Introducing HYDRUS 2D/3D, Version 3.x
Dear clients and HYDRUS users,
In Version 3, released in early May of 2018, we included a new flexible Reservoir Boundary Condition, expanded Root Growth features, and added many new graphical capabilities of the GUI. Detailed description of new features and changes can be found in:
Version 3 internally uses the latest software development tools and libraries, which are critical to ensure compatibility with new Windows operating systems. The code of GUI has been overall optimized to achieve a better performance and the program capacity has been increased by developing the 64-bit version of HYDRUS. While the limit of HYDRUS 2.x was about 1 million finite elements, 64-bit version of HYDRUS 3.x can work with almost 10 million finite elements. This feature permitted a considerable increase in the size of HYDRUS simulations, with the main limiting factor now being the speed of the calculation module(s).
This webpage provides you with links to a complete list of new features, new tutorials, and examples demonstrating these new options and features, and additional information. Please note that we will be continuously expanding information and resources available on this website.
Happy Hydrusing,
HYDRUS development team
List of New Features
Selected New Features in HYDRUS 3.x
Reservoir Boundary Condition
Reservoir boundary conditions potentially have a large number of applications such as estimating dynamically the water level in wells, in furrows during irrigation, and in wetlands. Another application concerns a relatively new approach to land development known as Low-Impact Development (LID), which is a “green” approach to storm water management that seeks to mimic the natural hydrology of a site using decentralized microscale control measures. More information:
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Expanded Root Growth Features
To extend the capabilities of the standard module of HYDRUS (2D/3D), a simple root growth model with similar capabilities as those in HYDRUS-1D was implemented into Version 3. The rooting depth, LR, can now be either constant (the standard approach) or variable during the simulations. For annual vegetation, a growth model is required to simulate changes in rooting depth with time. Time-variable rooting depth values can be provided either using a table on input, or calculated with the program assuming that the actual rooting depth is the product of the maximum rooting depth, Lm [L], and a root growth coefficient, fr(t) [-], which is calculated using the classical Verhulst-Pearl logistic growth function. More information:
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Flowing particles in 3D projects
Flowing particles are hypothetical objects that can be defined at any location of the transport domain by users, with the program then calculating trajectories and positions of these particles with time considering unretarded convective transport. The “flowing particles” feature is now available for both 2D and 3D projects.
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Streamlines
Version 3 of HYDRUS can calculate and display streamlines for a given steady-flow velocity field. Streamlines are one of the most commonly used graphical representations of CFD results and display very clearly the flow direction. There is also an option to run a flow animation, i.e., the movement of particles along streamlines. Users can save this animation as a video file and use it for a presentation of HYDRUS results.
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Graphical Manipulator
HYDRUS 3.x provides additionally the ability to perform graphical manipulations, while it is also possible to combine graphical and numeric inputs, i.e., to perform an approximate operation in the graphical mode, and to enter the exact value for displacement or rotation at the end. An example of working with a graphical manipulator can be seen in the enclosed video. The graphical manipulator will make it easier to define computational areas of more complex shapes.
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Clipping and Slicing
The optimization of a GUI for work with relatively large FE meshes required certain changes in using mesh-sections. While mesh-sections are still fully supported, the program by default does not generate as many mesh-sections as in Version 2. However, we created a new graphical tool called “Clipper” that can now be used to cut or slice a 3D mesh.
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Velocity vectors in raster points
The graphical display of velocity vectors for millions of mesh nodes is not only slow but usually also too complex for viewing. We improved the new GUI to allow displays of velocity vectors either at mesh nodes or raster points, while the raster parameters (such as the density of points) are fully adjustable.
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New options for Mesh-Sections and selection of mesh entities
Useful function related to mesh-sections is the possibility to select mesh nodes or elements by selecting geometric objects in a data-explorer tree.
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Inactive objects
Some topological objects needed to create the geometry of the computational area are only auxiliary, i.e., they are not taken into account when generating the finite element mesh. Examples include cut-away parts, curved axes of the Pipe surfaces, and similar. HYDRUS 3.x provides a new option to hide these objects automatically so that they do not interfere when viewing the area.
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Named Views
HYDRUS 3.x allows you to save different views with any settings and then to recall them quickly. This is especially useful when the View settings are not completely simple - for example, special clipping, along with streamlines, and so on. Saved views can also be used for the purpose of to present results in a program. This video shows the work with Named Views.
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Numbering of isolines
The 3D graphics of Version 3 of HYDRUS is improved, including allowing the rendering to be smoother and faster. A transparent mode (object translucency) is now available also for the graphical display of results. We included at the same time new options for automatic numbering of isolines and displaying positions of minimum/maximum values of a current quantity.
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Export data to Paraview
Although we believe that HYDRUS post-processing has all of the most important features needed for project execution, some users may require additional functions specific to their own needs. The new version of HYDRUS offers a robust solution by exporting all results to VTK files. VTK is a well-known open source library intended for the visualization of scientific data. Exported HYDRUS results can then be opened in Para-View is a free program based on VTK. Since both software products (VTK and Para-View) are open source, users have full control over the exported data and can implement any special post-processing as judged optimal for their application.
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Optimization and 64-bit version
Version 3 internally uses the latest software development tools and libraries, which is critical to ensure compatibility with new Windows operating systems. The code of GUI has been overall optimized to achieve a better performance and the program capacity has been increased by developing the 64-bit version of HYDRUS. While the limit of HYDRUS 2.x was about 1 million finite elements, 64-bit version of HYDRUS 3.x can work with almost 10 million finite elements. This feature permitted a considerable increase in the size of HYDRUS simulations, with the main limiting factor now being the speed of the calculation module(s).
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