SMS

Plotting Observed Data onto a Computed Time Series Plot

Have you been wanting to make a direct graphical comparison of observed time series water-level data with computed time series water-level data? Have you been hoping to use data observed in the field to help calibrate your 2D hydraulic model in this way? While not officially supported yet, we have a workaround that could potentially help with this. This post will review how to plot both observed and computed water-level data onto the same time series plot.

There is no direct method for plotting observed data onto a computed time series graph. However, the following workflow should be able to suffice as a solution:

  1. From within SMS, bring up the File Import Wizard by using File | Open to select the file for your observed time series data.
  2. On Step 2 of the File Import Wizard, set the SMS data type drop-down to "Scatter Set", and once properly configured, click Finish to close the File Import Wizard and import the observed time series data into SMS as a scatter set.
  3. Once the data has been imported, interpolate the scatter set to your mesh by right-clicking on the scatter set and selecting the Interpolate to... command to bring up the Interpolation Options dialog.
  4. Select the scatter set data you would like and the mesh you would like to interpolate the data to, and click OK to close the dialog and interpolate.
  5. Click the Plot Wizard macro to bring up Step 1 of the Plot Wizard dialog.
  6. Select "Time Series" from the Plot Type list and click Next > to move on to Step 2 of the Plot Wizard.
  7. Select "Use selected datasets" and then click the All Off button underneath it. This will now allow you to select which specific datasets you would like to appear on the graph.
  8. Click Finish to close the Plot Wizard and bring up the Plot Window. The graph you have specified should appear.
  9. To further modify the graph, right-click on it and select Plot Data... to bring up the Data Options dialog. This will allow you to get back to the previous options and change your selection of datasets.
Example of a plot combining observed data in a computed time series plot

A future version of SMS may incorporate a more direct method for this process. But don’t let that stop you from trying out plotting observed data onto a computed time series plot in SMS 13.1 today!

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Performing a Silent Install for ALS

Are you an IT administrator needing to perform a silent install of GMS, SMS, or WMS in a classroom or office? We have gone over the process to do this in the past. However, our licensing methods have changed since those instructions were first written. Because of this, we have felt it would be useful to update our users on the new method of configuration so they will be able to properly set up their silent installs. This post will review registration for the new licensing method and how to perform silent installs with it.

This silent install (or quiet install) workaround requires each user to have the rights to modify the registry. If registry access is restricted, a network administrator can do this by opening the Group Policy Management Editor and creating a startup script that automatically runs the batch file whenever the computer is restarted.

Note: Editing the Registry in Windows is a very advanced administration step. Please always create a backup of the Registry before making changes.

It can be a burden to manually update the local code in HKEY_CURRENT_USER for each user on each computer. The silent install process is simplified by creating a Windows Registry file that contains the license information and a batch file that can be executed to insert the registry information and launch WMS. The batch file automatically updates the registry for the user and then opens the WMS application. This is the safest way to edit the registry key, as well. The batch file can then be placed on each computer that needs to be updated, and the individual users can execute it as needed.

This workaround uses WMS as an example. This information also applies to GMS and SMS. You can see an example of a registry file in step 1 and the batch file in step 2, below.

  1. Create a file, "Netenble.001.reg", as follows:
    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00M
    "ALS"="1"
    "ALSHost"="127.0.0.1"
    "ALSPort"="56789"

    ALS = 1 specifies the new registration wizard, with new "Local" codes beginning with L, F, or E, instead of 0 for the old network lock. ALSHost = 127.0.0.1 because the code is being located on the local machine. And ALSPort = 56789 should be the default - you can alternatively specify your own port if you would like. You could also specify an ALSCode (license code) as well if you don’t want registration to be required when first launching WMS.
    Note: This information was created using Windows 10. Because different Windows versions can have different REG file formats, we recommend you install WMS on one machine, register it to the correct local code, then export the registry key. Open the registry file in the text editor and remove every line except those similar to those shown in the image above, and save the file as "Netenble.001.reg".
  2. Create a file, "wms11.bat", that will update the registry and start WMS:
    reg import Netenble.001.reg
    wms.exe
  3. Place these two files in the WMS folder in the image that will be distributed to the affected computers. For example, for the 64-bit version of WMS 11.1, the default location for the folder is “C:\Program Files\WMS 11.1 64-bit\”.
  4. Create a desktop shortcut to the batch file for the convenience of the user. If doing this via a startup script in the Group Policy Management Editor, this step can be skipped.

This silent install workaround can save you significant time as a network administrator. If you experience issues while performing a silent install, feel free to contact Aquaveo for assistance.

Associating HY-8 Files with SMS

Have you wondered about how HY-8 interacts with SRH-2D in SMS? This post will review what HY-8 and SRH-2D are doing as they interact with each other.

SRH-2D has an option to use the HY-8 software to define culverts. Using the HY-8 software allows for greater definition for the culvert as opposed to defining the culvert directly in SMS. The Launch HY-8 button in the SRH-2D Assign BC dialog creates the HY-8 file and associates the file with the culvert arcs and SMS project. It is important to keep this file with the SMS project, otherwise the HY-8 file may become unassociated with the culvert.

Multiple culverts can be in the same HY-8 file, so be certain the correct culvert has been associated to the culvert arcs in SMS.

SRH-2D culvert using HY-8

When assigning properties to arcs that have been set to a BC Type of Culvert HY-8, there is a checkbox option to turn on 2D terrain for overtopping. When this is unchecked, SRH-2D will create a *_HYn.dat for the crossing. When this is checked, SRH-2D will instead create an *_INTERNALn.dat file for the crossing. In this case, SRH-2D will use the HY-8 table, but won’t see the structure as a HY-8 culvert, but as essentially a link structure.

Typically, the overtopping option is used when overtopping flow is expected to travel in a different direction from the rest of the flow. If the flow over the culvert and the flow in the culvert are both flowing in the same direction, it is not recommended to use 2D Overtopping. This is because the link structure in SRH-2D can get flow from both upstream and downstream of the boundary arc and the flow coming out of the downstream arc can go in any direction.

When SRH-2D runs, it will generate output files that are sent to an Output_MISC folder in the file directory of your current SMS project. Here, HY-8 culvert report files and/or pressure flow overtopping report files should be found, following the respective naming schemes of “*_HYn.dat” and “*_INTERNALn.dat”. The “*” is a placeholder for the specific case name specified in the model control, and the “n” will be replaced with a number in a series, for as many relevant zones or arc pairs exist in the series. We unfortunately don’t have any control over the naming convention SRH-2D uses.

More information about the different types of SRH-2D output files that may be put out after an SRH-2D run can be found here at the Aquaveo XMS Wiki.

Try out using HY-8 with SRH-2D in SMS 13.1 today!

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Understanding SRH-2D Post-Processing

Do you want to know more about what happens when SMS completes post-processing for SRH-2D? When running SRH-2D, it helps to understand what exactly is happening during the post-processing phase of the SMS model run. This post will review how post-processing uses interpolation as it goes through SRH-2D.

To understand how post-processing fits into the SRH-2D process, first we need to look at what comes before it. When creating an SRH-2D model in SMS, the data is assigned as nodal data. This means that the boundary conditions, materials and other data is assigned to the nodes of the mesh. SRH-2D requires that the data be assigned to the center of the mesh elements (the centroid).

To allow the nodal data to be used by SRH-2D, SMS uses a pre-processing step that utilizes linear interpolation to interpolate the data that has been modelled in SMS into centroidal data for SRH-2D to use. After SHR-2D has finished processing the data, it creates results that use centroidal data. This is where the post-processor comes in.

The post-processor for SRH-2D takes the SRH-2D results and interpolates the data from centroidal data and converts it into nodal data. This allows SMS to import and display the solution data.

Post-processing for SRH-2D

If the post-processor fails in its attempt, this usually means the centroidal data generated from SRH-2D is not valid. In this case, it could be possible that the model failed to converge even if SRH-2D managed to completely finish its model run. It could also be possible that SRH-2D was made to run an invalid model that resulted in empty solution sets.

For more information on how to use SRH-2D with SMS, see the XMS Wiki article on SRH-2D in SMS. Future versions of SMS may make use of centroidal data without the need to interpolate data.

Now that you understand a little more about how SMS handles post-processing, try out SRH-2D in SMS 13.1 today!

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