Journal of Changjiang River Scientific Research Institute >
UE5-based River-Lake Scene Construction and Hydrodynamic Process Simulation
Received date: 2024-12-30
Revised date: 2025-04-10
Accepted date: 2025-04-14
Online published: 2025-06-03
[Objective] To address the problems of insufficient 3D scene accuracy, unsatisfactory dynamic water effects, and imprecise hydrodynamic process simulation in existing river-lake digital twins, this study proposes an integrated method for 3D river-lake scene construction and hydrodynamic process simulation based on Unreal Engine 5 (UE5). The proposed method aims to construct a digital twin framework that combines high-fidelity scene representation with high-accuracy hydrodynamic process simulation, and to enhance the visualization, dynamism, and interactivity of river-lake digital twins. [Methods] UE5 was used as the research platform, and a real-scene 3D hydrodynamic process simulation method for river-lake scenarios was proposed and implemented by integrating terrain construction, water body simulation, and dynamic extraction of hydrological parameters. First, high-precision 3D river-lake terrain and environmental scenes were constructed using terrain height maps and high-precision photogrammetric models. Second, the Fluid Flux water simulation plugin in UE5 was modified by incorporating bottom friction factors influenced by the Manning coefficient, as used in engineering analysis, thereby establishing a hydrodynamic process model that better conformed to engineering practice. Finally, Blueprint programs were designed to dynamically extract and compute hydrological process parameters during simulation, enabling real-time calculation and dynamic extraction of key hydrological parameters such as flow velocity, water depth, watershed area, total water volume, and river cross-sections. An interactive user interface was also developed to support parameter visualization and scene interaction. [Results] A complete river-lake digital twin framework was constructed, and its functional effectiveness was verified through multiple experiments. First, a dam-break simulation experiment in a 90° bend was constructed to simulate the diffusion process of dam-break flow. The trends of water level variations at all measurement points showed good agreement with classical experimental data, validating the reliability of the hydrodynamic model. Subsequently, inundation simulation experiments under different vegetation cover conditions were conducted. These experiments reflected the influence of vegetation density on flow resistance and inundation processes in the simulated scenarios, demonstrated the capability of surface roughness variations to affect flow simulation, and verified that the proposed method could simulate the impacts of different vegetation environments on hydrodynamic processes. Finally, a complete 3D river-lake scene integrating 3D scenarios, dynamic water simulation, real-time hydrological parameter extraction, and an interactive interface was presented. Through the interface, users could obtain hydrological parameters such as water depth, flow velocity, cross-sectional morphology, watershed area, and total water volume at any location in real time, facilitating clear data acquisition and subsequent processing. [Conclusion] This study investigates methods for 3D scene construction of rivers and lakes and for hydrodynamic process simulation within such scenes, and successfully constructs a river-lake scene framework that integrates high-precision 3D scenes with hydrodynamic process simulation using UE5. The main innovations of this study lie in clarifying the method for constructing 3D river-lake scenes in the UE5 environment, generating terrain base surfaces using the terrain system and elevation data, and introducing high-precision photogrammetric models to enrich the surface environment, thereby improving the realism of 3D river-lake scene construction. From an engineering analysis perspective, the hydrodynamic model of the Fluid Flux plugin in UE5 is improved by adding a friction term influenced by the Manning coefficient, enabling hydrodynamic process simulation in 3D scenes to more accurately reflect the influence of environmental roughness. Simulation scenarios are also designed to verify the impacts of different terrain and vegetation roughness on flow simulation. In addition, Blueprint programs are designed to dynamically extract and compute various hydrological elements during the simulation of 3D river-lake scenes, forming a complete method for hydrodynamic process simulation in 3D river-lake scenes. The proposed method provides integrated capabilities for scene construction, hydrodynamic process simulation, and hydrological parameter extraction and computation, thereby improving the efficiency of data acquisition and processing during 3D scene simulation.
DU Peng , LU Shan-long , LI Qing , DU Cong , ZHANG Bo , HU Kai-xin . UE5-based River-Lake Scene Construction and Hydrodynamic Process Simulation[J]. Journal of Changjiang River Scientific Research Institute, 2026 , 43(3) : 218 -226 . DOI: 10.11988/ckyyb.20241312
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