Blog – Page 4 – Water Simulation

Running HEC-RAS from Visual Basic 6 and Excel VBA

Elad SalomonsPosted on April 4, 2014 Posted in Free software, Programming, Storm & Sewer software — 2 Comments ↓

HEC-RAS is free a software by the Hydrologic Engineering Center (HEC) at the US Army Corp of Engineers which allows you to perform one-dimensional steady flow, unsteady flow, sediment transport/mobile bed computations, and water temperature modeling. Recently I needed to run HEC-RAS from my custom software and interact with the data and results. An example use would be making batch HEC-RAS runs with different parameters. At the HEC-RAS web-site I could not find any information about running the software as a server or from the command line. Searching around I found the Italian site of RUWA Ltd. with a link to a utility named RasClient (available for download at the bottom of this page).

The RasClient utility cames with a Visual Basic 6 source code example, Excel demo file and a Word document. The document seems to be written by Mark Jensen who is, according to the HEC-RAS user manual, is the programmer of the user interface and graphics of HEC-RAS. So I guess the RasClient utility is by HEC. The document states that “HEC-RAS is compiled as a server application and can be called from another program that supports ActiveX“. The demo is a Visual Basic 6 program and shows how to:

Dimension a new HEC-RAS object
Load a specific project
Execute the computations
Plot Results
Export the computed results

The VB6 program interacts with the HEC-RAS application server via a HECRASController object which have many properties and method. Unfortunately I could not find the documentation for these option so a lot of trial and error there. Some HEC-RAS GUI screens may be called as well:

Download RasClient here (ZIP file ~62KB)

Tagged with: excel, hec-ras, RasClient, vb6, vba

EPANET Matlab classes

Elad SalomonsPosted on February 20, 2014 Posted in EPANET related, Free software, Programming — 4 Comments ↓

I already wrote a few posts about calling EPANET from Matlab but this question keeps returning. Currently these are two leading Matlab classes\wrappers for calling EPANET:

EPANET Matlab Class by Marios Kyriakou and Demetrios Eliades from KIOS research center – “The EPANET-Matlab Class is an open-source software which operates within the Matlab environment, for providing a programming interface for the latest version of EPANET, a hydraulic and quality modeling software created by the US EPA, with Matlab, a high-level technical computing software. The goal of the Matlab Class is to serve as a common programming framework for research and development in the growing field of smart water networks. The EPANET-Matlab Class features easy to use commands/wrappers for viewing, modifying, simulating and plotting results produced by the EPANET libraries.” This class is distributed under the European Union Public Licence (EUPL).
EPANET Matlab by Jim Uber and Sam Hatchett – “This product consists of a set of Matlab wrappers that allow use of the EPANET and EPANET-MSX programmer’s toolkit APIs from within the Matlab environment. The Matlab functions share names with the C-language API functions. Usage of the Matlab functions is similar; the argument lists are identical, with the exception that Matlab separates input and output arguments. User’s of the EPANET or EPANET-MSX APIs with Matlab programming experience should be able to make efficient use of this product. In addition to the Matlab API wrappers, this product includes a small number of utility routines that, for example, allow for plotting of the network using Matlab graphics.” This code is distributed under Unlicense.

Tagged with: Demetrios Eliades, epanet-msx, EUPL, github, jim uber, KIOS, Marios Kyriakou, matlab, Sam Hatchett, Unlicense

Israel Water Authority Water Technologies conference

Elad SalomonsPosted on January 31, 2014 Posted in Events & news, Water security — No Comments ↓

CleanTech 2014 logo During the CleanTech 2014 conference (February 18-19, 2014) , the Israeli Water Authority will hold a one day session (Hebrew link) presenting it’s third call for Water Technologies research projects and a summary of the first and second call. These projects brings together water utilities and technology companies. Looking at the agenda I can see a number of possible interesting presentations:

Water Distribution Dynamic pressure control by Stream Control. Their product, Aqua-Guard controller, is aimed to “dynamically adjusts the pressure applied to the network in accordance with actual demand for water”. The company will present their case study with the Hagihon (Jerusalem’s water utility) which, for some years now, provides a platform for Israeli water technology innovations. According to the company, over a period of 18 months, Aqua Guard reduced the leakage by 30% (no absolute figures were given yet) with a ROI of 6 months.

Emergency water distribution by EZ Pack with the Tanur Water and Sewage Corporation. EZPack’s products are flexible and portable water storage systems ranging from 50 liters (~13 gallons) up to 20,000 liters (~5,000 gallons). Just earlier this month we saw the need for such systems with the Elk River chemical spill in West Virginia. Just look at the images of people at water filling stations. The Israeli Water Authority recommends an emergency kit of 3 days water supply of 4 liters per person per day (a total of 12 liters per person).

Disclaimer: I’m not associated in any way with the commercial companies mentioned above.

Tagged with: cleantech, elk river, ezpack, hagihon, Israel water authority, pressure control, pressure reducing, stream control, tanur, water contamination

CleanTech 2014 Israel

Elad SalomonsPosted on January 27, 2014 Posted in Events & news — No Comments ↓

From the conference web-site:

The 18th International Summit and Exhibition for Renewable Energy and water Technologies, Recycling and Environmental Quality, Infrastructure and Green Building

CleanTech 2014 is the 18th annual international event for Clean Technologies: environmental quality, infrastructures and green building, renewable energy and water technologies. The exhibition will take place at “Avenue”- Congress and Exhibition Centre, Air Port City, Israel. CleanTech Exhibition has gained the status of a high quality international business platform, where companies, researchers and professionals display their newest developments, novel technologies and outstanding quality services in the fields of environmental protection and green solutions, infrastructure, renewable energy, waste treatment, water technologies for treatment, desalination, harvesting, purification, filtration and more. During the exhibition, there are professional conferences, seminars and symposiums, in which executives come to learn.

Exhibition Segments
Water Technologies, Industrial & Municipal Solutions
The Expo shall display technologies and solutions for:

Water Supply & Purification
Analysis & Instruments: Metering, Sampling, Testing, Monitoring, Data Logging.
Water Sources, Hydrologic Engineering, Reservoirs, Protection etc.
Water Distribution: Valves, Pumps, Irrigation, Pipe works etc.
Filtration, Purification & Conditioning Technologies
Demineralization: Desalination, Distillation Evaporation etc.

Waste Water Treatment
Domestic: Grey Water Recycling, Biological Remediation etc.
Industrial: Recovery, Cleaning, Recirculation
Waste Water Plant Design, Engineering and Construction Services

Waste Efficiency Devices

Water Management, Security and Flow Control

Renewable Energy
Global investment in renewable energy sets new records every year, according to a reports released by the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21). Technologies such as wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, and small hydro now provide hundreds of gigawatts of electricity generating capacity. Subsequently renewable energy markets have been growing robustly. According to the forecasts the market capacity may at least double itself within a relatively short period of time.
The steep rise in air pollution and oil prices has spurred the development of energy alternatives that will reduce dependency on expensive, environment-polluting oils. Israel must keep abreast with the developed countries and increase its use of renewable energies. The Exhibition promotes the technologies in this crucial area.

New Israeli incentives program for solar photo-voltaic systems
The Israeli Public Utility Authority (PUA) published on June 2nd 2008 the new incentives program for solar photo-voltaic systems.
Summary of the program:
– Feed in tariff of 2.01 NIS per each KWh produced.
– Residential systems up to 15KWp, commercial up to 50KWp.
– Contract for 20 years.
– Size of the system is limited to the size of the electricity connection of the site.

Green Building
In recent years there has been a growing awareness of “green construction,” that is, building that provides a higher quality of life and healthier environment by cutting back on the overall bad effects on the environment from the process of construction and building use. The exhibition will emphasize the environment as a central factor in the planning and implementation of green construction projects.

Natural Gas
Gas demand, which is rising at a slightly faster rate than oil, is currently being drived by rapid growth as a fuel for clean and efficient electric power generation. As with oil, gas resource additions have exceeded demand for most of the last century. Much of this supply was discovered between roughly 1960 to about 1980. This was driven by major discoveries in Russia, the Middle East, the Netherlands and Indonesia.
Noble Energy, Inc. has announced a natural gas discovery at the Tamar prospect in the Matan license, offshore Israel. The Tamar #1 well, located in approximately 5,500 feet of water, was drilled to a total depth of 16,076 feet to test a subsalt, lower-Miocene structure in the Levantine basin. Formation logs identified more than 460 feet of net pay in three high-quality reservoirs. The thickness and quality of the reservoirs encountered were greater than anticipated at the well location. Preliminary estimates indicate that the Tamar field might contain over 88 billion cubic meters of gas.
Israel has begun setting up a natural gas system to provide this energy source to industrial plants and national and privately owned power stations throughout the country. The expo will also display technologies for transporting oil and gas that are safety guaranteed and environmentally friendly.

Waste and Recycling
Recycling is an economic development tool as well as an environmental tool. Reuse, recycling, and waste reduction offer direct development opportunities for communities. According to different sources the worldwide recycling industry employs the skills of more than 1.5 million employees as well as using a great armoury of sophisticated machinery. With a total annual turnover exceeding US$ 160 billion, it is also a capital-intensive business. Annual investments and R&D in the recycling industry amount to around US$ 20 billion. Each year, the global recycling industry processes more than 600 million tonnes of commodities such as ferrous and nonferrous metals, paper, plastics, textiles, glass, tyres and much more. CleanTech 2012 will display cutting-edge technologies and solutions for this industry.

Air Pollution
The contamination of the air we breathe is the curse of the developed countries. Special factors in Israel, such as population density, the continuous rise in the standard of living, and meteorological conditions exacerbate the problem. Unfortunately Israel lags far behind the first world in the treatment of air pollution and the effects that can cause disease and suffering. The exhibition management targeted this area for special concern by raising public awareness of the need to cope with this problem seriously.

The 18th CleanTech exhibition, 18-19 February 2014, “Avenue”- Congress and Exhibition Centre, Air Port City, Israel

For Early Registration press here

E-mail: info@mashov.net
tel: +972 – 8 – 6273838
Fax: + 972 – 8 – 6230950

Tagged with: cleantech

Battle of Background Leakage Assessment for Water Networks – BBLAWN

Elad SalomonsPosted on November 20, 2013 Posted in Announcements, Events & news, Papers and Research — No Comments ↓

During the WDSA 2014 conference a new “battle” will be held:

The Battle of Background Leakage Assessment for Water Networks is the fifth in a series of “Battle Competitions” dating back to the Battle of the Water Networks (BWN) in 1985 and more recently the Battle of the Water Sensor Networks (BWSN) in 2006; the Battle of the Water Calibration Networks (BWCN) in 2010 and the Battle of the Water Networks design (BWN-II) in 2012.

The BBLAWN calls for teams/individuals from academia, consulting firms, and utilities to propose a design methodology for reducing water losses due to background leakages and apply it to a real water distribution system.

The results of the BBLAWN will be presented at a special session of the WDSA 2014 Conference in Bari.

Outcomes and results of the competition will be summarized in a manuscript to be submitted to the Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management Division, ASCE.

The team providing the best solution will be awarded with an iPad mini.

Battle page: http://www.water-system.org/wdsa2014/?q=content/battle-water-networks

Make sure you follow the updates on the battle page!

Tagged with: battle, BBLAWN, wdsa, wdsa 2014

WANDA 4.2

Elad SalomonsPosted on October 12, 2013 Posted in Commercial software, Programming, Water simulation Packages — 1 Comment ↓

This is an update of a 2005 post about WANDA version 3. The program has been updated over the years and these are the current details from Deltares Systems:

WANDA is a powerful and user-friendly program for the hydraulic design and optimization of pipeline systems. Both engineers and operators use WANDA to study the steady and dynamic behavior of liquid, heat, gas and slurry flows in arbitrarily configured pipeline networks. The software can be easily linked to other applications, e.g. for operator training systems or advanced real-time control. WANDA has been extensively tested, validated and designed for engineers by engineers.

WANDA is a powerful tool that can be used throughout the lifetime of the pipeline system: from initial design, component optimization, control procedure evaluation up to commissioning and operator training. Detailed information of the flow can be viewed at any location in the system at any moment in time.

More details can be found here.

WANDA hydraulic engine can be used by other applications via the OpenMI (Open Modelling Interface) standard.

Tagged with: openmi, wanda

Real-time Data Processing, Modelling and Control in Urban Water Systems Session

Elad SalomonsPosted on September 24, 2013 Posted in Announcements, Events & news — No Comments ↓

As part of the 11th International Conference on Hydroinformatics (HIC 2014, August 17 – 21, 2014, New York, USA) there will be a special session on Real-time Data Processing, Modelling and Control in Urban Water Systems. The session is intended to bring together the latest work in this growing research area. Abstract submission will still take place through the main HIC 2014 website.

Full announcement from Professor Zoran Kapelan:

HIC2014 Mini Symposium

Real-time data processing, modelling and control in urban water systems

Dr Chris Hutton and Professor Zoran Kapelan

Centre for Water systems, University of Exeter, UK.

Over recent years technological developments have led to an increase in the availability of (near) real-time data from both water distribution systems and sewer systems (wastewater, stormwater and combined), which provides a great potential to derive information and understanding of current system states. Furthermore, such data improves our ability to simulate and control urban water systems to meet operational requirements by allowing control scenarios to be derived in response to real-time conditions. Converting the raw data derived from system measurements into usable information, using such information to run model simulations of the system, and also deriving control strategies for the system in question is, however, no trivial task, particularly considering the time constraints (i.e. computational issues) in responding to rapidly changing real-time conditions.

The mini symposium seeks to bring together the latest work in the area of real-time research in urban water systems and hydroinformatics, particularly in the following areas:

Real-time processing and validation of both water quantity and quality data

Real-time forecasting of system load (demand, rainfall, etc.)

Real-time state estimation

Data Assimilation

Real-time optimisation/control of system operation under normal conditions

Early warning systems for real-time detection and/or isolation of various faulty/other events (e.g. pipe bursts, flooding, pollution, etc.)

Model-based predictive control of urban water systems

Submissions are particularly encouraged that explore novel methods for dealing with uncertainty in data and models in real-time, and also the integrated approaches that explore issues concerning the whole processing chain from obtaining real-time data to deriving control options as part of a decision support system. Illustrations of the above methods applied to real-life urban water systems and observed data are also encouraged.

Tagged with: control, Early warning systems, eds, optimisation, real time

Water Main Break Causes Fish Kill in Cedar Rapids

Elad SalomonsPosted on September 24, 2013 Posted in Water security — No Comments ↓

According to Iowa’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) a Water main break caused fish to die in Cedar Rapids. Apart for damage to roads, flats, cars and such (look at these great pictures from the last major main break in London) water leaks can harm to animal in the nature. The chlorinated water from Cedar Rapids water system leaked to a nearby stream and killed about 70 trouts. Here is the posting by DNR:

The rupture of a water main resulted in chlorinated water reaching McLoud Run in Cedar Rapids causing a fish kill Thursday evening.

Approximately 70-75 trout, some ranging from 14-inches to 18-inches long, as well as some white suckers, were found dead along an approximately one-quarter to one-half mile stretch of McLoud Run near Council Street and Miami Drive NE. Water from the water main break entered the stream through a storm sewer. The break was discovered by Cedar Rapids city officials Thursday night and repaired. An undetermined amount of chlorinated water reached the stream.

The stream was extremely turbid downstream from where the fish kill was first discovered so there may be additional losses. Fisheries biologists from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources will return to the stream once the water has cleared to determine if additional fish were killed.

Tagged with: Cedar Rapid, Main break, trout