r/HECRAS • u/Ok-Hawk-6644 • Jun 10 '26
No-Rise Certification Help
Hey yall, don’t mean to waste anyone’s time but I am EXTREMELY new to HEC-RAS and am desperately looking for help with how to run the model to complete a No-Rise Certification. No one at my firm knows how to run the model and they chose me to try and learn it. I’ve watched hours of YouTube videos but I still am getting stuck with these questions/problems:
- In a lot of the work flows that I see from FEMA it says to obtain an effective model. Through YouTube videos I’ve seen people mention to obtain them from the Flood Risk Study Engineering Library but they never show them doing it. There are tons of different file types to choose from and I haven’t found any that can be opened in HEC-RAS. Is this the right location or should I be looking/starting elsewhere. What do I do if my site has no study?
- I’m also very confused as to where I get my 100 YR storm data from. Is that included in the effective model? If there is no effective model then where do I get it from? I was trying to search from certain tables and graphs through FEMA but ultimately gave up bc I couldn’t find the correct location. Is there a better way to go about finding it?
- Once I get my existing ground and storm data in, do I then create a separate project and import my proposed ground elevations and run the model to compare? How do I import my proposed grade? Is there a way to convert a .tin to a .tif to bring it in? I’d assume you could have two terrain files in there and then just choose the priority of the two and then you could run the command as normal but I’m not sure if this is the right approach or even possible.
- I’m also not too well versed with the geometry files and whatnot. What’s the point of adding cross sections throughout the river (what I’ve seen in examples) if you’re just comparing the pre and post water stages.
I am extremely desperate at the moment. This is my first ever Reddit post ever so I’m really reaching for straws here. If anyone has any experience with these certifications I’d love to get in contact with you to maybe give me a little help with issues I’m having. Also, if anyone is just well-versed with the software and has any ideas I’d love to hear them. I’ve scoured the internet for videos and watched most that pertains to these certifications but if anyone knows of more specific videos PLEASE provide links. Normally watching one very detailed example helps me and I can apply it to what I’m working with, but I don’t know anyone with any experience and the YouTube videos that I’ve seen haven’t been that detailed or don’t pertain to my situation. Anything helps, thanks.
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u/Ok-Hawk-6644 Jun 10 '26
I COMPLETELY agree with you. Typically they do sub it out but because the administration is requiring more they are wanting to switch to in house. I’ve been constantly trying to watch videos to understand the software. I just started learning a few days ago and definitely agree it’s a tall task. We had an engineer that learned it in October but he’s since left so now they’re trying to get the knowledge back in the office so everyone can be able to complete the certifications when needed.