SMS:TUFLOW Overview

TUFLOW is a one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) flood and tide simulation software. It simulates the complex hydrodynamics of floods and tides using the full 1D St Venant equations and the full 2D free-surface shallow water equations.

TUFLOW Interface

The TUFLOW interface in SMS exists in several modules including: Cartesian Grid Module, Map Module, Scatter Module, and Mesh Module. Many of the TUFLOW building blocks are managed using the Project Explorer.

How to use TUFLOW?

The SMS tutorials are a good place to start learning to use SMS and associated models. The following tutorials will help get you started using TUFLOW.

• Models – TUFLOW 2D
• Models – TUFLOW 1D
• General – Data Visualization
• General – Observations

General Steps to Build a TUFLOW Model

• Define the domain or domains
• Setup boundary conditions
• Create the simulation
• Define Material Properties
• Set Model Parameters
• Run TUFLOW

• Find problems and verify model setup using check files
• View and analyze the results
• Repeat above steps to generate new simulations

Optional Steps

• Define flow constrictions
• Define geometry modifications such as levees

TUFLOW Coverages

Much of the data used in TUFLOW is specified on a coverage level into one of the TUFLOW Coverages.

Numeric Engine Background

The TUFLOW computational engine computes 1D and 2D hydraulic solutions. The engine is very stable making it an excellent choice for models with lots of wetting and drying. TUFLOW includes 1D cross-sections, 1D pipe networks, 1D and 2D hydraulic structures, and allows rainfall directly on the model domain so it is useful in many different applications including coastal, riverine and urban settings.

For more information see the TUFLOW webpage www.tuflow.com

Saving TUFLOW

When you do a File | Save As... the following files get saved in the *.sms

• *.mat referenced to new save location
• _grds.h5 referenced to new save location
• *.mat_h5 referenced to new save location
• Geomcomps.h5 referenced to new save location
• scatter.h5 referenced to new save location
• tuflow files don't get saved to new location unless exported again

Running TUFLOW

Before running TUFLOW, the TUFLOW files must be generated from SMS. These files are separate from the files SMS uses to store its TUFLOW information.

The options to export the TUFLOW files and run TUFLOW are in the right-click menu of the simulation.

• Export TUFLOW files – This will export the TUFLOW model files into the run directory (by default a directory named TUFLOW under the project directory).
• Launch TUFLOW – This will launch TUFLOW under the assumption that the files have already been exported as above.
• Save Project, Export TUFLOW files, and Launch TUFLOW – This option will save the current SMS project file, export the TUFLOW files, and launch TUFLOW on these files.

Viewing Results

TUFLOW results are written in SMS mesh format in the \TUFLOW\results folder. The mesh module tools and menus are used to visualize the solution.

The solution files all start with the name of the simulation. The extension identifies the type of data in the result file.

• *.2dm – two-dimensional output mesh in SMS format.
• *.dat – The dataset files associated with the mesh solution (d for depth, h for water surface, etc.)
• *.mat – The output materials from TUFLOW. Most of the element materials come from the *.tmf file. TUFLOW also uses the materials to identify boundary cells.
• *.ALL.sup – A file that opens the *.2dm file, all the *.dat files, and the *.mat file.
• *.hV.sup – A file that opens the *.2dm file, the water surface and velocity datasets, and the *.mat file.

Related Topics

• Define TUFLOW domain
• Mesh Module TUFLOW model
• Q&A TUFLOW
• Reading a TUFLOW simulation
• TUFLOW 2D Flow constriction Shape Coverage
• TUFLOW 2D Geometry Components
• TUFLOW 2D Z Lines/Polygons (Simple) Coverage
• TUFLOW 2D Z Lines (Advanced) Coverage
• TUFLOW AD
• TUFLOW Boundary Conditions
• TUFLOW Combining 1D and 2D Domains
• TUFLOW Inlet Database
• TUFLOW Irregular Culverts
• TUFLOW Linking 2D Domains
• TUFLOW Manholes
• TUFLOW Model Parameters
• TUFLOW Simulation
• TUFLOW Check Files
• TUFLOW Grid Options
• TUFLOW Material Properties
• TUFLOW Reading Simulation