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US Army Corps of Engineers

Coastal Inlets Research Program

Coastal Modeling System (CMS)

The Coastal Modeling System is an integrated 2D numerical modeling system for simulating waves, current, water level, sediment transport, and morphology change at coastal inlets and entrances. Emphasis of the CMS is on navigation channel performance and sediment exchange between the inlet and adjacent beaches. A key objective of this work is to develop, test, and transfer the CMS to Corps Districts and industry for use on specific engineering studies.
OpenSource CoP Preferred
CMS Versions and Tools
CMS-Merged (implicit and explicit) - v5.4.6 (updated July 2025)

CMS 5.4 - Current Release is CMS2D_v5.4 (Update 6) - 3 July 2025
Check wiki page for latest version

Features

  • Interface: Surfacewater Modeling System (SMS) version 13.4
    (should work with SMS 13.0+ and reduced functionality with SMS 11.2).
  • Combined Implicit and Explicit solution schemes into one executable:
    • Cartesian and Quadtree (telescoping) grids available for CMS-Flow
    • Cartesian grid type available for CMS-Wave
  • New CMS-Flow Features in SMS 13.4+: New
    • Interfaces for Weirs, Culverts, Tidal Gates.
    • Rubble Mound structures are available in SMS 13.1+.
    • New Hardbottom Dataset coverage and tool
  • Sediment Mapping capability
    • Documentation forthcoming.
    • Contact Honghai Li for information.
  • New SMS interface for CMS-Wave (v3.4) in SMS 13.2+
    • New Model Control and simulation capability.
    • Easier to read parameter file format (.std).
  • Numerous bug fixes and parallelization improvements.
Latest version of the code is always available from the CIRP Wiki page listed below:
Please note the Terms and Conditions for the Coastal Modeling System
CMS-Wave Standalone - For use with CMS-Flow Explicit or by itself
  • Latest - Ver 3.2
  • Interface - SMS 11.0. Reduced functionality with SMS 10.1, but operational.
  • New Features (SMS interface development underway)
    • Full-plane effects when using winds AND wave spectra.
    • Spatially variable wind and surge fields.
    • Infragravity waves
CMS-Wave version 3.2 - executable
64-bit - download



Other Tools for use with the Coastal Modeling System


PTM with the Coastal Modeling System
Interface – SMS 11.0 has simplified model interface. Reduced functionality with SMS 10.1, but operational.

CMS-PTM version 2.0.55 – Executable
CMS-Wave Automated Procedure
The ability to systematically execute a large number of CMS-Wave simulations with little user interaction is beneficial in applications where new and/or reruns of numerous simulations are required for model re-validation and sensitivity tests, or for a large number of production runs. 

An automated procedure was developed and is described in a CHETN (in press) and uses a series of MATLAB® scripts to generate CMS-Wave model I/O files, run the model on a PC, post-process model output files to calculate basic statistics for model-data comparison, and plot the model results.  It performs many individual simulations which use different wave breaking formulations, or wave model versions, or input conditions.  The procedure allows users to efficiently setup CMS-Wave model both for successive or simultaneous simulations in Corps projects and to expediently evaluate model results in research studies.
Installation program and sample files:
CMS-Wave_Procedure.zip (~20 MB)
Documentation (CHETN):
CMS-Wave Model: Part 4. An Automated Procedure for CMS-Wave in Resource-Demanding Applications - PDF
Wave Information Studies (WIS) Data New
CMS Users can use data from the Wave Information Studies (WIS) program to force CMS-Wave with. The main website is located at the link below. Contact WIS@usace.army.mil to obtain 2d Spectra for forcing. Eventually this will be made possible within the Data Portal, but send an email for now.

List of Information
Documentation CMS User's Guide (2024 Update) New
CMS Wiki Page
CMS Documentation Portal
Validation Report Test Case Files CIRP Wiki - Validation Test Cases
Validation Cases Documented CIRP Wiki - Other Test Cases
Workshops List of All CIRP Workshops (including CMS)
USACE users SAM, SAJ, SAW, SWG, NAN, NAB, NAP, NAE, LRB, LRE, NWS, NWP, SPN, SPL, POH, POA
Recent CMS/C2Shore Poster 2024 CWG Meeting, Vicksburg, MS

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Points of Contact
Honghai Li cirp@usace.army.mil
Mitch Brown
Lihwa Lin
Elizabeth Holzenthal
Engineer Research and Development Center
Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory
Vicksburg, MS 39180
CMS