We are excited to announce the 2023-03-AA release of TUFLOW Classic/HPC. This new release introduces a range of major new functionalities. It also includes a variety of general enhancements and bug fixes for 2020-10-AF. A brief summary of the major new release items is provided below. For a complete description of all updates, please refer to the detailed release notes. The new release executable download is available from the TUFLOW website.
The new layered groundwater 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. This functionality is intended to provide a mechanism for improved catchment runoff and inundation modelling. For example:
Catchment response for 2D direct rainfall (“rain on grid”) models can be better represented where sub-surface transmission affects surface runoff.
Long-term, continuous catchment simulations experience improved prediction of stream flows between rainfall events.
The accuracy of real-time flood forecasts can be improved by modelling the draining and drying of catchments between rainfall events.
Modelling of inundation caused by sub-surface seepage.
The new release increases the number of GIS formats supported by TUFLOW, adding GeoPackage (vector and raster) and GeoTIFF (raster only) to the existing range of available GIS formats.
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.
GeoPackage supports spatial indexing, greatly reducing loading and viewing times in GIS software, making it much faster to work with in GIS packages.
Faster write speed than other supported GIS formats.
GeoTIFF is a valuable addition to the range of raster file formats TUFLOW supports. GeoTIFF includes greater data compression than equivalent FLT and ASC formats. This translates to more efficient data management due to smaller file size requirements.
2023-03-AA extends the functionality of Sub-Grid Sampling (SGS) introduced to TUFLOW HPC in the 2020‑01-AA release. Updates include improved model initialisation speed of SGS models via code parallelisation and the addition of new .xf files, additional options for defining sampling frequency, and improved output mapping.
TUFLOW HPC introduces a new 2D bridge modelling option. It 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, Baeumer, Gao, & Syme, 2022). 2023-03-AA also adds functionality for the modelling of arch bridges in 1D.
For perpetual licences, to run simulations using Build 2023-03 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. For any licensing enquiries please contact sales@tuflow.com.
If running TUFLOW HPC 2023-03-AA on GPU hardware, NVidia drivers may need to be updated for the 2023-03 Release. This is due to an update in the CUDA compiler version.
We hope you enjoy the new features added to 2023-03-AA. If you have any questions relating to the new release version, please email support@tuflow.com
Happy Modelling,
The TUFLOW Team