Creating a basic HEC-RAS 1D Floodplain Model

Learn how to create a basic 1-dimensional steady state HEC-RAS flow model in this straightforward tutorial. I cover the basic concepts and theory of the HEC-RAS step backwater calculations used by the program and show the practical steps to set up a simple floodplain model.

I also demonstrate some ways you can review your results to see any obvious errors or warnings that may require revisions to your model. Hydraulic modeling is often an iterative process so you often have to refine your model based on the results of your previous iteration. With more experience and skill you can improve your initial model developments but even the most experienced modelers have to review their model results and make improvements to hone in on the optimal model for their specific application.

**Note, in the video when I go to run the model I get an immediate error from HEC-RAS. Sometimes this can happen when you build a model from scratch in RAS Mapper. If somewhere along the process you get some RAS Mapper error it can temporarily prevent model from running until you've closed and restarted the program which can fix a lot of temporary issues. So if you get some unknown errors from RAS, I've generally found it best to just save your work, close out the program and restarting it before you waste a lot of time trying to debug the issue in the active session. Just try turning it off and on again :-)