various locations along the reach, the user can
determine when the water-surface elevation reaches a steady state condition.
The monitor lines are specified in the BC_Sed map coverage. For this example,
three of the four monitor lines existed in the hydraulic simulation and were copied when
the BC_Sed coverage was created from the BC_Flow coverage. Monitor lines
already exist across the channel near the up- and downstream boundary conditions, and
across the main channel near the bridge opening.
Assign the fourth monitor line that extends across the opening of the secondary bridge by
doing the following:
1. Select the BC_Sed coverage to make it active.
2. Using the Create Feature Arc tool, create an acre near the secondary bridge
as showing in Figure 3.
SMS will automatically assign the feature arc as a monitor line.
Figure 3 The location of the Inlet-Q and Exit-H boundary conditions and the four monitor
lines
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place a monitor points in the main channel near the upstream boundary and near the
downstream boundaries.
The hydraulic output for the monitor points is reported in the *_PT#.DAT file and the
sediment output is reported in the *_PT#_SED.DAT file, where * represents the run
name and # is the monitor point number.
To create monitor points:
1. Click on the Vel_Mag_ft_p_s dataset to make it active. The display will update
to show the velocity contours.
2. Right-click on Map Data and select New Coverage to open the New
Coverage dialog.
3. Select Models | SRH-2D | Monitor Points for the Coverage Type. Keep the
default Coverage Name as Monitor Points.
4. Click OK to close the New Coverage dialog and create a new coverage.
5. Select the Monitor Points coverage to make it active.
6. Using the Create Feature Point tool, place five monitor points in this model
at the following location as show in Figure 4:
one in the main channel slightly to the right of the upstream boundary
one point slightly to the left of the downstream boundary,
one point in the high velocity area in the main bridge
two points in the high velocity areas near the ends of the relief bridge
The points in the bridges are expected to have significant scour potential.
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11. Click OK to close the XY Series Editor to return to the Assign Material
Properties dialog.
12. Now add a second layer to the Channel by clicking the Insert Below button.
SRH-2D guidance indicates that a minimum of two layers is recommended even if the
bed material is vertically uniform. The top layer interacts with the sediment in the water
column and is part of the active layer used for computing sediment transport. A zero-
thickness layer can also be specified to set the area as non-erodible.
13. In the new row, set Thickness to 20 (ft), Units to English, and Density to
100 (lb/ft3).
14. Click on the Define button under Gradation Curve to bring up the XY Series
Editor.
15. Enter the same sediment gradation parameters as shown in Table 2. (Note: the
values can be copied to the clipboard using Ctrl-V when looking at the curve
defined in step 10 above. They can then be pasted into this layer since they are
the same.)
16. Click OK to close the XY Series Editor.
17. Click OK to close the Assign Material Properties dialog.
Also apply the Channel material properties to the area at the secondary bridge opening.
18. Using the Select Feature Polygon tool, double-click on the area at the
secondary bridge opening to bring up the Assign Material Properties dialog.
19. Select the Channel material to assign it to the polygon.
20. Click OK to close the Assign Material Properties dialog.
Now assign the remaining areas a non-erodible material type; these areas can be assigned
individually or all at once. To assign individually:
21. Using the Select Feature Polygon tool, double-click on any polygon other
than the main channel or the area near the secondary bridge to bring up the
Assign Material Properties dialog.
22. Click the button to create a new material.
23. Double-click on new material and rename it to Non-Erodible.
24. Click OK to close the Assign Material Properties dialog. Notice only the
selected polygon has assigned material properties as the Non-Erodible.
To assign Non-Erodible to all the remaining polygons at once:
25. Using the Select Feature Polygon tool, select the channel polygon.
26. Hold the Shift key and select the other erodible area in the secondary opening.
27. Right-click and select Invert Selection. This selects all polygons except the two
specified as erodible.
28. Right-click and select Assign Material Properties to open the Assign Material
Propertied dialog.
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29. Select Non-Erodible as the material for all of the remaining polygons.
30. Click OK to close the Assign Material Properties dialog.
Figure 5 shows the two assigned material zones in the sediment materials coverage. The
light brown color represents the channel areas and the aqua color represents the non-
erodible areas.
Note: Sediment a gradation could be assigned to the non-erodible material with a
very small thickness (such as 0.1 ft). The capacity upstream sediment load (see
Section 3.2) would calculate a load for the overbank portion, but would not be
able to erode more than 0.1 ft from the floodplain.
Figure 5 The two assigned material zones: the light brown color represents the channel
areas and the aqua color represents the non-erodible areas
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3
To avoid confusion, it is a good practice to name the Case Name the same as the simulation name.
4
The time step should be selected to maintain hydraulic computational stability during the model run.
Monitor Points can be used to track model stability.
5
The simulation end time depends on the type of simulation and the characteristics of the channel and bed
material. Steady flow simulations can be run for long periods to reach equilibrium transport and bed
elevation conditions, or for a representative amount of time the flow could occur. Hydrograph simulations
should include a sufficient amount of time before and after the peak to adequately represent the range of
flows.
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6
These datasets are included in the output file and used for graphical representation, but do not appear in the
SMS list of output.
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Figure 7 Bed Elevation change in the Main Channel Bridge during the simulation
Figure 8 Scour occurring in the Main Channel and Relief Bridges during the simulation
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7 Conclusion
This concludes the SRH-2D Sediment Transport Modeling tutorial7. This tutorial
demonstrated:
Setting up an SRH-2D boundary condition coverage for sediment transport
Assigning monitor points
Creating an SRH-2D sediment materials coverage.
Defining an SRH-2D simulation for sediment transport
Running an SRH-2D sediment transport simulation
Viewing results from a sediment transport simulation
Additional tutorials cover using sediment transport with unsteady flow and cohesive
materials. Continue to experiment with the sediment transport options for SRH-2D in
SMS or exit the program.
7
This tutorial was developed by Aquaveo, LLC under contract with the Federal Highway Administration.
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