Abstract Submission: While 2D hydraulic models are now becoming common place, most engineers and scientists are not aware of the forty year long history of these types of numeric simulations. From their inception, one constant has been a quest to build numerical domains in as automated fashion as possible. The term "automated mesh generation" has been appearing in the literature for nearly as long as the methods have been applied. This paper discusses what this term has meant in the past, the current state of the art tools and methods that are available to the engineering profession, and provides a vision of where the technology will be in the very near future.
Learning Objectives/Expected Outcome (Optional) : The listener will be enlightened to learn of the new state of the art tools available in freely available software to simplify the process of constructing numerical domains for multiple hydraulic engines including HEC-RAS 2D and SRH-2D, as well as other similar numerical products.
