New Features in HEC-RAS 5.0
Since the last official release of HEC-RAS 4.1 over five years ago, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Hydrologic Engineering Centre has been integrating 2-dimensional flow, unsteady sediment transport, and other new capabilities into the newly released Version 5.0. New features in HEC-RAS 5.0 include:
- Two-dimensional and combined one- and two-dimensional unsteady flow modelling
- New HEC-RAS Mapper capabilities and enhancements
- Automated Manning’s n value calibration for one-dimensional unsteady flow
- Simplified physical breaching algorithm for dams and levees
- Breach width and development time calculator
- New hydraulic outlet features for inline structures
- Sediment transport modelling enhancements, including reservoir flushing and sluicing, as well as channel stability using BSTEM integrated within HEC-RAS
- Water quality modelling enhancements
- New 2D user’s manual
- New example applications
- Updated reference manuals and help systems
- Numerous bug fixes
- Increased flexibility in defining and modifying 2D meshes via user-defined break lines
- Georeferencing of lateral structures for combined 1D-2D connections
- 2D rain-on-grid with precipitation boundary conditions
- TIN-based sloping water surface technique to show spatial results inside of RAS Mapper
- More flexible internal hydraulic structures
- Improvements to the stability of connecting 1D reaches into and out of 2D flow areas
- Unsteady sediment transport
For more details, see What’s New in HEC-RAS and this LinkedIn post by David Markwood. Here’s a piece about the history of HEC-RAS.
