Starting a New Project

The first step in developing a hydraulic model with HEC-RAS is to establish which directory you wish to work in and to enter a title for the new project. To start a new project, go to the File menu on the main HEC-RAS window and select New Project. This will bring up a New Project window as shown in Figure 3.5.

Figure 3.5 New Project Window

As shown in Figure 3.5, you first select the drive and path that they want to work in (to actually select a path you must double click the directory you want in the directory box), next enter a project title and file name. The project filename must have the extension ".prj", the user is not allowed to change this. Once you have entered all the information, press the "OK" button to have the information accepted. After the OK button is pressed, a message box will appear with the title of the project and the directory that the project is going to be placed in. If this information is correct, press the OK button. If the information is not correct, press the Cancel button and you will be placed back into the New Project window.

Note: Before any Geometric data and Flow data are entered, the user should select the Units System (English or Metric) that they would like to work in. This step is accomplished by selecting Unit System from the Options menu of the main HEC-RAS window.

Entering Geometric Data