About
BASEMENT - A freeware simulation tool for hydro- and morphodynamic modelling
The application of numerical modelling tools to river engineering problems is a well established methodology. For that purpose, the numerical software BASEMENT for simulation of hydro- and morphodynamics is developed and is available free of charge - also for commercial use. The main motivation for development of the software is to provide an powerful user-friendly tool that facilitates basic applications for practitioners as well as advanced model configuration for research. The numerical simulation software BASEMENT is developed at the Laboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology (VAW) of the ETH Zürich.
The BASEMENT flyer gives a brief overview of highlighted features.
Key features of the software
Two separate modules of the software exist in Version 4.0 of BASEMENT. These modules differ in their key features:
BASEMENT Multi Domain (BASEMD)
- 1-D and 2-D hydro- and morphodynamics
- 3-D subsurface flow
- slope collapse
- model coupling
- automatic control
- different performance concepts
The underlying one- and two-dimensional models are based on the Saint-Venant equations for hydrodynamics, the Exner-Hirano equations for bed load and an advection-diffusion approach with source terms for suspended sediment transport. Mentionable special features of the software are arbitrary combination of 1-D and 2-D model domains (model coupling), a PID controller for various monitoring values (automatic control) and use of an unstructured dual-mesh to improve topographic accuracy.
BASEMENT High-Performance Computing (BASEHPC)
- 2-D hydro- and morphodynamics
- slope collapse
- suspended sediment transport
- transport of tracers
- vegetation dynamics and coupling with sediment transport
- different performance concepts
For now, this version is limited to a two-dimensional model based on the Saint-Venant equations for hydrodynamics, the Exner-equation for bed load transport and an advection-diffusion approach. A key feature of BASEHPC is the increased performance (four to more than 90 times faster than BASEMD) while maintaining model accuracy and stability. This is possible with a pure first-order finite volume discretization, strong scaling of multi-core CPU simulations and GPGPU acceleration for large computational meshes.