Modeling ice-covered rivers using HEC-RAS

The ability to model ice-covered channels has been added to the Hydrologic Engineering Center's River Analysis System (HEC-RAS). The ice cover thickness and hydraulic roughness can be entered by the user, or the ice cover can be modeled as a wide-river ice jam, in which case the jam thickness is estimated by HEC-RAS. For the wide-river jam, the user enters the material properties of the ice jam and its extent. Information describing the ice cover and ice properties can be entered for each individual cross section using an ice information editor or can be entered for a number of cross sections using a table. Results can be viewed in tabular or graphical form. Graphical output includes cross section plots, profile plots, and perspective plots displaying the ice cover extent and thickness. In addition, profile plots of other ice information, such as thickness and volume, can be readily displayed.