XMDF Binary Input Files

When working with the Surface-water Modeling System (SMS), when the project is written or when the CMS-Flow files are saved, there is no choice for output type. SMS will output all input to CMS in XMDF Binary format.

Boundary Conditions

Boundary conditions are specified along an external or internal a string of cells. For each boundary, a folder containing information is written to the file.

• Filename (<project>*_mp.h5 file)
• XMDF Path - "PROPERTIES/Model Params/Boundary_#[n]" (Where 'n' is the boundary ID from SMS)
• Contents of folder
  • Cells - Dataset containing a list of Cell IDs for the boundary forcing string.
  • Times - Dataset containing a list of all the times for the WSE or Flow curve specification.
  • Flow (for Flux BC) - Dataset containing a list of the flux values matching the Times dataset.
  • WaterLevel (for WSE BC) - Dataset containing a list of WSE values matching the Times dataset.

Dataset values

These dataset values can be any type of data and are specified for every cell in the grid. Certain types of data are common to most project numerical grids, such as: Bottom Friction, Grain Size, Hard Bottom depth. Other types of data are allowed as well, such as: initial 2d salinity concentration, temperature, and fraction of suspended sediment evaluated with the Sediment Mapping feature.

Each dataset in this category is written in almost the exact same way with the only variant being the name of the individual folder, <Dataset name>, which is written to the .cmcards file for each dataset.

• Filename -
  • <project>*_grid.h5 file [SMS <= 11.2]
  • <project>*_datasets.h5 file [SMS >= 12.0]
• XMDF Path -
  • "<Grid Name>/Datasets/<Dataset name>" [SMS <= 11.2]
  • "Datasets/<Dataset name>" [SMS >= 12.0]
• Contents of folder
  • Times - Dataset containing a list all the times for the specific dataset (generally just one initial time = 0.00).
  • Maxs - Dataset containing a list of the maximum values for the specific dataset.
  • Mins - Dataset containing a list of the minimum values for the specific dataset.
  • Values - Dataset containing a list of the values for specific dataset.

Wind Forcing

Wind forcing applied to the entire domain, but can be input either at each cell in the grid or from a field of values at a specified spacing that covers the domain.

• Filename (<project>*_mp.h5 file)
• XMDF Path - "PROPERTIES/Model Params/WindCurve"
• Contents of folder
  • Times - Dataset containing a list of all the times for the Wind curve specification.
  • Direction - Dataset containing a list of the Wind directions matching the Times dataset.
  • Magnitude - Dataset containing a list of the Wind speed values matching the Times dataset.