Introduction
Document Updates and Important Notices
(in chronological order)
March 16, 2023: The 2023-03 Release is a major release that includes several new industry leading features built into the TUFLOW HPC 2D solver. The exciting new features include layered interflow, support for new vector and raster GIS file formats, Sub-Grid Sampling (SGS) enhancements and 2D bridge modelling enhancements.
The HPC solver has several new default settings due to the new functionality. Without setting the backward compatibility switches the results will be different, although for most models the differences should be minimal. For TUFLOW Classic, no default settings have changed, however, an update to the Fortran Compiler may mean very slight differences compared to the 2020-10 builds.
June 22, 2023: The 2023-03-AB Release update which includes bug fixes and enhancements. A description of bug fixes and other changes are highlighted in light green.
September 15, 2023: The 2023-03-AC Release update which includes bug fixes and enhancements. A description of bug fixes and other changes are highlighted in light blue.
February 27, 2024: The 2023-03-AD Release update which includes bug fixes and enhancements. A description of bug fixes and other changes are highlighted in light orange.
March 21, 2024: The 2023-03-AE Release update which includes a bug fix for HPC when running on multiple GPUs or multiple CPU threads. This change is highlighted in light grey.
This document may be updated from time-to-time with new content from software updates.
Summary
The TUFLOW Classic/HPC 2023-03 Release introduces major new functionality, along with general enhancements and bug fixes. The major features are as follows:
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Layered Interflow
The new layered interflow feature permits horizontal flow of water through soil layers within the cumulative infiltration layer. Up to 10 vertical layers are supported, each with horizontal advection and vertical infiltration from above. The functionality introduced in the 2023-03 Release is intended to provide a mechanism to improve catchment runoff and inundation modelling. For example:
- Catchment response for 2D direct rainfall (“rain on grid”) models can be better represented where subsurface transmission affects surface runoff.
- Longer term, continuous catchment models offer improved prediction of streamflows between rainfall events.
- The accuracy of real-time flood forecasts can be improved by modelling the drying and draining of catchments between rainfall events.
- Sub-surface seepage causing inundation, such as seepage under a levee bank through a porous layer
(e.g., old gravel river course), causing flooding on the protected side of the levee.
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New GIS Database Format for Vector and Raster Data
The 2023-03 Release increases support for GIS formats with new vector and raster formats supported for both reading and writing of GIS data. These new formats are GeoPackage (vector and raster) and GeoTIFF (raster only). GeoPackage is a widely supported, open GIS database format, built upon an SQLite database (data is stored as a single file with the extension .gpkg). This database format has several benefits, including:
- Multiple GIS layer can be stored in the single file database. For example, all GIS input layers can be stored in a single GeoPackage file.
- Supports spatial indexing, greatly reducing loading and viewing times making it much faster to work with in GIS packages.
- Faster to write from TUFLOW than the shapefile format.
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Sub-Grid Sampling Enhancements
The 2023-03 Release extends the functionality of the Sub-Grid Sampling (SGS) introduced to TUFLOW HPC in the 2020-01 Release. This includes improving performance of start-up times for SGS models through parallelisation and new .xf files, additional options for defining sampling frequency, and improved output mapping.
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Bridge Enhancements
TUFLOW HPC introduces a new 2D bridge modelling option, that simplifies 2D bridge inputs and incorporates the outcomes of a joint research project between Qld Dept of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) and TUFLOW to better quantify bridge deck losses (Collecutt et al., 2022). The 2023-03 Release also includes support for modelling 1D arch bridges.
Licensing
For perpetual licences, to run simulations using Build 2023-03-AA through 2023-03-AC requires payment of the 2022/2023 annual software maintenance fee (invoiced mid-2022) and for the TUFLOW licence to have been updated (i.e., via RaC/RaU files). For active rental and subscription licences, no updates should be required.
Build 2023-03-AD requires payment of the 2023/2024 annual software maintenance fee (invoiced mid-2023) and for the TUFLOW licence to have been updated.
For tutorial and demo models, or if running in free demo mode, no licence is required. For any licensing enquiries please contact sales@tuflow.com, or for general support support@tuflow.com. Use of the TUFLOW software in any mode is bound by the TUFLOW Products Licence Agreement.
Please refer to the TUFLOW Price List for more details or contact sales@tuflow.com.
Note: If running TUFLOW HPC on GPU hardware the NVidia drivers may need to be updated for the
2023-03 Release. This is due to an update in the CUDA compiler version (to CUDA version 11.5). If using TUFLOW HPC on
a NVidia GPU device, it is recommended to update the NVidia drivers prior to using the 2023-03 Release.
For the 2023-03 Release, two executables are provided: 64-bit single precision (TUFLOW_iSP_w64.exe) and 64-bit double precision (TUFLOW_iDP_w64.exe). Note, if using the HPC solver (including Quadtree), it is rare that the double precision version is required due to the nature of the solution scheme. If in doubt, run the model using single and double precision, and if there is no significant change in results use single precision as the simulation will be faster and use less memory.
