How do I get a HEC-RAS or ANUGA flood model verified before submission?

Hydrata is a verification platform for consultants. Upload your model (HEC-RAS .zip or ANUGA project) and run a model-ingest review, mass-balance audit, mesh-quality assessment, parameter-sensitivity check, and a jurisdiction-checklist comparison against your design criteria. Results come back as a signed verification in a live web portal a reviewer can comment on in geospatial context. The platform is open source and auditable; every result links back to the data that produced it. Hydrata is not the engineer-of-record; the client's engineer remains responsible for the design.

What is a hydraulic model verification report?

A verification report documents the steps a hydraulic model passed before submission: calibration and validation against observations, internal consistency checks (mass balance, mesh quality, boundary conditions, parameter sensitivity), and a comparison to the applicable jurisdiction checklist against the consultant's design criteria. It is accompanied by raw outputs and a live web checklist, so a reviewer can trace every claim back to its evidence.

Why do flood models get sent back by reviewers?

Most send-backs are not engineering errors. They are methodology, criteria interpretation, or presentation gaps that were never locked down up front. Moving goalposts inside the review cycle, model multiplicity across the same site, and criterion ambiguity (e.g. 'culvert running 70% full' interpreted two ways) are the recurring failure modes. Hydrata's verification workflow captures these feedback loops before the model leaves the office, by enforcing unskippable checklists and tying every reviewer comment to the geospatial context of the model rather than to a generic input variable.

Hydrata

Model floods in the browser.

Build and run hydraulic models on the platform. Shared models are free — make one private anytime.

Verified by independent chartered engineers.

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Browser-based hydraulic modelling for engineers and researchers.

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What you can do

Model

Import topography, draw boundaries, and build a 2D hydraulic model in the browser. No local install required.

Run

Execute ANUGA simulations in the cloud. Results appear in the live portal as the run completes.

Shared models are discoverable by default. Make a model private anytime — your data, your choice.

Verify

Need an independent sign-off? A chartered-engineer verification is available as an add-on engagement.

The hydraulic modelling platform

Build and run 2D hydraulic models in the browser. Shared models are free — discoverable by the community. Make any model private when your project requires it.

Model in the browser

Import topography, draw boundaries, configure scenarios — no local install, no infrastructure to manage.

Run ANUGA in the cloud

Submit a simulation and watch results appear in the live portal as the run completes. Raw outputs downloadable at any time.

Shared or private — your choice

Shared models are the default: discoverable by the community. Upgrade to Private models when confidentiality matters.

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Need a done-for-you review?

Talk to us about an engagement. A Hydrata analyst runs the verification on your model and delivers a chartered-engineer sign-off in a live review portal. Independent third-party review.

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How It Works

Build

Import topography and draw your model boundaries in the browser. Add scenarios and configure friction and rainfall parameters.

Run

Submit a simulation. ANUGA runs in the cloud and streams results back to your live portal — no local compute required.

Share or keep private

Shared models are discoverable by the community. Switch a model to Private anytime — your data stays under your control.

Unmodified ANUGA, reproducible results

Hydrata runs the unmodified ANUGA solver (Geoscience Australia / ANU) with no proprietary modifications. The same model run twice produces the same result. Every run input is recorded and traceable, so any reviewer can reproduce the verification.

Read the 12-check verification methodology

Who Uses Hydrata

Consultancies

You're submitting to an owner's engineer or independent reviewer. Provide the documentation. It gets you approval on the first cycle.

Local authorities and reviewers

You retain regulatory responsibility but don't have in-house flood capability. Outsource technical review for stormwater and floodplain consultants serving municipal clients. Keep the audit trail.

Dam owners and water utilities

Multi-dam systems, PMP studies, spillway capacity, dam-break inundation. Independent verification of your hydrologic and hydraulic models, with the audit trail to back it up.

Researchers (ANUGA + Python)

Model and run ANUGA in the cloud, no infrastructure required. Share your models with the community or keep them private.

Open Source

The Hydrata run engine is open source. Runs on the platform produce identical results to running the same ANUGA version locally: no proprietary modifications, no black-box processing. Any reviewer can reproduce a result from the recorded inputs.

github.com/Hydrata/run_anuga

Developer Tools

Hydrata exposes a Model Context Protocol endpoint so AI assistants can query verification jobs directly.

Show example: Claude Code connecting to the Hydrata MCP

Claude Code + Hydrata MCP

# Connect your AI assistant to Hydrata
$ claude mcp add hydrata https://hydrata.com/mcp/ \
    --transport streamable-http --header "Authorization: Bearer $HYDRATA_TOKEN"

> Create a flood model for Merewether, NSW using a 5m DEM
  Tool: create_project("Merewether Flood Study")           OK
  Tool: upload_dem(project_id=42, file="merewether_5m.tif")  OK
  Tool: create_scenario(friction=0.03, rainfall="100yr_6hr") OK
  Tool: run_simulation(scenario_id=87)                      OK
  Tool: get_results(run_id=201)                             OK

  Simulation complete. Peak depth: 1.42m at outlet.
  Results: https://hydrata.com/catalogue/merewether-flood-depth-201