BIM on the Rocks

Culvert Analysis in SSA

Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis offers users the ability to perform runoff calculations and hydraulic routing calculations in a single package.  This combines the best of both worlds.

SSA’s hydraulic calculations are founded in the EPA SWMM calculations which performs the one-dimensional Saint Venant flow equations. The Saint Venant equations consist of the continuity and momentum equations for conduits and a volume continuity equation at nodes.  What this means is culvert entrance and exit losses are computed not on the nodes themselves, but rather on the pipe ends.

Let’s dissect how this happens.

1. Open the SSA Sample Culvert file.  (C:\Program Files (x86)\Autodesk\SSA 2013\Samples\Culvert\Culvert.spf)
2. Double Click on the Culvert Pipe shown in the image above.  The Shape definition is described as a “Culvert”.  In many cases, if you exported your Civil 3D Pipe network, the imported pipe may be just a “Pipe”.  
3. By selecting Culvert, the available properties of the conveyance link changes.
4. The HDS-5 Culvert type and Culvert Entrance properties become available.  Be sure to visit the Flow Properties section immediately below and properly set the Entrance and Entrance Losses.

The model is set for analysis. 

Here is one tip when exporting your Civil 3D pipe network.  If the Part Matching Default Settings on Export, set the upstream structure to Headwall, SSA imports that structure as a Junction, and sets the following downstream pipe to a Culvert.

One could conceivably use the Part Matching Customization Settings in SSA to match set a specific part family to a culvert, but that is a topic for another day.

Claiming Water Wednesday

This is a guest post by Matthew Anderson, PE CFM.  Dana has graciously allowed me to put together a series of posts for her BIM on the Rocks blog! Thanks Dana!

My family typically performs menu select with a bit of a rhyming game based on the day of the week.  For example, yesterday was Taco Tuesday. The kids enjoy trying to rhyme what we have to eat based on the day of the week. For this series of posts, I am claiming Wednesday for the similar reason; Wednesday will be henceforth known as Water Wednesday!

I am open to suggestions, or answering questions when it comes to the content of these posts – the only caveat being it needs to highlight the water resources tools available in AutoCAD Civil 3D or Map 3D. 

A few years ago when Autodesk University first introduced AU Virtual, I presented a class using the Hydraflow Express Extension.  A key component of that class discussed the use of catchment area to define the watershed area to a roadway cross-culvert.  Those values were then transferred to Hydraflow Express for a simple runoff calculation and culvert design. There were a lot of viewers, and a good response to the class.  One of the key benefits I highlighted was the Express Extension’s simplicity. 

In AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013, the Express Extension expands the ability of the user to solve more of the FHWA HDS-5 Culvert types. What was just an “Inlet Edge” input parameter in earlier versions, is now Culvert Type, and Culvert Entrance.  This brings Hydraflow Express closer to the requirements and options outlined in Federal Highway Administration HDS-5 document from 2005.  (FHWA HDS-5, 2005) .

This expands the available design solution options for roadway culverts in using Hydraflow Express.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next week, we we will review culvert routing in Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis.

P.S. I know that FHWA recently released a new version of HDS-5 in February 2012.

Cumulative Hatch Area and Stormwater Management Plans

I’m working on that Master Planned Community again. This time, my colleague Brian and I are designing some green Best Management Practices for a townhouse/condo courtyard.

This is just a quick tip that is useful in a variety of circumstances. Whenever you need a cumulative area of something, create hatches. Then, pick each of the hatches. The property window will give you the cumulative area.

There are quite a few ways to tackle the study of “areas”. I like parcels and catchment objects for many things, but sometimes you just want a quick benchmark. If your hatch is associated with its boundary, this area will be dynamic if you adjust the boundary.

What are some of your best workflows for figuring out different cover types for stormwater management analysis?

Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis Screencasts

Yesterday, I posted about the new Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis 2012 Technical Capabilities and Functionalities (pdf) document.

James Wedding recorded a series of on-demand screencasts that bring that document to life. The first screencast in the series goes through an overview of the technical capabilities of SSA.

James and I worked with Chris Maeder to make sure that these screencasts included enough information to help you understand the capabilities of the product and make a decision about how best to use the tools in your office.

Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis Overview Screencast

Meeting Regulatory Standards with Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis Screencast presents the hydraulic and hydrology methodologies used in SSA. View this video to better understand these capabilities, learn more about the customizable reporting features in SSA, and be more confident that SSA can meet the requirements of regulatory agencies.

Rainfall Definition with Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis Screencast introduces you to the design storm definition capabilities available in SSA. Watch this presentation to learn about the rainfall designer functionality and the built-in database of site-specific rainfall data, the rainfall intensity options, and the batch analysis capability for easily comparing the results of multiple storm events.

Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis is part of Civil 3D 2012 and Map 3D 2012. It is available as a subscription download for Civil 3D 2011 and Map 3D 2011 in select regions.

All posts on this blog tagged SSA.

Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis Technical Capabilities and Functionalities

There is a new document available: Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis 2012 Technical Capabilities and Functionalities (pdf)

Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis is part of Civil 3D 2012 and Map 3D 2012. It is available as a subscription download for Civil 3D 2011 and Map 3D 2011 in select regions.

We put this document together as a quick way for you to find out information about which methodologies are supported in SSA. We get a lot of questions like “Which hydrology methods are support in SSA?”, “Which time of concentration methods are available?”, “How can I input my rainfall into the Rainfall Designer?”; “Does SSA support arch pipe?”

Find out the answers to these questions and more by downloading the document today. It is riveting reading. This brief but robust document contains lists, charts and explanations of how things work in SSA. If it doesn’t answer your question, ask it here, and I will make sure it gets covered in a future version.

Three Customer Stories around Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis

I was cruising around the Autodesk website and noticed we have a few new stories published.

The first story is about Bolton and Menke in Mankato, Minnesota. You may remember Tim Olson of Bolton and Menke talking about a 30 square mile metropolitan stormwater plan using Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis on a CE News webcast last year. Tim shared his knowledge about the project in an Autodesk University class: CV223-4 Using Autodesk® Storm and Sanitary Analysis on Large Stormwater Projects, and I also mentioned his firm’s work in this post about Citywide Drainage Studies.

You can’t really argue with the lead in to this story:

Bolton & Menk, Inc. meets aggressive five-week deadline on storm water management plan for Ramsey, Minnesota, by cutting modeling time in half with Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis Extension.

 Bolton & Menk Customer Story (pdf - 1620Kb)

The second story profiles 4Site, Inc. which is a firm based in Huntsville, Alabama. You have to love an engineering firm that quotes Buckminster Fuller on their website. The story profiles a LEED project that features green BMPs. Can you spot the stormwater management in this picture? The sexiest civil engineering is always invisible.

What I was really pleased to see is that 4Site models and designs using Civil 3D and takes advantage of the workflow between Civil 3D and Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis. A great quote from the story:

"With Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis Software, we can model the entire project as a whole instead of in parts," says Jackie Whitaker, project manager at 4Site. "It handles flow calculations and hydraulic grade lines, and enables us to update pipe sizes—all within the Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis, in a single step, and without lengthy manual calculations." -Jackie Whitaker, project manager at 4Site.

 4Site, Inc. Customer Story (pdf - 1220Kb)

The third story looks at Greengard, Inc., a civil engineering, surveying and land planning firm in suburban Chicago. Greenguard is another firm that takes full advantage of the interaction between Civil 3D and Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis.

"We don’t have to draw pipes or manholes twice," says White. "All the information from the pipe network in Civil 3D is there when we import it." -Douglas M. White, P.E., DECI,

 Greengard Customer Story (pdf - 971Kb)

Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis part Map 3D 2012, Civil 3D 2012 and therefore also part of the Autodesk Infrastructure Design Suite 2012.

If you’d like to dig deeper into Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis, check out these links:

Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis Videos

A Technical Tour of Storm and Sanitary Analysis (former StormNET) from Chris Maeder, MS PE

CV220-1L Introduction to Autodesk® Storm and Sanitary Analysis with Chris Maeder

CE News Webcast: BIM and Sustainability for Roadway Drainage Design

If you work in a firm where the project managers don’t quite understand what BIM means for your road, highway and drainage work, this is the webcast you’ll want them to see.

Round everyone up on October 21, 2010 at 1:00PM EDT for BIM and Sustainability for Roadway Drainage Design with James Wedding, P.E.

This webcast won’t go into technical nitty gritty- it is focused on understanding how a change in process can bring more value to your designs. What are your clients demanding? Who is getting the work these days? Can you give more value for the same effort?

If that isn’t enough to persuade them to tune in, you could mention that watching the webcast live earns continuing education credits. (See www.stagnitomedia.com/cedu/ for more information.)

Looking for a webcast geared towards Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis specifically? Check out this archived CE News webcast with Chris Maeder, M.S., P.E.

Automation Innovations in Stormwater Modeling

Automation innovations in Autodesk’s recently released water resource engineering software allows civil engineers to more efficiently and economically complete stormwater analysis and design projects. This presentation showcases a stormwater project in which a major engineering firm was able to complete a 30 square mile metropolitan stormwater management plan in half of the time that it would normally have taken.

⇒ Click here to view the archived presentation!
⇒ NEW! Click here to view the Water Infrastructure Design & Management Whitepaper!

For more information about Autodesk products and drainage:

BIM on the Rocks posts about Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis

Technical orientations to Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis in a youtube playlist

Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis Users Guide (pdf - 37237Kb)

Autodesk Stormwater Discussion Group

Importing Shapefiles into Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis

It’s day three over here in Manchester at our internal water training, and everyone is getting a little punchy.

Tanya West, one of our North American Technical Specialists, taught a great session on Sanitary Sewer Planning using Map 3D and Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis.

In her session she pointed out something that had given me a hard time.

SSA includes a GIS import wizard that will import a shp file. It takes an educated guess at which fields match to SSA properties- such as PIPELENGTH might get matched to length, MANHOLE might get matched to node id, etc.

Two fields that it seems to have trouble matching well is Upstream Node ID and Downstream Node ID. The sticker is that if these aren’t properly matched, your shp won’t import.

It’s easy enough to fix those fields (and make matches on any others) using the drop-down menu. The menus read into your shp file and show you available fields.

Press Next to work through the wizard, and here is my model- ready for me to clean up, set up and analyze.

Once I am finished, I can export the analysis results back to shp for use in Map 3D. I show a high level view of the Map 3D to SSA and back to Map 3D workflow in this video.

Creating an IDF Curve in Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis

This week, we’re training some of the internal technical folks at Autodesk in Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis.

One of the things that Matt Anderson taught the group was creating an IDF curve from local rainfall intensity data.

I found data for my home county here: Rainfall Intensity table from DelDOT Road Design Manual: Drainage and Stormwater (pdf) page 18.

First make sure you set the Project Options to Rational Method.   

Next, go into the IDF curve dialog (double click on the IDF entry on the left pane)

Right-click to delete/add return periods and storm durations.

  

You can save the curve for use in future projects.

Sample Data for Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis

Some of the data that I have been using in my webcasts about Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis installs as sample data in the SSA Stand-Alone 2011 directory (remember x86 on 64 bit machines.)

If you missed the webcasts, you can watch the archives here:

Water Infrastructure Design Using AutoCAD Civil 3D 2011

Water Infrastructure Planning Using AutoCAD Map 3D 2011

There are a lot of folders in there, so use the Sample Descriptions pdf to figure out what is what.

 

Explore different model configurations, different methods. Let me know what you come up with!