Note: I have retired from the University of Louisiana. The Riverspill
web page has moved from the original UL site to the current site. This project is currently inactive. However, In the future, I may return to this project and provide an update for the R-TOT model.
SUMMARY
R-TOT, the River Time-of-Travel Model, is, as its name states, a model for prediction of time of travel of a solute or entrained material in a river. Although R-TOT may be applied to other streams, the distributed version applies to the Lower Mississippi River, USA. See the R-TOT Programmer’s Manual for information on applying the model to other streams by editing the model data files. Version 6 of R-TOT was programmed in Microsoft Visual Basic, and is distributed as a “stand-alone” application which must be installed using the Windows Installation Wizard. The model provides a convenient user interface for input, provides a summary output screen, and easy user access to the data analysis and graphical capabilities available within spreadsheets like Excel.
INTRODUCTION
The R-TOT model was designed to present a friendly and uncomplicated user interface, and to provide a rapid and straight-forward computational method. This approach is well-suited for use in situations where rapid results are necessary, and additionally minimizes the programming effort required for incorporation of new study data into an existing application, or applying R-TOT to a new stream. Appendices of the User's Manual include extensive lists of landmark locations and pipeline locations on the Lower Mississippi River.
INSTALLATION
If you wish to run R-TOT6, first view the User's Manual. The User's Manual is available as a Google Doc through this link:
R-TOT6.02 User's Manual - Google Doc
While viewing this Google Doc, users may optionally wish to click on the file/download dropdown menu to save the manual on their computer. The User's Manual is also available for download in pdf format through Researchgate:
R-TOT6.02 User's Manual download site
After accessing the User's Manual, users can download the R-TOT version 6.02 files installation files by clicking on the following link:
RTOT602.ZIP
After downloading, it is suggested that you unzip or copy the files from the RTOT602.ZIP file into a folder on your computer's C drive named R-TOT6. Prior to installation, users are advised to read the short installation section in the User's Manual. To install R-TOT6 on a computer running Windows, double-click (or run) the file setup.exe your R-TOT6 folder. Follow the instructions displayed by the setup program.
ABOUT R-TOT
R-TOT 6 was written in Visual Basic and should run on your computer with no other software installed. If you have problems or questions please contact me by filling in the contact form on this page.
The R-TOT6 User's Manual provides details on how to run the model. The programmer's manual (Waldon and Gandikota, 1999) provides details about the program design, and modification of R-TOT6 for simulation of other rivers.
A number of additional documents may be of interest to users. See the References section of the Researchgate project page linked below:
Lower Mississippi River: water quality, time-of-travel, spill mitigation and analysis
A compiled list of general and location specific websites which may be useful for river spill management and research is also available:
Michael G. Waldon, Ph.D.
mike@mwaldon.com
last updated April 4, 2021, last major update was on December 4, 2004