Cry Me Some River Analysis: AutoCAD® Civil 3D® and

Autodesk Labs Project River Analysis Extension

Matthew Anderson, PE CFM – Autodesk, Inc.

CI4327 Learn how to leverage your AutoCAD Civil 3D drawings and data to prepare hydraulic analysis of
floodplains with Project River Analysis. This class will walk you through some basic tools in the
River Analysis toolset to enable you to set up your floodplain analysis model and generate reports
from Civil 3D AutoCAD or Map 3D.

Learning Objectives
At the end of this class, you will be able to:
 Introduce you to Project River Analysis
 Learn how to develop a HEC-RAS model from with AutoCAD Civil 3D or Map 3D
 Improve your knowledge of hydraulic modeling within AutoCAD Civil 3D
 Develop Floodplain Mapping and Surface Elevation Models.

About the Speaker

Matthew C. Anderson is currently a Quality Assurance Consultant with Autodesk. Prior to
coming to Autodesk, he was Vice President and Project Manager at Joseph A. Schudt &
Associates in Frankfort, IL and when he finds some inspiration will occasionally blog about his
AutoCAD® Civil 3D®. Matt holds a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from Rose-Hulman
Institute of Technology. He is a Professional Engineer licensed in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin,
Michigan, and Texas, and is a Certified Floodplain Manager.

matt.anderson@autodesk.com
 Cry Me Some River Analysis:
AutoCAD® Civil 3D® and Autodesk Labs Project River Analysis

Project River Analysis Extension

What is Project River Analysis?
Project River Analysis is an Autodesk Labs Technology Preview Extension for AutoCAD® Civil
3D® 2012 and AutoCAD® Map 3D® 2012. As a Technology Preview on Labs, the software is
freely available at the following location: http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/civil3d_river/. There
are two editions, a 64-bit and 32-bit versions.

“This technology preview of River Analysis makes it easier than ever before to compute
water surface profiles for modeling rivers, bridges, culverts, spillways, levees, floodplain
and floodway delineations, stream diversions, channel improvements, and split flows.”

Project River Analysis roots in technology purchased a year or two ago, named RiverCAD. I do
not want to dwell too much on the past, but you may have been one who used prior incantations
in the past and might recognize the functions and benefits in Project River Analysis.

So, what does Project River Analysis do for me?

Project River Analysis interfaces between your AutoCAD Civil 3D model, and the U.S. Army
Corp of Engineers HEC-RAS NextGen software package. HEC-RAS allows you to “ perform
one-dimensional steady flow” modeling of Rivers and Streams. This extension for AutoCAD®
Civil 3D® 2012 and AutoCAD® Map 3D® 2012 makes it extremely easy to:

 Automate HEC-RAS, cross section cutting, water surface analysis, flood plain
mapping, and all related modeling tasks.
 Utilize numerous automation mapping tools for extracting cross sections from various
digital terrain sources including contours, TINs, DTMs, DEMs, LiDAR data, survey
files, surveyed cross sections, etc.
 Perform sophisticated bridge and culvert analysis as well as automating the process
of designing and analyzing roadway crossings.
 Automate mapping of bank station locations, channel and overland flow lengths,
levee locations, ineffective flow areas, Manning’s roughness data from topographic
map data.
 Perform automated bridge scour computations for FHWA and state DOT roadway
studies.
 Automatically generate floodplain and floodway maps, ready for FEMA and other
agency submittals.

Project River Analysis helps you extend your AutoCAD Civil 3D investment to solve these types
of problems. As an extension, River Analysis extends existing functionality of AutoCAD Civil 3D
terrain surfaces, so together you can solve, design, and analyze your digital model.

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AutoCAD® Civil 3D® and Autodesk Labs Project River Analysis

Introduction
I will assume that you have downloaded or soon will and that you have installed Project River
Analysis. After installation completes on either AutoCAD Civil 3D or Map 3D, you will have a
Project River Analysis icon on the desktop for each installed instance of Map 3D or Civil 3D.
Once launched, Project River Analysis creates a River Analysis workspace together with a
single River Ribbon tab. Let us explore the application!

User Interface
The Ribbon interface provides all of the application controls for the extension
grouped together for easy of access.

Ribbon
The first panel, Navigate, is the easiest to explain. These allow you to jump to the Reach
Extents, the Section Surface (or the location of the current section in plan), or to the Section
View1.

Under the fold, are two additional items, Zoom to Profile View2 and AutoZoom to Section.
This panel provides simple commands to help you navigate around the River Analysis drawing.

The Create Reach Data panel provides the window into building Reaches, importing or
exporting HEC-RAS models, inserting Junctions or defining Flows, the Steady Flow and
Boundary Conditions for the eventual HEC-RAS model. The Ribbon provides feedback as to
which River – Reach combination that you are currently working on. (The default starting River
#1 – Reach #1 is showing in the capture above)

In Input panel contains a large quantity of commands but they are necessary to add the
Hydraulic properties to the Sections. Sections creation from the terrain surface will be the most
common method used, however, the automated creation simply will speed productivity and
model development. The Section Assign drop-down provides automated plan to section
conversion for a number of the hydraulic properties, like ineffective flow areas or Manning’s n
values. As with the reach panel, the Input Panel provides feedback as to the Section that is
current.

1
Note that term Section View are not the AutoCAD Civil 3D version of the views but rather a grid view
block that only Project River Analysis Extension uses.
2
Note that term Profile View are not the AutoCAD Civil 3D version of the views but rather a grid view
block that only Project River Analysis Extension uses.

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AutoCAD® Civil 3D® and Autodesk Labs Project River Analysis

Once you create your model, and properly save the drawing, the Analysis tab comes next. The
Analysis Options should be consulted first, just to understand the tasks and assumptions at
hand. The Compute Analysis button performs a HEC-RAS analysis (Steady State) without the
expense of an export/import process.

If your design used the Bridge & Culvert from the Input panel, the Bridge Scour Calculator
will help process and construct a scour calculation report.

The Output panel provides the Flood Map production and Output Report, Results Viewer,
Section Results and Profile Views.

The last panel – well – that is Help! When in doubt – consult it!

Saving Models
** WARNING **
Project River Analysis is a preview technology offering. This warning appears when opening
and saving a River Analysis drawing. In lay-speak – this means you should not put all of your
chickens into this drawing. Take heed – shortcut your surface, and use External References to
include this information into production drawing. Use the Export to HEC-RAS as a backup tool.
Save and Save often!

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 Cry Me Some River Analysis:
AutoCAD® Civil 3D® and Autodesk Labs Project River Analysis

Warning Dialog Box

The Proxygraphic notice provides you the status of proxygraphics during your save. For
example, if you use River Analysis in production on a computer, that does not have River
Analysis on it; you will likely NOT see everything.

Object Knowledge
Project River Analysis extends the current functionality within AutoCAD Civil 3D. At this time,
Project River Analysis only *KNOWS* an AutoCAD Civil 3D surface. It does not recognize
Surface Figures, Feature lines, Alignments, or Sample lines.

Project River Analysis doesn’t understand Map 3D raster surfaces. You must used polyline
contours in Map 3D.

Learn how to develop a HEC-RAS model from with AutoCAD Civil 3D

Get Started!
I would strongly urge users to have a great understanding of Surface Modeling in AutoCAD Civil
3D. This includes how to manage large datasets, understand coordinate systems and
conversions, Point Clouds, DEM Data, and conventional DTM modeling and breaklines. There
are some good classes from past Autodesk Universities available and a couple here in Vegas
this week on Terrain modeling.

River Analysis’s biggest productivity gain occurs by having a solid, well-defined, manageable
surface. This surface is the source of elevation information for River Analysis, and the resulting
frame that River Analysis paints the floodplain map. While Jackson Pollock’s paintings are
naturally elegant3, they are a poor substitute for an elegant TIN surface.

For you Map 3D users, you need to get down to simple polylines at elevation for River Analysis
to work.

3
Mays, Matthew, (2009), In Pursuit of Elegance, New York: Broadway Books

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Geometric Data
Once you have a good topographic surface in AutoCAD Civil 3D, River Analysis contains some
tools to build your HEC-RAS project without leaving AutoCAD Civil 3D. Use the HEC-RAS
Reference Manual as your guide, draw polylines across the floodplain perpendicular to the
anticipated flow lines.

Figure 1 HEC-RAS Reference Manual, USACE, 2010

The 3D Section Cut will produce a cross-section in a systematic manner. Each Cut will prompt
for the Grid ID, Description, and Left most Station. During this command, River Analysis will
prompt the user to identify the source elevation data that River Analysis should use. Once set,
River Analysis will recall these settings.

The Config… button provides the Section Elevation Data Source dialog box.

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AutoCAD® Civil 3D® and Autodesk Labs Project River Analysis

Simply use the Elevation Layers > Select All button, and chose to Ignore any elevation on
these layers. Change the Status of the Elevation Surfaces to Use to use the Civil 3D surface of
your choosing. River Analysis will only allow a single surface to query. If you are building a
proposed model, compile a composite surface to merge Existing Surfaces with Design Surface.

Once completed, River Analysis will remember this association for the next set sections and for
the floodplain mapping. The 3D Section Cut command will continue and a Section View is
drawn.

Repeat the 3D Section Cut until complete.

One item we should address now is how to see the HEC-RAS data. Use the drop-down that is
contained in the Input Panel, and select the first or downstream Section (Section 1). Once the
first Section is the current section, use the Section Description button to launch a familiar
tabular editor.

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 Cry Me Some River Analysis:
AutoCAD® Civil 3D® and Autodesk Labs Project River Analysis

In the Floodplain and channel Description area, we need to add starting Manning’s n values
that the model will carry forward until they are changed by an upstream section.

Reach Lengths
Geometrically speaking, the Section Cut lines, and the Section Views do not have any
relationship to each the adjoining Section either upstream or downstream other than belonging
to the same default reach.

To establish the distance between sections, you should digitize or draw the stream centerline as
a polyline down the main channel of flow, together with lines that represent the left and right top
of bank lines. The flow lines for overbank flow length belong at the center of mass of the
overbank area.

Using Input > Section Assign > Assign Bank Stations & Flow Lengths, you can automate
the determination, and assign left and right bank locations, channel flow lengths, and left and
right overbanks lengths from the polylines in plan.

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AutoCAD® Civil 3D® and Autodesk Labs Project River Analysis

If you use Section ID equal to the Station along Reach, you can then use the Input > Section
Geometry > Renumber Section to renumber the Sections based on Channel Reach length, or
Average Reach Lengths as you see fit.

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AutoCAD® Civil 3D® and Autodesk Labs Project River Analysis

Items like Ineffective Areas, Manning’s n values, Levee’s and Obstructions all are definable
by planar polylines. This simplifies data entry immensely. If ease is not your thing, the standard
HEC-RAS dialog boxes are available for manual entry.

You may notice that River Analysis draws a Section View differently. Firstly, the Input >
Section Geometry > Configure Section Views shows you that they are really XS Grids,
inserted at scale, and likely nowhere near where you expect them to be placed. A bit of a retro
scaled block insertion…

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 Cry Me Some River Analysis:
AutoCAD® Civil 3D® and Autodesk Labs Project River Analysis

To navigate between cross-sections views or grids, use the section drop down list on the
Ribbon or the Zoom to Section View. Zoom to Reach Extents brings you back to the current
River Reach limits or plan view of the sections.

With data entry complete, save the drawing and Compute! This writes the required
RAS files and executes the Steady flow analysis.

There have been a few issues with

the installer, Windows 7 64bit O/S,
and having User Account Control
available. If you are unable to
compute the model and receive a
Error starting process: Steady File
not found; copy Steady.exe from the
C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Project
River Analysis 2012\bin directory copy
it to the following location:

C:\Program Files
(x86)\Autodesk\AWA\Support\Tools\

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 Cry Me Some River Analysis:
AutoCAD® Civil 3D® and Autodesk Labs Project River Analysis

Bridge and Culvert Modeling within River Analysis

While River Analysis has yet to acquire knowledge of Pipes Networks or Bridges objects from
AutoCAD Civil 3D objects, the Bridges and Culverts input allows users to define the bridge
cross-section sections or culverts sections from the downstream section location.

This allows you to compute bridges, piers, and culverts directly within the model even if there is
a gap between the plan or model elements and the data provided in the upstream and
downstream sections.

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 Cry Me Some River Analysis:
AutoCAD® Civil 3D® and Autodesk Labs Project River Analysis

Develop Floodplain Mapping and Surface Elevation Models.

With the analysis completed, the floodplain mapping, output and annotation is next. River
Analysis provides the Output > Output Report text file.

X X XXXXXX XXXX XXXX XX XXXX

X X X X X X X X X X
X X X X X X X X X
XXXXXXX XXXX X XXXX XXXX XXXXXX XXXX
X X X X X X X X X
X X X X X X X X X X
X X XXXXXX XXXX X X X X XXXXX

********************************************************************************

Both Sections and Profiles can be annotated with the results from the Output > Section
Results or Profile Views > Create Profile Views commands on the Ribbon. The Results
Viewer provides tabular results for sections and profiles together with a profile summary plot.

The Flood Map button provides the user the ability to draw the limits of the floodplain profiles on
the surface. The options include different values for edge of water linework, hatching per profile,
and intersection step size. [Smaller is not always better – think about significance, accuracy,
and precision. If surface was created from 50-foot grid, a 2 foot intersection step size is
imparting too much precision into the flood map line. Not to mention a likely high calculation
effort to boot!]

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 Cry Me Some River Analysis:
AutoCAD® Civil 3D® and Autodesk Labs Project River Analysis

Be sure to specify the Topo map ground Surface from the Configure Elevation Data… dialog
box.

If you want a little more depth on some of the other options in this dialog box, check out Section
2.10.4 of Help.

I tend to turn off the Generate GIS coverages as I don’t normally need any ESRI SHP data as
a part of my delverables.

If you want to continue with items like floodplain volumes, your best bet might be to turn on the
Generate 3D results. This way the mapping drawn has embedded elevation values that can be
added to a Civil 3D surface for further calculations or integration into other plans production.

Thanks!
Thanks for attending the class and trying Project River Analysis! If you have comments,
features, wishes, or anything you would like to express, feel free to drop the team an email at
labs.civil3d.river@autodesk.com.

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