InfoWorks RS was launched in 2002 as the successor to the highly-successful ISIS river modeling software. Sales Manager, Tyrone Parkinson, explains: “Customers were building bigger and bigger models, increasing both the area of coverage and also the level of detail, and this presented new challenges in terms of efficient data management. New data sources were becoming more readily available, most notably LiDAR data that provided detailed ground level information along river valleys and floodplains. This changed the way modelers could represent out of bank area and approach the model building process.”

Rapid development has continued, driven by changing user requirements, new regulations, advances in the state of the science such as finite volume modeling methods and new conveyance estimation methods, and Wallingford Software’s own desire to continue to improve its products.

Most recently, the functionality of InfoWorks RS has changed significantly with the inclusion of the InfoWorks 2D module and the HR Breach methods in v9.0. The 2D module uses a finite volume engine to simulate the flow of water in channels, over floodplains and in or around walls, buildings, roads and other urban infrastructure.

Mr. Parkinson explains: “Representing the flows in 2D provides much more detail and accuracy, particularly for local water levels and velocities and is particularly useful for flood damage assessment and analyzing risk to life from flood inundation. The HR Breach methods allow for simulation of the failure of both homogeneous and composite embankments and dams (a major factor in flood risk assessment) through piping, overtopping or failure of the surface protection layers. Providing completely integrated 1D, 2D and breach simulation functionality in a single product (single model networks, single data storage, single simulation and single results analysis and post-processing) ensures that InfoWorks RS remains the most advanced flood modeling product available today.”

FloodWorks

FloodWorks was launched in 2000 to offer a packaged, off-the-shelf product for real time flood forecasting and warning. Mr. Parkinson notes, “Engineers and hydrologists at Wallingford Software had been involved in both R&D for real-time flood forecasting technology and also the development and implementation of operational systems for some 20 years. The systems that were delivered were all based upon customized software. While the modeling software and computation engines may have come from packaged products, the software framework that linked these models together and to the live data sources was unique to each application. Similarly the user interfaces and databases were also specific to each customer.”

The widespread flooding in Europe and Asia in the late 1990s raised awareness of the benefits of real-time flood forecasting and warning. It created a demand for systems that could be easily and efficiently delivered, at both a national and local scale, and easily supported and expanded as new data, new models and new sources of real-time data became available. FloodWorks was designed to meet this demand.

Most recently, v9.0 supports both the InfoWorks CS and SD products within a FloodWorks system to allow forecasting of flooding from urban stormwater and wastewater systems. This significant enhancement meets the growing need for detailed urban flood forecasting and warning.