Instructor

Chris E. Maeder, M.S., P.E.
Engineering Director
BOSS International

This course is instructed by Chris E. Maeder, M.S., P.E., Engineering Director at BOSS International. Chris is in charge of engineering product development at BOSS International, and has been involved in numerous training courses and engineering projects worldwide.

Course Description

This training course is designed as a hands-on, application oriented training course. The course will provide the attendees with the knowledge and tools necessary to solve dynamic flood routing, dam failure analysis, dam safety analysis, flood inundation mapping, and reservoir spillway analysis problems quickly and efficiently.

BOSS DAMBRK displays over 30 different presentation-quality graphs, including an initial conditions plot, flood inundation map, hydrograph plots, summary hydrograph plots, time-history plots, and 3D river valley plots, allowing you to quickly evaluate your work. Prior analysis graphs can be automatically superimposed upon current analysis graphs, allowing easy comparison of results such as dam failure versus non-failure hydrographs.

The primary focus of this training course is to provide "hands-on" experience to user. This course will include in-depth discussions on how to use DAMBRK to account for dam and bridge failures, storage effects, floodplain overbank flow, flood wave attenuation, and flood inundation mapping.

The two day training course on DAMBRK covers the following:

• Benefit from "hands-on" instruction throughout the course
• Learn practical applications in 1-dimensional hydrodynamic flood routing
• Understand dambreak failure analysis modeling with DAMBRK
• Develop confidence in applying DAMBRK to a variety of modeling problems
• Learn how to troubleshoot models
• Learn how to review analysis results
• Learn advanced modeling techniques
• Learn to recognize potential problems in a modeling situation
• Understand the strengths and weaknesses of a model

Professional Training Credits

The lectures and workshops will concentrate on demonstrating how to apply the software to everyday engineering problems. In addition, CEU (continuing education units) or PDH (professional development hours) are provided to all course participants.

Attendees' Comments

“Our instructor [Chris] was very patient and clearly communicated how to best use DAMBRK for us. I really liked that the instructor audio/video recorded the presentations and worked on our model data directly. I think these are going to be very useful to us. I would recommend this course to others interested in DAMBRK training.”
Michael Krondak, Hydrologist
NPPD - Nebraska Public Power District
North Platte, NE

“Very informative, Chris used relevant examples by incorporating our data. Provided a good overview of the capabilities of DAMBRK.”
Ed Dekleva
NPPD - Nebraska Public Power District
North Platte, NE

“We will apply what we learned immediately to our current projects.”
Imtiaz Shah
Trow Associates, Inc.
Brampton, ON, Canada

“Chris was very knowledgeable, excellent at troubleshooting.”
William Grandy
P.Eng. Trow Associates, Inc.
Brampton, ON, Canada

“The course was very practical and applicable. Chris was the best instructor I have ever had.”
Gary Wells
KY Dept for Environmental Protection
Frankfort, KY

“I enjoyed this training course. Chris had everyone participate in the discussions to learn the software.”
Ghasem Pour-Ghasemi
KY Dept for Environmental Protection
Frankfort, KY

“The instructor understood and communicated the practical application of the software extremely well. Instructor had us bring real cases to class to work on which was very helpful. Lots of good hands-on and practical problems examined during class.”
Marilyn Thomas
KY Dept for Environmental Protection
Frankfort, KY

“Chris was very well informed and willing to work at a pace that was good for all students. Chris showed us many practical uses for the software.”
Name withheld upon request
KY Dept for Environmental Protection
Frankfort, KY

“Chris tailored examples to our work. All of the training was directly applicable. Chris was great!”
Timothy J. Hall
Weston & Sampson Engineers, Inc.
Peabody, MA

“We worked with an actual dam breach problem from one of our projects. This was invaluable to learning the programs and kept everyone focused on the task.”
Mark Mitsch
Weston & Sampson Engineers, Inc.
Peabody, MA

“Chris's explanations of how things worked were very valuable to me. Chris was very helpful and knowledgeable throughout the course. He certainly knows his stuff about dams and the program. He presents info in a rational and fun way. Chris is very good at what he does and I would recommend him to others.”
Patrick Netreba
Weston & Sampson Engineers, Inc.
Peabody, MA