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Note:  For the 1st time in 4 years we have had a visitor from Central Asia.  This now means we have had visitors from all Google defined Geographic Regions on Earth even though we still have not had visitors from every country at www.swmm2000.com  The statistics below exclude the 58 percent visitors from North America but overall we have had:

 

1.   40,190 Visitors

2.   22 Continental Regions

3.   157 Countries

4.   5951 Cities

5.   100,180 Pageviews

6.   86 Languages

 

 

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Time Step Approximation based on Link Lengths

Note:  A rough approximation of the time step you need for an InfoSWMM or H2OMAP SWMM model can be found by finding the mean link length using the field statistics tool for the length in the Conduit DB Table and then estimating the time step from the mean length, mean full depth velocity and mean full depth wave celerity.

 

The time step actually used during the simulation is related to this velocity and the safety adjustment factor.  The larger the safety adjustment factor the larger the mean time step listed in the Routing Time Step Suggestion.

 

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Origin of Stream Names in the USA

Stream Names in the USA from http://derekwatkins.wordpress.com/2011/07/25/generic-stream-terms/

Map of generic toponyms for streams in the contiguous US

Generic place names (or toponyms) such as Cumberland Gap or Mount Rainier provide general categorical descriptions of a geographic feature, in contrast to specific toponyms, which provide a unique identifier: Lake Huron. This map taps into the place names contained in the USGS National Hydrography Dataset to show how the generic names of streams vary across the lower 48. Creeksand rivers are symbolized in gray due to their ubiquity (although the etymology behind the American use of creek is interesting), while bright colors symbolize other popular toponyms.

Lite-Brite aesthetic notwithstanding, I like this map because it illustrates the range of cultural and environmental factors that affect how we label and interact with the world. Lime green bayous follow historical French settlement patterns along the Gulf Coast and up Louisiana streams. The distribution of the Dutch-derived term kill (dark blue) in New York echoes the colonial settlement of “New Netherland” (as well as furnishing half of a specific toponym to the Catskill Mountains). Similarly, the spanish-derived terms rioarroyo, and cañada (orange hues) trace the early advances of conquistadors into present-day northern New Mexico, an area that still retains some unique cultural traitsWashes in the southwest reflect the intermittent rainfall of the region, while streams named swamps (desaturated green) along the Atlantic seaboard highlight where the coastal plain meets the Appalachian Piedmont at the fall line.

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I have been using EPANET and EPASWMM for a short period of time now, but for the short time I have used these tools, I have realised that as much as EPANET is used in modeling water distribution systems, it doesn't have the capability to simulate TRANSIENT CONDITIONS that are common in most of our developing countries.
At the same, EPASWMM though used in modeling drainage systems, it has that capability of doing HYDRAULIC TRANSIENT ANALYSIS!!!
So I was thinking of integrating the hydraulic simulation engine of EPASWMM (with the capability of simulating hydraulic transients) to the GUI of EPANET!!!

So members what do you think about this? Anyone out there that has ever tried it out and therefore can give ideas, suggestions/complements etc?

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Hotstart files in SWMM 5

While using SWMM 5.0.018, I realised that the Hotstart files don't completely eliminate instability in a fairly looped network, whereas in the latest version i.e. SWMM 5.0.022, the Hotstart files completely stabilize the same network!!!

I read the UPDATE HISTORY, but could not find exact information on what was done to archieve this. Could anyone help me identify exactly what was done to improve this feature?

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control of hydrologic parameters during simulation

Hi,

I'm using SWMM to model a catchment which is located above a longwall mine - the purpose is to assess if observed changes to stream flows in the catchment are climatic or indicative of mining impacts.

 

Ive established a model which adequately simulates historical streamflows and which successfully uses the aquifers and groundwater flow equation.

 

I would like to simulate the onset of impacts from mining by increasing the "lower groundwater loss rate" value in the aquifer editor.  Is there a way to change such a value mid-simulation?  

 

I have had no success trying to run two separate periods with different "lower groundwater loss rates" for each period as the antecedent conditions for the second (mining) period get mucked up.

 

Any help would be appreciated

Thanks

Steve

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recommendations on groundwater flow equation

IN SWMM manual it is recommended to choose B1=B2=1 for basc representation of transmission losses o a channel.

I think a better way is to note that the groundwater flow equation reduces to Dupuit's formula when B1=B2=2.  For transmission losses to and from a channel, choose A1=A2 where A1 = k*B/L where k = hydraulic conductivity (L/T), B = distance from channel to groundwater flow boundary (L), L = length of channel (L).  Remember to choose k so that units are compatible with model.  Ie if using metric units (Litres per second) choose k = m/s * 1000.

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Hainaut Chooses Optimum Hydraulic Modeling with InfoWorks ICM 

Belgian Province Selects Innovyze Advanced System Dynamics Solution to Manage Its Holistic
Sewer and Drainage Network Modeling Capabilities

 

Broomfield, Colorado USA, August 30, 2011 — Innovyze, a leading global innovator of business analytics software and technologies for wet infrastructure, today announced that the Province du Hainaut in Belgium has chosen InfoWorks ICM to fulfill its sewerage and drainage modeling requirements. The expansion will give the province access to the most advanced and comprehensive collection system modeling and management application in the industry.

The Province du Hainaut is one of eleven regions of Belgium, situated in the southern Wallonian (French-speaking) part of the country on the border with France. The 3,800 km2 area, whose capital is the city of Mons, contains 69 municipalities as well as extensive wastewater and drainage systems and advanced wastewater treatment works. The Hainaut province manages around 2,350 km of waterways with catchment areas between 1 and 50 km2 on behalf of its municipalities. Through one of its services, the Office of Hainaut “Ingénierie Technique” has began an extensive study of the rivers and drainage basins using InfoWorks ICM to ensure good management of the rivers and avoidance of flooding.

InfoWorks ICM breaks new ground by enabling integrated catchment modeling, providing a platform that incorporates both urban and river catchments. Full integration of 1D and 2D modeling techniques enables users to model the above- and below-ground elements of catchments with unique flexibility and detail.

A sophisticated tool for importing, tracking and auditing large amounts of highly complex data, InfoWorks ICMallows the development of cost-effective, innovative solutions to engineering challenges as well as a complete understanding of the processes involved. Multiple simulations can be scheduled across a pool of workstations with the results returned to a single location, making for highly effective use of computing resources. 

“The Innovyze family of sewer network modeling products continues to be the solution of choice for wastewater network owners around the world,” said EMEA Operations Director Andrew Brown. “The Province of Hainaut is among a number of highly-regarded water and wastewater service providers around the world to increasingly turn to our powerful, industry-leading business analytics solutions. They are keen to exploit the extraordinary step change in modeling capabilities that InfoWorks ICM represents.”

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HRT

Hello:

 

I am wondering how the HRT value is being calculated in the treatment expression (e.g. C= NH4*exp(-0.04*HRT).

 

Thanks!

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Instability in SWMM

Of recent I started using SWMM and realized that at the begining of the simulations there are a lot of instabilities. Technically what are the reasons for these instabilities and how can they be minimized?

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From the Dish and Andrew Sullivan “The Cheerful World Of Japanese Manhole Covers”

 The Cheerful World Of Japanese Manhole Covers

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by Maisie Allison

Michelle Aldredge introduces us to a minor feat in public art:

One of my favorite book discoveries this summer is Drainspotting

 by Remo Camerota. The book celebrates an array of fascinating manhole cover designs from Japan. According to Camerota, nearly 95% of the 1,780 municipalities in Japan have their very own customized manhole covers. The country has elevated this humble, practical object to its own art form. The designs depict everything from local landmarks and folk tales to flora and fauna and images created by school children. Camerota explains the evolution of these custom covers in Drainspotting  http://www.gwarlingo.com/2011/drainspotting-61-amazing-manhole-covers-from-japan/

In the 1980s as communities outside of Japan’s major cities were slated to receive new sewer systems these public works projects were met with resistance, until one dedicated bureaucrat solved the problem by devising a way to make these mostly invisible systems aesthetically appreciated aboveground: customized manhole covers.

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Subject - Smoother Switching Between Pumps in SWMM 5 - A better simulation of a VSP?

 

An oft requested feature in SWMM 5 is the ability to better simulate a variable speed pump.   The basic feature we are trying to model is multiple pumps between two nodes, one pump curve for all of the pumps and the ability to turn on and turn off the pumps based on either the head or depth at a Wet Well (Figure 1).  You can turn on or off the pumps Pump1, Pump2 and Pump3 based on the depth at the Wet Well but this feature is stepwise linear and usually uses three pump curves.  A better way to simulate this feature is to use the SWMM 5 Real Time Rules (RTC) to simulate the Pump setting based on a control curve.  

 

The Pump flow at any time step is the Pump Flow estimated from the Pump Curve (Figure 2) * The Pump Setting (Figure 3)

 

Each of the three pumps has a different Control Curve (Figure’s 4, 5 and 6, respectively) which turns on or turns off the Pump based on a range of Wet Well Depths.  The overall effect is that the total flow summing all three pumps together is smoother (Figure 7 and Figure 8) and the user can simulate different pump speeds based on the same pump curve depending on which pump is currently on.

  

Figure 1.   Example RTC Rules and VSP Pumps in a SWMM 5 model.

 

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Figure 2.  The Pump Curve Used for all 3 Pumps

 

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Figure 3.  The Pump Setting for all Three Pumps

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Figure 4.   Pump Control Curve for Pump 1.  The Pump has a Setting of ¼ between 0.5 and 3 feet at the node Wet Well and zero otherwise.

 

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Figure 5.   Pump Control Curve for Pump 2.  The Pump has a Setting of 1/2 between 3 and 5 feet at the node Wet Well and zero otherwise.

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Figure 6.   Pump Control Curve for Pump 3.  The Pump has a Setting of 1 above 5 feet at the node Wet Well and zero otherwise.

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Figure 7.  The Flow in all 3 Pumps.

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Figure 8.  The total flow from all three Pumps to the downstream node.

 

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Innovyze Ships Groundbreaking IWLive for InfoWater 

 

Broomfield, Colorado USA, August 9, 2011 — Innovyze, a leading global innovator of business analytics software and technologies for wet infrastructure, today announced the worldwide release of IWLive forInfoWater, equipping control rooms with unprecedented comprehensive decision-making capabilities. The groundbreaking release gives InfoWater users the ability to seamlessly move their hydraulic modeling and analysis from planning and design to operation and control. The product builds on the tremendous success of the previous release of IWLive for InfoWorks WS product line, providing a streamlined tool for real-time water distribution modeling, forecasting and SCADA integration. This latest debut underscores Innovyze’s vanguard position in the water industry and its continuing commitment to delivering pioneering technology for enhancing the safety, efficiency, reliability and sustainability of the world’s water supply.

IWLive allows utilities to harness the power of hydraulic modeling in the control room,” said J. Erick Heath, P.E., Innovyze Vice President—Business Director, Americas. “With increasingly complex water distribution systems in mind, IWLive provides an affordable solution tailored to the day-to-day needs of system operators, while at the same time meeting the primary needs of a utility: to consistently deliver a safe and reliable supply of quality drinking water in the most efficient and cost-effective manner.”

Intended for use in the water distribution control room, IWLive gives operators unprecedented decision making ability for developing real-time response strategies. They can run accurate hydraulic simulations that factor in energy costs, weather, real time (or delayed) SCADA telemetry, demand history, valve and pumping control scenarios. Beyond increasing efficiency and reducing energy consumption, IWLive can help operators understand the impact on CO2 emissions as well as the effects of main breaks, pump and reservoir shutdowns, and other scheduled maintenance.

A standard in the waterworks industry, InfoWater has long been used to predict the behavior of water supply and distribution networks and evaluate engineering options within them. The evolution of computer technology has enabled utilities to more readily build and run “all pipe” models that represent an entire distribution system in a single view. Inevitably, these models began to be used for modeling not only planned activities, but responses to major systems incidents, such as a burst trunk main.

IWLive has enhanced the accessibility of this usage by equipping the control room with tools that are both predictive and reactive. It issues regularly updated warnings to alert the control room operator to problems that may occur in the coming minutes, hours, or days. The operator can see the predicted severity of problems and the time of onset in one easy-to-use interface. Beyond automatic prediction, IWLive can also enable the control room operator to evaluate problem-solving approaches — by assessing energy-use reduction schemes and their net effect on reducing carbon footprint, and by simulating the closure of valves or a change in a pump’s operating schedule. It quickly produces a second simulation that can be compared with the first to determine the level of improvement, the problems that remain, and the costs of the change.

The IWLive interface is fully optimized for operator use. It allows operators to see a map of all water infrastructures for which they are responsible, including appropriate background maps. Highlighted color coding shows predicted problem areas; a single click produces a detailed map showing pipes, valves, pumps, reservoirs and other water assets. Animation of the map shows the development of the problem; graphs show simulated pressures and reservoir levels. IWLive can be accessed remotely over a VPN. It can also be configured to send critical warning messages via SMS or email.

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Example VSP Pump in SWMM 5 - Version 1

Subject:   Example VSP Pump in SWMM 5 - Version 1

 

Here is one way to model multiple pumps between the same downstream and upstream nodes using the pump curves and the Real Time Control Rules (RTC) in SWMM 5.  Here are the steps:

 

1.   Enter the data for three pumps in the browser by using the Add Pump Icon

2.   Enter three Pump Head/Flow Curves so that the 2nd and 3rd Pump Curves are the sum of the flows in the 1st and 2nd Pumps together and the sum of the flows in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively for the 2nd and 3rd Pump Curves

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3.   Enter a RTC Rule in the Control Editor so that when the 1st Pump is turned on – the 2nd and 3rd Pump is turned off

4.   Enter a RTC Rule in the Control Editor so that when the 2nd  Pump is turned on – the 1st  and 3rd Pump is turned off

5.   Enter a RTC Rule in the Control Editor so that when the 3rd  Pump is turned on – the 1st and 2nd Pump is turned off

 

Using these rules you can see that for the 1st Pump turns on when the Node WetWell has a depth below 2 feet, the 2nd Pump turns on when the Node is between a depth of 2 to 5 feet and the 3rd Pump turns on when the Node Depth is above 5 feet.

 

RULE Pump1

IF Node WetWell Depth <= 2

THEN PUMP PUMP2 STATUS = OFF

AND PUMP PUMP3 STATUS = OFF

Priority 1

 

RULE Pump2

IF Node WetWell Depth > 2

AND Node WetWell Depth <= 5

THEN PUMP PUMP1 STATUS = OFF

AND PUMP PUMP3 STATUS = OFF

Priority 2

 

RULE Pump3

IF Node WetWell Depth > 5

THEN PUMP PUMP1 STATUS = OFF

AND PUMP PUMP2 STATUS = OFF

Priority 3

 

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Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati Adopts InfoSWMM 

 

Broomfield, Colorado USA, August 2, 2011 — Innovyze, a leading global innovator of business analytics software and technologies for wet infrastructure, today announced that the Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati (MSD) in Ohio has selected InfoSWMM Executive Suite software to use as an enhancement to its modeling activities. The choice was made following an evaluation of InfoSWMM’s performance related to a range of functional and technical criteria.

Owned by the County and managed by the City of Cincinnati, the MSD handles wastewater collection and treatment for approximately 800,000 customers in 33 municipalities in Hamilton County, Ohio. Its wastewater infrastructure system includes more than 3,000 miles of combined and separate sanitary sewer lines, approximately 120 pump stations and 7 major wastewater treatment plants. MSD will use InfoSWMM as a tool for modeling and managing its sewer infrastructure and optimizing its capital improvement projects.

“We chose InfoSWMM Executive Suite for a number of reasons,” said Eric Saylor, MSD System Wide Model Team. “They include its hydraulic computational engine, modeling capabilities, GIS functionality, good data and scenario management, ease of use, and its compatibility with USEPA SWMM5.”

The full-featured InfoSWMM analysis and design program, the world’s first and only urban drainage modeling solution certified by the National Association of GIS-centric Software, delivers the highest rate of return in the industry. All operations of a typical sewer system — from analysis and design to management functions such as water quality assessment, hydrogen sulfide buildup and corrosion potential, pollution prediction, low impact development (LID) practices, sediment transport and deposition, urban flooding, real-time control and record keeping — are addressed in a single, fully integrated geoengineering environment. The program’s powerful hydraulic and water quality computational engine is endorsed by USEPA and certified by FEMA. These factors and more produce an enhanced modeling experience and greater realism of displayed results — advantages that translate to increased productivity, reduced costs, better efficiency and improved designs.

“Utility leaders like MSD are quick to appreciate the versatility, high performance, and incredibly powerful geospatial modeling, analysis and optimization capabilities of InfoSWMM,” said Paul F. Boulos, Ph.D., Hon.D.WRE, F.ASCE, President and COO of Innovyze. “Time and again, Innovyze advanced modeling solutions outperform all their competitors in in-depth customer evaluations — proving that what we say about our technology is consistent with how it performs. Because our products deliver powerful solutions to many of the analysis, design and business challenges facing water and wastewater utilities, they sell themselves. Backed by our unparalleled high-touch customer support, they also deliver dramatic value. We are proud that MSD has expanded Innovyze’s role and we look forward to participating in the District’s success.”

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RDII Initial Abstraction in SWMM 5

Subject:  RDII Initial Abstraction in SWMM 5

 

The initial abstraction in each of the three components of RDII in SWMM 5 are updated at each time step.  The initial abstraction (ia) is:

 

ia = iaMax - iaUsed

 

based on the maximum amount of ia, the ia used (iaUsed), the recovery rate (iaRecov) and the month and class of RDII.  You can enter a value for iaMax, iaInit and iaRecov for each month.

 

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The iaUsed at the beginning of the simulation is set equal to iaInit

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and if there is no rainfall

 

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