Background

TUFLOW is originally the product of a joint research and development project between WBM Pty Ltd and The University of Queensland completed in 1990. The project's objective was to develop a 2D modelling system with dynamic links to a 1D system. Up until 1997 it was used extensively by WBM Pty Ltd (www.wbmpl.com.au) for estuarine and coastal studies, with the occasional flood study. Since 1997, considerable improvements in flood modelling capabilities and GIS linkages have been developed, resulting in extensive and wide-ranging application to flood investigations in worldwide.

TUFLOW's 2D solution is based on the Stelling finite difference, alternating direction implicit (ADI) scheme that solves the full 2D free surface shallow water flow equations. The scheme has been improved to handle upstream controlled flow regimes (eg. supercritical and weir flow), bridge decks, box culverts, robust wetting and drying, and other features. The 1D solution is based on the widely applied WBM in-house software ESTRY which solves the St Venant equations using a two-stage explicit solution.

TUFLOW was made commercially available in 2001, with the first sale to the UK. Since 2004, over 150 organisations across fourteen countries have purchased TUFLOW. TUFLOW is now an established and internationally recognised 2D/1D hydrodynamic computational engine.