How to set up a Sobek RURAL Model in FEWS

How to set up a Sobek-RURAL Model in FEWS

Needed:

• installation of SOBEK (incl license) in the root of the same partition of your hard disk (e.g. c: or d: ) as where FEWS is run.

• SOBEK project (*.lit folder) in /Modules/SOBEK/[application name]/ *.lit

• SOBEK adapter: /Modules/SOBEK/[application name]/ SOBEK_Adapter.xml

• general adapter file: Config/ModuleConfigFiles/SOBEK_Forecast and SOBEK_Historical

Settings inside the SOBEK case

Simulation period and calculation time step
The simulation period needs to be triggered by the meteorological data. When running SOBEK from the User Interface there is a meteo-event file used. This file is called *.bui and is located by default in the SOBEK folder \SOBEK211\FIXED. The meteo event has a time step which will influence the calculation time step in the case. It is recommended to make this time step in the meteo event file larger than the desired calculation time step, to avoid SOBEK resetting your time step.

When running SOBEK under FEWS there is also a meteo event file needed. This file (e.g. Rainfall.xml) is exported by the general adapter-file. So even if there is no rainfall needed for running the SOBEK model, it needs to be exported for determining the meteo event and thus the simulation period.

Model state files
FEWS propagates the model state of the SOBEK model with the historical runs. Every next run is started from the last known model state, a warm state. If the model state is disregarded this means a cold state start is made. In both cases the model state is read from so called 'restart-files'. The SOBEK case needs to be instructed to write and read the same restart-files in the settings under the tab 'initial data'. You will receive a warning that the restart files have the same name and will be overwritten.
In the project folder (xxxx.lit) the restart files 1DFLOW.RDA, 1DFLOW.RDF and 1DFLOW.RDS can be found in the case, the folder starts with a number. In the folder xxxx.lit/FIXED the 2D restart files 2DFLOW.FDS and 2DFLOW.FLS can be found. These restart files all need to be copied into the ColdStateFiles/SOBEK_Historical default.xml.

Water Quality calculation
In case of using any WAQ module, ensure the option for using the previous flow results is switched off in the SETTINGS task.

Copying the Project folder
Before copying the project folder from the SOBEK program to the FEWS Modules directory, you can reduce the size of the complete case directory by removing the original results
1. run the simulation task
2. cancel the simulation once started
3. press [Show permanent] button on error message box
4. delete all next files in work directory of the case
a) .out;.his;.map;.stu;.pst;.hia;.log;.prn;.hia;.inc;.asc;.mon;.lst
b) 2DAREA.DAT
c) 2DFLOW.DAT
d) 2DSOBEK.CHZ
e) 2DVELOC.DAT
f) 2DVOLUME.DAT
g) 2DPOINT.DAT
5. remove rubish data from the project directory
a) boundary subdir
b) data subdir
c) initial S subdir
d) Network subdir
e) Many files in fixed subdir
f) Many files in Bathymetry subdir

The case must be saved before copying with at least the [Schematisation] task green.

Schematisation
Note that the boundaries, laterals and controllers which data is being updated by FEWS should already been defined as time tables, both for Flow and WAQ modules!**

Output
To make sure the amount of output produced by SOBEK is no more than needed, it is important to uncheck all unnecessary output creation. If only water depth is needed in 2D then only have this option checked.

Settings inside the SOBEK module directory

Inside the module directory SOBEK needs to have a /bin folder with SBKbatch.exe and SBKbatch.ini . Inside the other directory the folders Inputs, Logs, project folder copied from SOBEK, Output and States are needed. In the root of this directory the SOBEK_Adapter.xml is found.

SOBEK_Adapter.xml
In this file the adapter for SOBEK is configured.

general
The file describes in the 'general' section which project to use and which case to use inside the project.

NB: The elements parsenMinimumTimeSeriesLength, parsenSourceFiles are only required in case useParsenUpdateMode is used. So use or all three, or none of them. In case you have useParsenUpdateMode = TRUE, the PARSEN (SOBEK 1D Flow pre-processor) will not completely generate the NEFIS files sobek.mda and sobek.mdf, but will only update the time series in the file. This improves the performance for large networks.

postProcessingActivities
In the 'postProcessingActivities' the 2D map outputs from SOBEK are moved Output folder and the restart files written to the States folder. Please note that whether they are read by FEWS depends on the generalAdapter file.

parameters
In 'parameters' it is described which timeSeries need to be translated to which SOBEK files and how they should be interpreted.
Notice that updating of time series in SOBEK files should be defined as follows, where the description is very important:

• comment: has no meaning, can be any string just for your reference
• description: in case of time series, this should be the SOBEK object ID, like lateral node ID, controller ID etc. Although the name 'description' suggests that this field has no meaning, this is a very important field.
• locationID : is the location ID as used in the PI XML time series file
• parameterID : is the parameter ID as used in the PI XML time series file
• type: type of data or time series. See the table below to select the type of parameter to select.

Please note that the rainfall, evaporation and wind time series should be all in one single XML file, so one for all rainfall series, one for all evaporation series and one for all wind series (speed and direction both in one file).
Rainfall series are always converted independent on the parameterID, where all locationIDs are converted to meteo stations. Evaporation works the same. Regarding wind series, the adapter looks for the following time series:

• For wind speed: a series with in the parameterID the string "speed" (not case sensitive) for a locationID or parameterID that contains the string "wind"
  the following will work:
• LocationID = "xxxx", ParameterID = "Wind Speed"
• LocationID = "Wind", ParameterID = "Speed"
• For wind direction: a series with in the parameterID the string "dir" (not case sensitive) for a locationID or parameterID that contains the string "wind"
  the next examples will work:
• LocationID = "xxxx", ParameterID = "Wind Direction"
• LocationID = "Wind", ParameterID = "Dir"

Flow_dam and Flow_dambreak should be triggered by time series with non-missing values. The flow_dam should have timeseries where the location id is equal to the reachsegment id. The adapter creates the weir/dam at this segment. The time series values represent the height of the weir. This is automatically added to the bed level to get a correct crest level of the weir.

The dambreaks can be created at all node types that are calculation points (fixed and regular calculation points, connection nodes and linkage nodes). The time series that trigger a dambreak should contain by default missing values, but a -1 for a dambreak at the left side, a +1 for a dambreak at the right side. The adapter creates a new reach to represents the dambreak. At this reach a weir structure is placed, with a crest level that will be lowered at the start of the dambreak.

Notice that using dams or dam breaks will make that the restart files do not fit anymore with the network and will be neglected.

Jobs
In the 'jobs' section nothing needs to be changed.

Output
In the 'output' section the output locations need to be identified. Moreover the SOBEK_Adapter needs to know in which file to read the output and to which PI-file to write the output so that the generalAdapter can read it.

mapStack
In the 'mapStack' part the 2D maps are put together in a so called map stack. The generalAdapter will import these map stacks as a grid timeSeries.

States
The last section in the SOBEK_Adapter.xml file is 'states'. This describes the read locations and writelocations of the model states. This is similar to other external modules.
1d states: 1dflow.rda, 1dflow.rdf, 1dflow.rds
2d states: 2dflow.fls, 2dflow.fds
WQ states: 1dwaq.res, 2dwaq.2rs

Longitudinal profiles

GeneralAdapter

The generalAdapter is similar to other generalAdapter files. For the exact syntax inside the executeActivities part of the file always copy an existing SOBEK generalAdapter. A special point of attention is that there should always be a meteo time series exported to SOBEK. This file will determine the start and end time of the run.

Please make sure the GA run is configured to set the missing value definition in the XML files it exports to -999.99 and not the default NaN. This should be set in general section, please see the example below. If NaN is used as missing value definition the SOBEK adapter will complain about missing value when there is 0.0 precipitation.

	<general>
		<rootDir>$REGION_HOME$/Modules/Sobek/Singapore</rootDir>
		<workDir>%ROOT_DIR%</workDir>
		<exportDir>%ROOT_DIR%/Input</exportDir>
		<exportIdMap>IdExportSobek</exportIdMap>
		<importDir>%ROOT_DIR%/Output</importDir>
		<importIdMap>IdImportSobekForecast</importIdMap>
		<dumpFileDir>$GA_DUMPFILEDIR$</dumpFileDir>
		<dumpDir>%ROOT_DIR%</dumpDir>
		<diagnosticFile>%ROOT_DIR%/Logs/diagnostics.xml</diagnosticFile>
		<missVal>-999.99</missVal>
		<convertDatum>true</convertDatum>
		<timeZone>
			<timeZoneOffset>+08:00</timeZoneOffset>
		</timeZone>
	</general>

Problems/Solutions

sbkbacth seems to hang at startup and use a lot of cpu power

This may happen if sbkbatch cannot write it's diagnostics file. Check if the directory is present and if it is readable by the adapter. The location of the diagnostics file is set in the general section of the xml configuration file:

<fewsDiagnosticsFile>Logs\Diagnostics.xml</fewsDiagnosticsFile>

This problem has been solved since July 2008.