EFDC+ Explorer Files

Project Files

The main control file for every EFDC application is the EFDC.INP file. EFDC.INP is an ASCII file structured into card groups that generally have the same basic objective; e.g., card group 8 (C8) contains the settings for the run time, but it also contains other miscellaneous parameters. This file contains almost all of the computational options and data settings.

The EFDC model uses fixed file names (e.g., DXDY.INP) based on the type of information each file contains. The files required for a model application vary based on the computational and grid options selected. For example, when the vegetation module is active, the ISVEG flag (C5) is >0, the VEGE.INP file, which contains vegetation information to compute vegetation-based flow resistance, must be supplied. EFDC+ Explorer reads and writes these same files and reduces the need for the user to remember exactly which file and/or which card group has what flag or setting.

EFDC+ Explorer requires additional information and data to perform its pre-processing and visualizations. When saving an existing or new project, EFDC+ Explorer automatically generates these files based on the project's settings. The following provides a list of specific EFDC+ Explorer files and their functions:

EFDC.EE	This is the main EFDC+ Explorer project file. This file contains much labeling, formatting, boundary condition, and model-data linkage information. This file is REQUIRED for EFDC+ Explorer to manage boundary groups correctly.
CORNER.INP	This file contains the corner coordinates for each cell. EFDC+ Explorer computes these using the cell center coordinates, DX, DY, and cell rotation. It then matches the cell corners and builds the nodal list. By default, EFDC+ Explorer displays the 2D plan view cells using these corner coordinates. However, the user can choose to view the rectangular cells if desired.
EFDC_LOG.EE	This file contains the run log displayed in the main EFDC+ Explorer form. This file is ASCII and can be viewed with any ASCII editor.
CalForm_TS.EE	This file contains formatting and labeling information for the time series calibration plots.
CalForm_VP.EE	This file contains formatting and labeling information for the vertical profile calibration plots.

Alert

EFDC+ Explorer now uses the "*.EE" file extension rather than the old project file extension of "*.DS". EFDC+ Explorer will still load .ds files but only *.EE files can be double-clicked to open the project. EFDC+ Explorer will only update the files if the user saves the project. Otherwise, the old files will be kept.

EFDC to EE Linkage

In order for EFDC+ Explorer to post-process the data the following files must be generated by EFDC:

EE_WS.OUT	Required. This file contains the water depths.
EE_VEL.OUT	Recommended. This file contains the 3D velocity field.
EE_WC.OUT	This file contains the water column results and the information for the top layer of the sediment bed.
EE_BED.OUT	This file contains the sediment bed data for each sediment bed layer, including the toxics associated with each layer in the original sediment transport model.
EE_SEDZLJ.OUT	This file contains the sediment bed data, including the toxics associated to each sediment bed layer of the Ziegler, Lick and Jones (SEDZLJ) sediment transport model.
EE_ARRAYS.OUT	This is an optional file that the EEXPOUT subroutine in EFDC optionally generates. This file contains snapshots of almost any internal EFDC array desired. EFDC+ Explorer automatically loads this file and provides visualization if it exists. (See Appendix A for more details).
EE_WQ.OUT	This file contains the water column results for water quality constituents simulated.
EE_SD.OUT	This file contains the sediment diagenesis results if the full sediment diagenesis option is turned on.
EE_RPEM.OUT	This file contains the Rooted Plant and Epiphyte Model results.
EE_SHF.OUT	This file contains the Shellfish Farm Model results.
EE_DRIFTER.OUT	This file contains the time history of the location of the particles from the Lagrangian particle tracking feature if turned on.
EE_BC.OUT	This file contains flows for boundary conditions.

These files are created by EFDC_DSI and the version of EFDC_GVC that DS-INTL distributes on our website. EFDC+ Explorer allows the user to set the appropriate options to view EFDC output. EFDC+ Explorer generates the EFDC input files needed when the project is saved. EFDC then reads the input files and writes the EFDC+ Explorer linkage files.

The following subroutines are used by EFDC to write the EFDC+ Explorer linkage files:

SURFPLT	Writes the depths for each cell for each snapshot into the file EE_WS.OUT. Water surface elevations are computed by adding the bottom elevations of the cells at the same model snapshot time.
VELPLTH	Writes the U & V velocities in IJ space to the file EE_VEL.OUT. This allows EE the use velocities on U, and V cell faces for flux calculations. For visualizations, EE transforms the velocities by computing a cell centroid U & V, then rotating them to the XY space using the cell rotations.
EEXPOUT	This is the main subroutine for writing the linkage files for EE. Depending on the options selected, this routine will write the files EE_WC.OUT, EE_BED.OUT, EE_ARRAYS.OUT, EE_WQ.OUT, EE_SD.OUT and EE_RPEM.OUT.
DRIFTER	This is the Lagrangian Particle Tracking module. It writes the particle positions to the EE_DRIFTER.OUT at an independent snapshot frequency to the other output data.