What does HEC-RAS stand for?

HEC-RAS (Hydrologic Engineering Centers River Analysis System) is public domain software which was developed by the Hydrologic Engineering Center of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

How do I view the HEC-RAS manual online?

To view online, go to the manual’s individual webpage with the links below. The HEC-RAS documentation is automatically installed (with the exception of the BSTEM manual) during the setup of the program and can be accessed through the Help menu.

How to use HEC-RAS to simulate a river?

So as to use HEC-RAS for simulating a river, geometry data of transversal sections along the river stretch and volumetric flow rate data (constant or variable in the time) must be available. Moreover, roughness coefficient and water level at the input or the output section is essential to represent the real case.

What are the output variables available in HEC-RAS?

HEC-RAS has many optional output variables and allows the user to develop a customized table with certain desired information. This customized table, once created and saved, will be accessible for use whenever HEC-RAS is run on the various projects and plans organized by the user.

NRCS has adopted the Corps of Engineer’s HEC-RAS (Hydrologic Engineering Center’s River Analysis System) for computation of water surface profiles. Use of the NRCS program WSP2 has been phased out as NRCS engineers become trained and experienced with HEC-RAS.

What is WRAS HEC-RAS?

WRAS is a conversion program developed by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) that takes existing WSP2 data sets and converts them to HEC-RAS format for import into HEC-RAS. WRAS requires Windows 95 or higher and approximately 12 megabytes of hard disk storage.

What version of HEC-RAS should I use?

FEMA suggests using HEC-RAS software for users experiencing issues using version 2.0 on later OSs.

What is the HEC-RAS program for hydraulic analysis?

FEMA has adopted the guidance that hydraulic analyses for newly contracted studies and restudies of entire watersheds (with detailed HEC-2 hydraulic analyses) should be conducted using the HEC-RAS program instead of the HEC-2 program.