Short name: HEC-ResSim
Long name: Hydrologic Engineering Center Reservoir System Simulation
Model type: Single events or continuous; single reservoir on a single stream to a highly developed and interconnected system.
Usage: Short to medium range operation of multiple reservoirs for a common downstream control, including storage balancing, planning studies for evaluating proposed reservoirs in a system, flood management, low flow augmentation, water supply, detailed reservoir regulation plan investigations, real-time decision support, extreme storm events and continue to manage under extreme drought
Background: HEC-ResSim is the successor of HEC-5 developed to aid engineers and planners in predicting the behavior of reservoir systems in water management studies, decision-making process that reservoir operators must use to meet operating requirements for flood control, power generation, water supply, and environmental quality downstream of the reservoir. It represents the physical behavior of reservoir systems with a combination of hydraulic computations and hydrologic routing. The system composed of junctions, routing reaches, diversions, and reservoirs to build a network capable of representing a single reservoir on a single stream to a highly developed and interconnected system. ResSim streamflow hydrographs input can be integrated with HEC-HMS Hydrologic Modeling System for the real-time operation application. The first version was released in 2003. The current version was released in 2021. Further developments are in progress to enhance other modeling capabilities.
Developer: Hydrologic Engineering Center, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Modules: Watershed Setup, Reservoir Network, and Simulation
Channel routing: Lag & K, modified puls, Coefficient, Muskingum, Muskingum-Cunge 8-pt, Muskingum-Cunge prismatic, SSARR, Working R&D Routing.
Reservoir Routing: Accounting method, surcharge routing, emergency releases
Reservoir operation: Specified release, storage-discharge curve, outlet structures.
Shortwave radiation: N/A
Longwave radiation: N/A
Precipitation: external variable, not computed by the model
Evapotranspiration: external variable, not computed by the model
Snowmelt: external variable, not computed by the model
Infiltration: Seepage and leakage: external variables, not computed by the model
Surface runoff: external variable, not computed by the model
Baseflow: N/A
Input data: Inflow data, stage, physical and operational characteristics of dam and reservoir: storage, curves of height, area, volume, evaporation rate, leakage rate, operation location, index level, outlet capacity, control point data.
Integrated Suite of Software Tools: Reservoirs operations can be simulated using HEC-ResSim or as part of an integrated suite of software tools (CWMS – Corps Water Management System and HEC-WAT – Watershed Analysis Tool). Basic data required are physical and operational characteristics of dam and reservoir
Input format: HEC-DSS file format, programming API available.
For maps: ArcView® Shapefiles, ArcInfo® DEM files, AutoCAD® DXF files, USGS Digital Line Graphs (DLG) files, USGS DEM files, ASCII NET TIN files and raster images.
Input time interval: Options range from 1 minute to daily, with automatic linear interpolation to the simulation time interval.
Optimization: No Optimization method in current version
Data Assimilation: –
Ensemble: None at this time
Uncertainity: Not provided in current version
Simulation Time Interval: Minutes, hours and day
Model Output Time-Series: Reservoirs storage, elevation, controlled release and uncontrolled spill parameters; Regulated, unregulated and cumulative local flow; Regulated, unregulated and cumulative local stages;
Hydropower: generation efficiency, power head, hydraulic losses, energy generated, plant factor; Gate opening.
Time-Series format: HEC-DSS file format, programming API available
Model Output Statistics: Reservoir level, average, minimums, maximums, volumes necessary for showing mass balance, comparisons to observed data
Statistics Format: Summary Statistics/Extensible Markup Language (XML)
Installation: Easy – Automatic installation package
User Education: BSc
Degree of Difficulty: 3
GIS support: External with ESRI ArcMap
Data Preparation: External with HEC-DSSVue
Parameter Estimation: None at this time
Model Calibration: Editors (to change parameter values)
Model Verification: Nash-Sutcliffe, percent bias, RMSE standard deviation
Hardware Requirements: Pentium III (or equivalent) processor or higher with more than 4GB of RAM is recommended to improve compute times and data visualization performance.
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10
Language of Core Code: Java, with some Fortran
Open Source: No
Last Update and Version: February 2021 (Version 3.3)
Next Update and Version: Version 3.4)
Active Development Community: Yes
Download URL: https://www.hec.usace.army.mil/software/hec-ressim/downloads.aspx
Free to Download and Use: Yes
Language of Software Interface: English
Online Support URL: https://www.hec.usace.army.mil/software/support_policy.aspx
Training Material URL (including example data sets): https://www.hec.usace.army.mil/training/materials.aspx#RESERVOIR_SYSTEM_ANALYSIS_WITH_HEC-RESSIM
Language of Trainings: English
Guidance Material URL (including case studies and benchmarking of performance/speed): https://www.hec.usace.army.mil/software/hec-ressim/documentation.aspx
Language of Guidance: English
References: Klipsch, D.J., Evans, T.A., 2009. Reservoir operations modeling with HEC-ResSim, Hydrologic Engineering Center. US Army Corps of Engineers Davis, CA 530–756.
Google Scholar currently lists 590 journal articles, proceedings, reports, manuals, and other documents.
Developer: US Army Corps of Engineers
https://www.hec.usace.army.mil
Mailing Address:
Department of The Army
Corps of Engineers
Institute for Water Resources
Hydrologic Engineering Center
609 Second Street
Davis, CA 95616-4687
HEC Phone: +1 530.756.1104
HEC Fax: +1 530.756.8250