ENGINEERING INTERACTION
HARNESSING 2-D MODELING AND GIS CAPABILITIES TO BRING MAPS TO LIFE
Design tool for Climatic Adjustments to NRCS curve numbers
History: Between 2001 and 2003, Floodace Principal – Shiva Sandrana – developed a design tool with David McLendon and Kirt Harle as a part of the graduate research team at Texas Tech University under Professor David B. Thompson. The team developed a design tool in the form of a paper map for TxDOT by drawing curves across Texas to identify regions where the deviations between observed and predicted numbers of watershed rainfall data was close to constant. TxDOT adopted this tool in their Hydraulic Design Manual in 2010 and has been used by Engineers since then.
Floodace Innovation: The paper copy of the design tool posed tactile usage issues so Floodace created a GIS web application of the design tool to aid engineers to quickly identify watershed locations and subtract their values from predicted curve numbers.
Atlas 14 Precipitation Zones in Bexar County
History: In October 2018, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) published the Atlas 14, Volume 11, Precipitation Frequency Estimates in Texas. In April 2019, City of San Antonio adopted Atlas 14 rainfall values as the standard for design. Rainfall estimates based on Atlas-14 varied across the Bexar County from 10 inches in the south to approximately 13 inches in the northern part. For ease of design, five precipitation zones were established for Bexar County. Intensity-Duration-Frequency curves were developed for each of the precipitation zones.
Floodace Innovation: Engineers are required to use appropriate rainfall standards for the precipitation zone based on project location so Floodace created this web application to easily identify the appropriate precipitation zone in Bexar county by doing an address search for the project location of interest.
REQUIRE YOUR OWN WEB APPLICATION OR 2-D MODELING ?