Using the HEC-FDA Version 2.0 Software Workshop

Last Modified: 2024-08-01 19:12:03.231

Objective

Using the HEC-FDA Version 2.0 software for Workshop (in-person 75 min) – In this hands-on workshop participants get introduced to HEC-FDA Version 2.0 to familiarize students with entering data for defining exceedance-probability and stage-discharge functions, and associated uncertainties.  This workshop pertains to the Hydraulic data and frequency functions.

Downloadable Workshop Materials

Software Version

HEC-FDA pre-release Version 2.0 will be used during the 2024 PROSPECT #209 course.  Download the HEC-FDA Version 2.0 software by following the instructions provided here: FY24 Download HEC-FDA Version 2.0 Portable Package.

Note: To follow along with the instructions provided in this workshop

Unless you've already downloaded the HEC-FDA software, the Example Study Data (zipped folder contains all data needed for all HEC-FDA workshops) and the workshop datafiles then please follow the following instructions.

1. Download the HEC-FDA Version 2.0 software by following the instructions provided here: FY24 Download HEC-FDA Version 2.0 Portable Package.
2. Download and save the Workshop Datafiles to the specified path. (Note: the Example Study Data is the same data used for all HEC-FDA workshops, so you only need to download it once).

Workshop Overview

Following the completion of this workshop students will gain the following experience:

• Familiarization with using the HEC-FDA program, including navigating the user interface menus for defining study configuration, hydrologic and economic functions.
• Specifically, students will be tasked with creating a new study, reviewing the editable study properties fields and importing data into HEC-FDA Version 2.0. This workshop walks students though importing the following data:
  • Terrain data
  • Impact area set shapefile
• Also, steps for importing HEC-FDA Version 1.4.3 data into Version 2.0 will be briefly covered.

HEC-FDA Workshop Dataset

Review the FY24 HEC-FDA Example Study Data to familiarize yourself with the Muncie, Indiana study data.

Introduction to HEC-FDA Version 2.0

For an introduction to HEC-FDA Version 2.0, please review the HEC-FDA Version 2.0 HEC-FDA Quick Start Guides.

Part 1 – Create a New HEC-FDA Study from Scratch

Create a New Study

1. Open HEC-FDA Version 2.0.
2. From the File menu, click New.
3. In the Study Name box, enter a name for the study (e.g., Workshop1). Select the browser ellipse button to set the study path in the Select Folder browser window.
4. Navigate to the desired location for saving the new study (e.g., C:\Workshops\FDA\myWS) and click Select Folder. 
5. Enter a description in the Description box (e.g., This is the first workshop) and click OK.

Import Terrain Data

Purpose

A terrain is a spatial data set that contains the ground elevations throughout a particular area. Terrain data can be obtained from the data used in the HEC-RAS modeling, from the US Geological Survey (USGS), or by working with a geographic information system (GIS) specialist.

Terrain is used for one or both of the following: (1) using hierarchical data format (.hdf) results for hydraulics, in which case the terrain should be in HDF format, or (2) depending on terrain for ground elevation at structure, in which case the terrain be be imported as a raster data set or HDF. Only one terrain file can be imported. Terrain data can be imported into HEC-FDA Version 2.0 as a grid file (.vrt, .tif, .hdf or .flt). 

Terrain File

Please note that only 1 terrain file may be imported. Import terrain as a HEC-RAS terrain. A RAS Terrain is a .hdf file paired with one or more .tif files. Select the .hdf file when importing your terrain and ensure the accompanying files are included in the same subdirectory. A terrain file is required if you're relying on hydraulic data in HDFs or if you do not have elevation data in your structure inventory (e.g., only foundation heights but no ground elevations). 

Steps

The terrain file used in the Muncie study is the same file used by the hydraulic engineers in modeling the existing condition hydraulics. The units of measurement of the terrain data are elevation in feet based on the EPSG:2965 (NAD83/Indiana East) coordinate reference system.

1. From the Study Tree, right-click Terrain and select Import Terrain. The Import Terrain dialog opens as a tab.
2. Enter a name for the terrain (e.g., Muncie Terrain).
3. From the Terrain Path box, click the ellipse button to open the Select File browser window.
4. Navigate to the location you saved the terrain file (e.g., C:\Workshops\FDA\data\MuncieFinal\Terrain), select the file "Terrain.hdf". Make sure the folder containing the .hdf file also includes the accompanying .tif files, and then click Open.
5. From the Import Terrain dialog, click OK.

Review and Edit the Study Properties

Purpose

The study properties allows users to set many of important parameters in HEC-FDA, including the discount rate and period of analysis.

Tips and Tricks

Keep track of the units of measurement. Units of measurement will not be tracked nor handled within HEC-FDA Version 2.0. For example, if terrain elevation is measured in meters but the first floor elevation is measured in feet, HEC-FDA will not know about the discrepancy - this will have to be handled outside of HEC-FDA. 

Steps

1. From the File menu, click Properties. The Study Properties dialog opens as a tab.
2. From the Study Properties dialog review the defaults and user-defined content.

3. From the Study Projection box, in the Project Projection File, click the browser ellipse button to open the Select File browser window. 

   

   You may need to expand the HEC-FDA main window to view the entire Study Properties tab. Alternatively, click to pop out the tab as a window. Click again to return the dialog to the HEC-FDA main window.

4. Navigate to the location of the terrain projection file (e.g., C:\Workshops\FDA\data\MuncieFinal\Terrain), select the file "NAD 1983 StatePlane Indiana East FIPS 1301 (US Feet).prj", and then click Open.
5. Click Save to save your edits. Click Close.

Import Impact Area Set

Purpose

Impact areas in the form of a polygon shapefile. The shapefile must have a string or integer field that identifies unique name. Only one set of impact areas can be imported.

Steps

1. From the Study Tree, under Impact Areas, right-click on Impact Area Set, and click Import Impact Area Set. The Import Impact Area Set dialog opens as a tab.
2. Enter a name in the Impact Area Name box (e.g., Muncie Impact Areas). Enter a description in the Description box (e.g., Workshop 1 impact areas for Muncie dataset).
3. From the Shapefile Path box, click the ellipse button to open the Select File browser window.
4. Navigate to the location of the impact areas file (e.g., C:\Workshops\FDA\data\MuncieFinal\ImpactAreaSet), select the file "ImpactAreaFinal.shp" and click Open.
5. From the Unique Name list select, Name. Note the names of the two impact areas in the Muncie dataset.
6. Click OK to import the impact areas.

Part 2 – Create a New HEC-FDA Study from Version 1.4.3 Data

For more information regarding the data provided for this part of Workshop 1, review the HEC-FDA Tutorial: Version 1.4.3 to Version 2.0 Study Conversion page. For the purpose of this workshop, the HEC-FDA Version 1.4.3 text file has been created for you (review Steps 1 through 3 in Version 1.4.3 to Version 2.0 Study Conversion).

Import Study From Tab-Delimited Text File

1. From the HEC-FDA Version 2.0 main window click the red X at the top right to close the HEC-FDA Version 2.0 software. Open a fresh instance of the HEC-FDA Version 2.0 software.
2. From the File menu, click Import Study.  The Import Study From Tab-Delimited Text File dialog opens as a tab.
3. From the Study Name box enter a name for your study (e.g., WS1part2_Beargrass).
4. From the Tab Delimited Import File, click the click the ellipse button to open the Select File browser window.
5. Navigate to the location of the HEC-FDA Version 1.4.3 exported text file (e.g., C:\Workshops\FDA\data\WS1_Part2\ApplicationGuideStartingData\HEC-FDA_Study), select the file "FDA_ExportASCII.txt" and click Open.
6. From the Study Path box, click the ellipse button to open the Select Folder browser window. Navigate to the desired location for saving the new study (e.g., C:\Workshops\FDA\myWS) and click Select Folder.
7. Enter a description in the Description box (e.g., This is the second part of the first workshop).
8. Click Import and view the Import Log.

Import Impact Area Set

Steps

1. From the Study Tree, under Impact Areas, right-click on Impact Area Set, and click Import Impact Area Set. The Import Impact Area Set dialog opens as a tab.
2. Enter a name in the Impact Area Name box (e.g., Beargrass Impact Areas). Enter a description in the Description box (e.g., Workshop 1, Part 2 impact areas for example Version 1.4.3 dataset).
3. From the Shapefile Path box, click the ellipse button to open the Select File browser window.
4. Navigate to the location of the impact areas file (e.g., C:\Workshops\FDA\data\WS1_Part2\ApplicationGuideStartingData\ImpactAreas), select the file "BeargrassCreek.shp" and click Open.
5. From the Unique Name list select, Name. 
6. Click OK to import the impact areas.

Import Aggregated Stage-Damage Functions

Steps

1. Right-click on Aggregated Stage-Damage Functions under Economics within the Study Tree. Click on Import Stage-Damage Functions from Tab-Delimited Text File. The import dialog opens as a tab.
2. From the Base Name box, give the functions a base name (e.g., BeargrassStgDmg) and enter a description in the Description box (e.g., These are aggregated stage-damage functions for Beargrass).
3. From the Tab Delimited File box click ellipse button to open the Select File browser window.
4. Navigate to the location of the same HEC-FDA Version 1.4.3 exported text file (e.g., C:\Workshops\FDA\data\WS1_Part2\ApplicationGuideStartingData\HEC-FDA_Study), select the file "FDA_ExportASCII.txt" and click Open.
5. Click Import and view the Import Log.
6. A set of stage-damage functions will be created in the study tree for each combination of plan and analysis year. For example, all without-project base year stage-damage functions (one for each impact area) will exist as a set of stage-damage functions. The name of the set of functions will be the base name plus the plan and year. 

Review the Study Data for Part 2

There are four plans in the workshop data: Without which represents the without-project condition, Plan 1 which consists of a detention basin and channel modification, Plan 2 which consists of a floodwall only, and Plan 3 which consists of all three. The detention basin and channel modifications are reflected through their condition-specific discharge-frequency and stage-discharge functions, which are the Plan 1 functions. The levee for Plans 2 and 3 in reach SF-9 is the floodwall found under Lateral Structures. Plan 2 uses the without-project discharge-frequency and stage-discharge functions. 

Test Your Knowledge - Question 6

Find the OSNB Occupancy Type. There are errors in the text boxes highlighted red. What are the errors?

Hint

From the Study Tree, right click on the imported occupancy types dataset, and select Edit. From the editor, select the OSNB occupancy type and hover over a red box.

Conclusion

That's it! Didn't go as well as planned? Don't worry. Each of the workshops have solution projects. Download the solution projects (provided at the top of this page) to compare to your projects.

1.  Open the HEC-FDA Version 2.0 software.
2. From the File menu, click Open. The Open Study dialog opens as a tab.
3. Click the ellipse button in the Study Path box to open the Select File browser window.
4. Navigate to the Workshop 1 solution projects (e.g.,Muncie_WS1_Solution OR Beargrass_WS1_Solution), select the *.sqlite HEC-FDA file and click Open.
5. From the Open Study tab, click OK.

Review the Best Answers to Test Your FDA Knowledge Questions below and compare with yours to see how you did! You can close the HEC-FDA software when you are finished reviewing the project (click the red X at the top right to close the software). 

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Best Answers to Test Your FDA Knowledge Questions