Rascontrol is a Python wrapper for the HEC-RAS controller, described in Chris Goodell's book, Breaking the HEC-RAS Code, except you get to use Python instead of VBA! The library can be used to opening, running, and extracting model results from HEC-RAS models. Rascontrol is not recommended for modifying RAS model geometries, instead, use the parserasgeo library. The combination of rascontrol and parserasgeo can be used for sensitivity studies, Monte Carlo analyses, and real-time predication of floodwater depths when paired with appropriate rainfall data and hydrology.

The appropriate version of HEC-RAS must already be installed to use rascontrol.

c:\> git clone https://github.com/mikebannis/rascontrol.git

c:\> cd rascontrol

c:\rascontrol> pip install .

>>> import rascontrol
>>> rc = rascontrol.RasController(version='506')
>>> rc.open_project('my_model.prj')
>>> rc.run_current_plan()
    
>>> # Get results
>>> profile = rc.get_profiles()[0]
>>> cross_sections = [100, 200, 300]  # Get results for cross sections 100, 200, & 300
>>> wsels = [rc.get_xs(xs).value(profile, rascontrol.WSEL) for xs in cross_sections]
>>> print(wsels)
[5002.3, 5003.5, 5005.1]

close() does not currently appear to be working. This does not typically cause problems during Monte Carlo simulations as rascontrol will use any RAS instance that is currently open. Because of this, rascontrol will simply reuse an open model if large numbers of simulations are required, versus opening multiple instances of RAS. Make sure you save any open models before using rascontrol!