v. 11.

2
SMS 11.2 Tutorial

GenCade

Objectives
This tutorial will show how to set up and run a GenCade model. GenCade is a regional model for
calculating coastal sediment transport, morphology change, and sand bypassing at inlets and engineered
structures. This tutorial will apply the GenCade model to the south shore of Long Island, NY because of
the availability of a long-term regional coastal database and because the site includes multiple inlets and
barrier islands with coastal structures. Our objective is to demonstrate the efficacy of GenCade in
modeling the coastal sediment transport, morphology change, and sand bypassing at inlets and other
coastal structures.

Prerequisites

None

Requirements

Map Module
1D Grid Module

Time

60-90 minutes

1 Getting Started
GenCade requires that an initial shoreline be read into SMS. To read the file into the
conceptual model correctly, the file must be in *.cst format. The *.cst format requires the
x and y coordinates of every point along the shoreline. We will also read in a regional
contour for this project. In addition, we will read in Aerial jpg image files in order to help
us build our model. We will start by reading in the image files. Open the images and the
*.cst files and define the *.cst files by doing the following:

1. There are multiple .jpg image files that must be read into SMS. Select File |
Open and choose m4007210.jpg. With the Ctrl button on the keyboard held
down, select the following remaining .jpg files: m4007211, m4007212,
m4007213,m4007322, m4007327, m4007328, and m4007330. Click Yes if SMS
asks if you want to generate pyramids.
2. Now Select File | Open and choose initial.cst. This file will be our initial
coastline.
3. Right-click on the Default Coverage and choose Type -> Models -> GenCade.
4. Right-click on the coverage again and select Rename. Set the coverage name to
GenCade.
5. With the Select Feature Arc
tool, double-click on the arc. In the GenCade
Arc Attributes dialog, define the arc as Initial Shoreline. Click OK.
Now we will open the regional contour.
6. First, right-click on Map Data in the project explorer and choose New Coverage.
7. Set the coverage type to GenCade and name the coverage Regional Contour.
8. With the new coverage active, select File | Open and select reg_cont.cst
9. Once the file is read in, select the Select Feature Arc
the arc and set it to Regional Contour. Click OK.

tool and double click on

1.1

Merge the Coverages

After the initial shoreline and regional contour have been loaded and defined in the SMS
interface, it is necessary to merge the two lines in a single coverage. All structures, inlets,
wave gages, and other features will be created in this single coverage. Merge the
coverages by doing the following:
1. Highlight both the default coverage (initial shoreline) and the new coverage
(regional contour). This can be done by hitting ctrl on the keyboard and clicking
on both coverages.
2. Right-click and select Merge Coverages. A window will open asking if the user
would like to delete the coverages used to make the merged coverage. If no is
selected, the initial shoreline and regional contour coverages will remain in the
interface. It is a good idea to keep these coverages in the interface. If a problem
occurs with the merged coverage, the initial shoreline and regional contour may
be merged again.

2 Define the Projection

This project requires a global UTM coordinate system. Do the following to define both
the display and object projection:
1. Select Display | Projection. Click on Global projection and set the projection to
UTM. Set the Zone to 18 (78 degrees W - 72 degrees W - Northern Hemisphere),
the Datum to NAD83, and the Planar Units to METERS. Click OK. Make sure the
Vertical units are set to Meters and click OK again.
2. Define the Object projection by right clicking on the Merge Coverage map item
and selecting Projection and changing it to the same projection as the Display
projection. Click OK when done.

3 Grid Setup: Structures and Events

We will now create and define the features of our project. These features include inlets,
groins, and jetties.

3.1

Inlets and Dredging Events

Our project contains four main inlets: Jones inlet, Fire Island inlet, Moriches inlet, and
Shinnecock inlet. Our project contains two dredging events: One at Moriches and the
other at Shinnecock. We will define these inlets and dredging events in our model by
doing the following:
1. Zoom into the inlet in the image on the far left of the model . The inlet is shown
if figure 1:

Figure 1

2. Digitize an inlet by selecting the Create Feature Arc

from one side of the inlet to the other.
3. With the Select Feature Arc
set the Arc Options to Inlet.

tool and drawing an arc

tool, double-click on the newly created arc and

4. Click on the Attributes button and name the inlet "Jones".

5. Next, click on the Volume button.
6. Now open the Inlets.xls in Microsoft Excel. Copy the values of the first column
under Initial in the Jones Inlet Volume section and paste them into the Initial
column in the Inlet Shoal Volumes Dialog. Copy and Paste the values from the
next column in the spreadsheet to the next column of the dialog. Click OK when
done.
7. Set both the Left Bypass Coef and Right Bypass Coef to .8. Click OK when done.
8. Zoom out of the Jones inlet now, and zoom into the inlet in the middle image.
The inlet is shown in figure 2:

Figure 2
9. Repeat steps 2-5, but set the inlet name to "Fire Island".
10. In the spreadsheet Inlets.xls under Fire Island Inlet Volume, Copy the values and
paste them into the Inlet Shoal Volumes dialog.
11. Set both the Left Bypass Coef and Right Bypass Coef to 1.0. Click OK when
done twice.
12. Now zoom out of the "Fire Island" inlet and zoom into the image on the right.
There are two inlets among these images. We want to zoom into the inlet on the
left. The inlet is shown in figure 3:

Figure 3

13. repeat steps 2-5, but set the inlet name to "Moriches".
14. In the spreadsheet Inlets.xls under Moriches Inlet Volume, Copy the values and
paste them into the Inlet Shoal Volumes dialog.
15. Set both the Left Bypass Coef and Right Bypass Coef to .8. Click OK when
done.
16. Click on the Dredging button. In the spreadsheet inlets.xls under Moriches
Dredging Events, copy the cells and paste them in their respective cells in the
Dredging Events Dialog. Click OK twice when done.
17. Zoom out of the Moriches inlet and zoom into the last inlet to the right of
Moriches. This inlet is the one shown in figure 4:

Figure 4

18. Repeat steps 2-5, but set the inlet name to "Shinnecock".
19. In the spreadsheet Inlets.xls under Shinnecock Inlet Volume, Copy the values and
paste them into the Inlet Shoal Volumes dialog.
20. Set the Left Bypass Coef to 1.0 and the Right Bypass Coef to 10.0.
21. Click on the Dredging button. In the spreadsheet inlets.xls under Shinnecock
Dredging Events, copy the cells and paste them in their respective cells in the
Dredging Events Dialog. Click OK three times when done.

3.2

Jetties
Jetties can be created to the left and right of the inlets. They can be given a length,
permeability, and a seaward depth. Whether the jetty exists and is diffracting can also be
specified. To create the jetties:
Zoom into the Jones Inlet. With the Create Feature Arc tool create arcs on both sides of
the inlet arc as shown in figure 5.

Figure 5
1. With the Select Feature Arc tool, double-click on the jetty to your right if you
were to be facing the ocean with your back to the land.

2. Set this arc to be Right Jetty on Inlet.

3. Select the Attributes button and set the permeability value to 0.2. Toggle on
Diffreacting and set the Seaward Depth to 7.
4. Click OK twice when done.
5. Double-click on the left jetty now, and repeat steps 3-5, except set the arc to Left
Jetty on Inlet.
Now zoom into the Moriches inlet. Create arcs on both sides of the inlet arc as shown in figure 6.

Figure 6
6. Double-click on the jetty to your right if you were to be facing the ocean with
your back to the land.

7. Repeat steps 3-5, except toggle on Diffracting, leave the Permiability to 0.0, and
change the Seaward Depth to 5.
8. Select the left Jetty. Repeat steps 3-5 except select Left Jetty on Inlet and toggle
on diffracting, set the Permiability to 0.0 and the SeaWard Depth to 5.
9. Zoom out of the Moriches Inlet and zoom into the Shinnecock inlet. Create arcs
on both sides of the inlet arcs as you have previously done with other inlets and
as shown in figure 7.

Figure 7
10. Set the right arc to be Right Jetty on Inlet and the left arc as Left Jetty on Inlet
and set their attributes to be Diffracting and the Seaward Depth to be 3. Click OK
twice when done.

3.3

Groins
We will now set up groins in our model. We want to place groins along the coastlines in
between the Moriches and Shinnecock inlets, and to the left of the Jones inlet. Parameters
for characterizing groins include length, permeability, diffraction, and depth. To define a
groin or jetty, proceed with the following steps:
1. Zoom to the left of the Jones inlet, and using the Create Feature Arc tool, draw
arcs along the shoreline as shown in figure. There are 13 groins total in this
location: 11 are grouped to the left and two are placed just to the left of Jones
inlet. Figure 8 shows their location.

Figure 8
2. Once the arcs are created, double-click on each of them and define them as Groin
and click on the Attributes button. Set them all to have a permeability of 0.1,
toggle on Diffracting, and set the Seaward Depth to 3.0.

Next we want to create groins in between the Moriches and Shinnecock inlets. Figure 9
shows the location of where we want to create the groins.

Figure 9

There are 14 groins total in this location that we want to create.

1. With the Create Feature Arc tool, create 14 arcs in roughly the same location
shown in figure 9.
2. Double-click each arc using the Select Feature Arc tool and define the arcs as
groins. Then click on the Attributes button and set the Permeability to 0.1, toggle
on Diffracting, and set the Seaward Depth to 3.0.

3.4

Seawall
A seawall will be created approximately 500 meters west of the Jones Inlet. Parameters
for characterizing seawalls include start and end location. The seawall must be drawn
landward of the shoreline. If the user attempts to draw the seawall directly on top of the
initial shoreline, an error will occur. The seawall drawn by the user should resemble the
shape of the real seawall as closely as possible. If the user is not meticulous in drawing
the seawall, the shape of the seawall in the GenCade model may not resemble the actual
seawall. Additionally, since cell numbers are used in the GenCade model, the seawall
shape may look different after converting from the conceptual model. To define a
seawall, proceed with the following steps:
1. With the Create Feature Arc tool, click out four arcs approximating the dark blue
arcs indicated in figure 10.

Figure 10
2. With the Select Feature Arc tool, double-click on each of the arcs and define
them as Seawalls.
Note: When the model is converted to a 1D grid, an error message referring to the
seawall may pop up. This message should be ignored; GenCade will modify the cells
defined for the seawall. The user should review the seawall in the GenCade model. If the
seawall does not resemble the actual seawall, the cell numbers and distances from the
grid should be revised. A smaller cell size near the seawall may also be helpful.

3.5

Beach Fills
We will create a total of four beach fills for our project. Parameters for
characterizing beach fills include begin and end time, location, and width. To define
the beach fills, proceed with the following steps:

1. Zoom into the Jones inlet and create an arc just as the green arc in figure 11.
2. Select the arc and double-click on it. Set the arc option to Beach Fill Event and
select Attributes.
3. Set the Begin Date to 01-Mar-1994, and the End Date to 30-Apr-1994.
4. Set the Added Berm Width to 10, then select OK twice.

Figure 11

5. Now zoom into Moriches inlet, and create a beach fill arc just as the green arc in
figure 12.

6. Double-click and set the arc option to Beach Fill Event, and click on Attributes.
7. Set the Start Date to 01-Mar-1994 and the End Date to 30-Apr-1994.
8. Set the Added Berm Width to 200.0 and click OK twice.

Figure 12
9. Next, zoom to Shinnecock inlet and create a beach fill arc right where the green
arc in figure 13 is.
10. Set the arc to Beach Fill Event as you have previously done, and set its attributes
by first clicking on the Attributes button.
11. This particular arc will have multiple beach fill events. Set the first to have a start
date of 01-Apr-1984 and an end date of 31-May-1984. Set the Added Berm Width
to 5.0.

12. Set the second event's start date to 01-Apr-1990 and its end date to 31-May-1990,
and set the Added Berm Width to 5.0.
13. Set the third event's start date to 01-Mar-1993 and its end date to 28-Dec-1993,
and set the Added Berm Width to 5.0. Click OK twice when done.

Figure 13
14. For the final beach fill event, zoom to the top right of the coastline, and create a
beach fill event arc as shown in figure 14.
15. Set the arc option to Beach Fill Event, and set the Start Date to 01-Mar-1994 and
the End Date to 31-May-1994. Set the Added Berm Width to 20 and Click OK
twice.

Figure 14

3.6

Breakwaters
We will create one breakwater in our project. Parameters for
characterizing breakwaters include start and end location, depth, and transmission
coefficient. To define a breakwater, proceed with the following steps:
1. At about 5800 m northeast of Shinnecock inlet, create an arc using the Create
Feature Arc tool. The orange arc in figure 13 illustrates where the arc should
approximately be created.
2. Double-click on the arc using the Select Feature Arc tool, and set the Arc
Options to Breakwater. Click on Attributes and set the Depth 1 to 3.0, the Depth
2 to 5.0, and leave the Transmission to Constant. Select OK twice when done.

4 Grid Setup: Orientation, Cell Size, Variable Grid Resolution

After defining the shorelines and any necessary structures, the grid should be set up. We
will manually draw the grid frame using the Create 1D Grid Frame tool. The GenCade
grid frame is purple and has an arrow at one end. If a person followed the grid from the
end to the arrow, the water should always be to the left and the land should always be to
the right. For example, if the GenCade grid was oriented from north to south, the water
would be to the east (left) and the land would be to the west (right). The grid can be
modified by clicking the Select 1-D Grid Frame and double-clicking on the square in the
center of the purple grid line. Alternately, the grid options can be changed by selecting
the grid frame and right-clicking Properties. The Grid Frame Properties window will
open, and the Origin X, Origin Y, Angle, and I size can be modified. The I size is the
length of the grid. Angle refers to the sign convention in the conceptual model which is
degrees counterclockwise from the x axis. This is different from the GenCade model
convention (degrees clockwise from north). Therefore, once the map is converted to a 1D
grid, the Azimuth for the grid will be a different value. The cell size can be constant or
variable. For this tutorial we will use a variable cell size. In order to do so, "refine points"
must be created. Refine points tell the model where to have variable cell sizes on the 1D
grid. We will start by creating refine points. Do the following to create a grid frame
which will be able to use refine points:
1. Zoom into the area shown in figure 15.
2. Using the Create Feature Point
indicate.

tool, create nodes where the red arrows

Figure 15
3. With the Select Feature Point
tool, select all of them by holding down the
mouse clicker, and dragging a box around all of them. Once selected, right-click
and select Node Attributes.
4. Toggle on Refine grid in I direction and set the Base cell size to 60.0. Click OK
when done.
5. Next, zoom into Moriches Inlet and create refine points in the locations
indicated in figure 16 by the method previously done. Set the Base cell size of
both refine points to 50.0.

Figure 16
6. Now zoom into the area shown in figure 17. Create a refine point in the location
indicated in figure 17 and set the Base cell size to be 500.0.

Figure 17

7. Lastly, zoom into the Shinnecock Inlet and place refine points at the locations
indicated in figure 18. Set the Base cell size for both points to 50.0.

Figure 18
We are now ready to create our grid frame. Create the grid frame by following these
steps:
1. Select the Create 1-D Grid Frame

tool.

2. Starting from above the coastline and from the right side of our model, click and
drag the line down to follow the coastline. When done, double-click the mouse.
3. Next, select the Select 1-D Grid Frame
tool and double-click on the newly
created grid frame. This will bring up the Grid Frame Properties dialog.
4. Set Origin X to be 754605 and Origin Y to be 4548955. Set the angle to be 200
and the I size to be 158915.
5. Toggle on Use refine points and set the Maximum cell size to be 200 and the
Maximum bias to be 1.08. Toggle on Use inner growth and click OK.
6. Right-click on our Merge coverage item in the project explorer and select Map->
1D Grid. The Map -> 1D Grid dialog will come up. Click OK to create the 1D
grid.

5 Wave Data
Now that our 1D grid is created, we can load the wave data into our project. To do so, do
the following:
1. Click on the newly created grid in the project explorer titled GenCade Grid to
make it active. Then click on the Gencade menu item and select Edit Wave
Data. The Wave Gages dialog will come up.
2. We will add three wave gages to our model. Put 1 in under Cell and set the depth
to 36. Click on the Data button.
3. Open Wave_Data_Gage_1.xls file found in the Data Files folder of this tutorial.
Select all of the values in the Date column by selecting the first value, then
scrolling down to the last value, and while holding shift, clicking on the last
value. Then press Ctrl + C to copy the values. Then in the Wave Events dialog,
paste the date values in the date column by selecting the first box, then selecting
Ctrl + V. All of the values will paste.
4. Complete the same steps for all of the columns, then change the convention to
Shore Normal. Click OK.
5. In the second row of the Wave Gages dialog, enter 244 in the Cell column and
27 in the Depth column. Click on Data.
6. Open Wave_Data_Gage_2.xls. Copy and paste the values using the same
method as previously done and change the convention to Shore Normal. Click
OK.
7. In the third row of the Wave Gages dialog, enter 678 in the Cell column and 24
in the Depth Column. Click on Data.
8. Open Wave_Data_Gage_3.xls and copy and paste the values in the same method
as before, change the convention to Shore Normal, then click OK twice when
done.

6 Model Control

Before running GenCade we must first set the parameters of the model in the model
control. To do so, do the following:
1. Select GenCade | Model Control
2. In the Model Setup tab, set the Start Date to 01-Jan-1983 12:00 AM, the End
Date to 01-Jan-1995 12:00 AM, the Time Step to 1.0, and the Recording Time
Step to 168.0.
3. Switch to the Beach Setup tab. Set the Effective Grain Size to 0.3, the Average
Berm Height to 1.0, and the Closure Depth to 8.0. Set the K1 to 0.3 and the K2 to
0.15
4. Switch to the Seaward BC tab, and set the Number of Cells in Offshore Contour
Smoothing Window to 11.
5. Switch to the Lateral BC tab. Set both the left and right lateral BC to Pinned and
click OK.

6.1

Save Project
Before we run our model, we need to save our project. To do this:
1. Go to File | Save as and save our project as LongIsland.
2. Make sure that you save as type Project Files(* .sms). Click Save when done.

7 Run GenCade
When running GenCade, a window will open that will describe the simulation. This
window will notify the user if an error has occurred. Although there is no time bar stating
the amount of time left in the simulation, the window will show when GenCade has
finished calculating each year in the time simulation. The window will alert the user
when the model is finished and will prompt to exit. Generally, it does not take very long
to run GenCade. To run GenCade:

1. Select GenCade | Run GenCade

If you get an error stating that groins need to be at least two cells apart, then go to
GenCade | Edit Groins and make sure that each cell number is at least two cells apart.
You can edit the cell numbers.

7.1

Gencade Output Files

Following a GenCade simulation, at least seven output files will be created in the
assigned directory. The print file (*.prt) saves all of the information related to the
simulation including wave heights, shorelines, and transport rates. The shoreline position
output file (*.slo) documents the shoreline position for each time step for every cell in the
grid. The net transport rate file (*.qtr) prints the net transport rate for each cell at every
time step. The inlet shoal volume file (*.irv) lists volumes for each inlet shoal for every
time step. A separate inlet shoal volume file is created for each inlet represented in the
simulation. If the grid does not include an inlet, the *.irv file will not be created. All of
the files except the print file may be opened and viewed in the SMS. The aforementioned
files contain the majority of the information a user would need to evaluate the results of a
simulation. The mean net annual transport files (*.mqn [mean annual net transport],
*.mql [mean transport to the left], and *.mqr [mean transport to the right]) list the
transport for each cell for each time step. The offshore contour for each time step for each
cell is included in the offshore contour file (*.off).

8 Visualizing the Results

Following a simulation, several output files will be created. These were listed in the
previous section. Many of these files may be opened in the SMS for visualization. The
first of these files is the *.slo file, or shoreline change file. Once this file is opened in the
SMS, a box with the header Time Steps will appear. An arc representing the calculated
shoreline should appear in the grid window. The default color and size of the calculated
shoreline may be difficult to view. Go to Display->Display Options and click on 1D
Grid to change the size and color of the calculated shoreline. The size and color of the
initial shoreline, regional contour, and structures can also be changed. The default time
under Time Steps is Relative Time. To view the simulated dates, right click on the
words Time Steps and select Time Settings. Change the zero time to represent the first
date in the simulation. Under Time Display, change Relative Time to Absolute Time/Date.
The user can view the calculated shoreline at any date during the simulation and compare

it with the initial shoreline or other reference line.

1. Select File | Open and select

9 Conclusion
This concludes the GenCade tutorial.