Breaking the HEC-RAS Code: A User's Guide to Automating HEC-RAS

by Christopher R. Goodell, Gary Brunner (Foreword)

One of the most powerful, yet relatively unknown features available in HEC-RAS is the HECRASController.  The HECRASController API has a wealth of procedures which allow a programmer to manipulate HEC-RAS externally by setting input data, retrieving input or output data, and performing common functions such as opening and closing HEC-RAS, changing plans, running HEC-RAS, and plotting output. HECRASController applications are seemingly endless.  Not only can the retrieval and post-processing of output be automated, but with the HECRASController, real-time modeling and probabilistic experiments like Monte Carlo are possible. If you have HEC-RAS on your computer, you already have the HECRASController!  “Breaking the HEC-RAS Code” explains how the HECRASController works, provides example applications of the HECRASController, and catalogs the vast array of programming procedures (with explanations and examples on how to use them) embedded in the HECRASController. This is a "must-have" book for all HEC-RAS users.  Give yourself an edge for the next proposal and do something groundbreaking with HEC-RAS.  Make yourself marketable by adding the skills offered in this book.

278 pages, Paperback

First published October 31, 2014

Reviews

[Gerrit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you ever looked at the raw ASCII HEC-RAS input files, wondering about a better approach for editing your parameters than through the interface of HEC-RAS, clicking away with your mouse? Maybe you have, otherwise you might do so one day! And if you felt even the smallest amount of courage that one day you will understand the codes and numbers you saw, and you are ready for a new challenge, then you will profit very much from this book. Christopher Goodell’s Breaking the HEC-RAS Code just does that: explaining how you can manipulate your input files in an instance, and how you can automatize HEC-RAS ‘from the outside’ by using the API called HECRASController.

The author gives a thorough and extensive introduction to the tools and methods used and shares his experience, naming and explaining all the pitfalls ahead. On every page you’ll find coded examples and the author generously shares many of his applications, fully coded, like how to retrieve results into your Excel sheet, how to change your parameter values, all the way to far more complex solutions, like how to run a Monto Carlo simulation.

Christopher Goodell’s Breaking the HEC-RAS Code exceeded my expectations. As a user of HEC-RAS since 2003, I have edited the raw ASCII input files and I have created extensive automatized projects, running thousands of calculations, and evaluating the results of these calculations in Excel®. I did that without the knowledge this book offers, and next time, I will make sure I have this book on my desk.

[Sneaky Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

HEC yeah!