Make sure you've placed your catchment areas and connected them to your elements (typically the catchbasins) or entered flows in the catchbasin properties. You'll also need to define the IDF curve in the Storm Data window. Also, take a look at your user notifications for clues. Beyond this, as Craig said, we'll need a copy of the model.

Applies To Product(s): Bentley WaterCAD, Bentley WaterGEMS Version(s): V8 XM, V8i Environment: N/A Area: Output and Reporting Subarea: N/A Original Author: Jesse Dringoli, Bentley Technical Support Group Overview This Technote explains how to interpret and troubleshoot calculated results for an automated fire flow analysis in WaterCAD or WaterGEMS V8 XM or V8i. Before reading this Technote, it is recommended that the user complete the Fire flow Quick start lesson. This is located in the WaterCAD/WaterGEMS help, under Contents > Quick Start Lessons > Automated Fire Flow Analysis. Background Fire Flow analysis is a common tool used in WaterCAD and WaterGEMS to ensure enough protection is provided during fire emergencies. The user is able to enter constraints in order to determine how much fire flow is available at hydrants while adequate system pressure is maintained. Several tools available to aid in understanding fire flow results. With the release of WaterGEMS V8i SELECTseries 6, the SCADAConnect Simulator tool has a new option: Fire response. Fire Response enables you to place a fire demand (or other emergency flows) at a node for a period of time to determine its impact on pressure and flows and possibly test alternative ways of responding to the fire. Here is the technote on that. How Does Automated Fire Flow Work? Fire flows are computed at each node by iteratively assigning demands and computing system pressures. When you execute a fire flow analysis, WaterCAD\GEMS will: Calculate a steady-state simulation for all nodes designated as fire-flow nodes. At each node, it begins by running a Steady-State simulation using only non-fire demands, to ensure that the fire flow constraints (e.g., minimum residual pressure, minimum zone pressure) that have been set can be met without withdrawing any Fire Flow from any of the nodes. Evaluate the Fire Flow Upper Limit and Available Fire Flow at each of the fire-flow nodes. Assuming the fire flow constraints were met in the initial run, the program performs a series of steady-state runs in which flow is applied to each specified fire-flow node and results are evaluated against fire-flow constraints. Note that the fire flow for each individual node is evaluated using a separate analysis (i.e., needed fire flow is not applied simultaneously to all fire-flow nodes). The program performs a series of steady-state analyses in which the Fire Flow Upper Limit discharge is applied to each node in turn. If the fire flow constraints are met for the Fire Flow Upper Limit discharge, the node satisfies the fire flow constraints and no further analysis is required for that node. The program then performs a series of steady-state analyses in which it iteratively assigns lesser demands to nodes that do not meet Fire Flow Upper Limit constraint to determine the Avalable Fire Flow. The Available Fire Flow is the maximum fire flow that each node can supply without violating fire flow constraints. If the Available Fire Flow is greater than or equal to Needed Fire Flow, the node satisfies the fire flow contraints. If Available Fire Flow is less than Needed, it does not. Run a final Steady-State calculation that does not apply Fire Flow demands to any of the junctions. This provides a baseline of calculated results that can then be compared to the Fire Flow conditions, which can be determined by viewing the results presented on the Fire Flow tab of the individual junction editors, or in the Fire Flow Tabular Report. Interpreting the Fire Flow Alternative Configuration for an automated fire flow analysis is done under the Fire Flow alternative. This is found under Analysis > Alternatives > Fire flow. When computing a scenario, the fire flow alternative assigned to that scenario is used. At a minimum, you should specify values for the needed Fire Flow, Fire Flow Upper Limit, Apply Fire Flow By, Residual Pressure Lower Limit, Zone Pressure Lower Limit and Fire flow nodes selection set. Below is an explanation of each of the main fields found in this alternative (when double clicking on it): Note: If the above options need to be configured differently for each junction/hydrant, you can specify "local" fireflow constraints by clicking the "specify local fireflow constraints?" check box next to the junctions/hydrants in the list at the bottom of the fireflow alternative. If this box is not checked, that particular fireflow node will utilize the global constraints entered at the top of the fire flow alternative. Note: it is important to understand that for the minimum zone pressure constraint, the program checks pressures for all other nodes in the model that are assigned to the same zone as the fireflow node in question. The zone is an attribute of the node. Say for example there are two nodes in the fireflow selection set: J-1 and J-2. J-1 is assigned to Zone A and J-2 is assigned to Zone B. Fireflow nodes are checked independently during the analysis, so when J-1 is being computed, the program will check pressures at all other nodes that are also assigned to Zone A and compare against the minimum zone pressure constraint. Then, when the analysis moves on to J-2, it will be checking pressure at all nodes assigned to Zone B. So, the program isn't running a fireflow analysis on a particular zone - it considers pressures at nodes assigned to certain zones, based on the fireflow node it is currently analyzing. Configuring your model to run a fire flow analysis After you've configured your fire flow alternative, the next step is to assign that alternative to the scenario you would like to compute. First, go to Analysis > Calculation Options. If you have an existing calculation option set that you're using in other scenarios, click on it and click the "duplicate" button. If you'd like, you could also click the "new" button to create a new calculation option set. Provide a meaningful name for your new calculation option set and double click it to open the properties. In the properties, set the Calculation Type to Fire Flow. Next, go to Analysis > Scenarios. Create a new scenario by choosing New > base scenario, or right click an existing scenario and choose "child". Provide a name for the new scenario, such as "Automated Fire Flow Analysis". Double-click your fire flow scenario to open the properties. Select your fire flow alternative from the dropdown next to "Fire Flow" and select your fire flow calculation option from the dropdown next to "Steady state/EPS solver Calculation options". Make your fireflow scenario current by right clicking it's name in the scenario manager and choosing "make current" or by selecting it from the Scenario dropdown menu bar at the top of your WaterCAD/WaterGEMS window. At this point, the automated fireflow analysis can be computed by going to Analysis > Compute. To understand the process that WaterCAD/GEMS uses, please see the section further above, entitled "How does the automated fire flow routine work?". Interpreting Automated Fire Flow Results There are several ways you can view the results of your automated fire flow analysis. Below describes the most common. Using the Fire Flow Report Make sure that your Fire Flow Analysis scenario is the current scenario and that you've succesfully computed it. Click Report > Element Tables > Fire Flow Report. The Fire Flow report is essentially a custom flextable including only the relevant fire flow results for both junctions and hydrants. The fields seen here can be added to the junction and hydrant flextables, but it is generally more convenient to use and keep this separate fireflow flextable when reviewing results of an automated fire flow analysis. Note: if you look at the general results in other flextables, such as "pressure" in the junction table, you will be viewing the baseline steady state results for your model, without any fire flow demands present. It is recommended that you only look at the fireflow table, so as not to be confused. The first thing you will notice is a column titled "Satisfies Fire Flow Constraints?" This will be checked only if the particular fire flow node (designated by the "label" for each row in this report) can provide at least the needed fire flow, while satisfying the fire flow constraints - the pressure constraints and sometimes the velocity constraints, if applicable. Here is a description of some of the other fields (columns) available in the fire flow report: Note: if your table does not display one or more of the below fields, you can add it using the yellow "edit" button at the top of the flextable. Is Fire Flow Run Balanced? "If set to true then the fire flow analysis was able to solve". Specifies whether the fireflow run was balanced or not for the given node. Using the Fire Flow Results Browser The Fire Flow Results Browser will allow you to check results for others elements in your model, during individual fire flow runs. Normally, the only results available after a fire flow analysis are the residual pressures at each fireflow node and minimum zone/system pressures. If you'd like to see other results, such as pipe velocities, hydraulic grades, valve status, etc, during a specific fire flow test, you can use this tool. First, you'll need to make sure that you have set up your Fire Flow Alternative for this function before running the fire flow analysis: After you have set up your Auxiliary Output Settings and run the Fire Flow analysis, go to Analysis > Fire Flow Results Browser. Select a fire flow node from the list to see the results for its adjacent pipes, and for the elements included in the output selection set (defined in the fire flow alternative). With a fire flow node selected, you can then establish color coding, annotations or simply check auxiliary results using the elemenet properties or flextables. For example, if you wanted to see the status of Valve X when Hydrant Y was flowed, click Hydrant Y in the list and then open the properties of Valve X. Color Coding Fire Flow Results Another good way to review an automated fire flow analysis is to use color coding. For example, you can color code junctions and hydrant based on the values for total available fire flow, to see areas where the available fire flow is lacking. Another useful color coding could be one based on the "satisfies fire flow constraints?" attribute. For example, you could color code such that junctions with "false" for this attribute show up as red, with a larger size. This would be done by using the "color and size" option, in the color coding dialog. You can also use color coding with the fire flow results browser. For example, you could color code pipe velocities so that when you click fire flow nodes from the fire flow results browser list, the colors will update to show the velocity distribution when that particular node was flowed. Troubleshooting Fire flow results not available In some cases, you may notice that the results in your fire flow report show "N/A" after computing the model. Make sure your scenario is set up correctly. Ensure that the correct fire flow alternative is assigned to the scenario that you are computing and ensure that its calculation options have the calculation type set to "fire flow". If this is set to "hydraulics only", fire flow results will not be computed. Make sure the scenario computed succesfully. If any messages show up under your user notification (Analysis > User notifications) with a red circle next to them, it means that the calculation failed. You'll need to address these fatal errors first, before results will be available. "N/A" entries can also be caused by omission from the fireflow selection set. In your fire flow alternative, make sure that all the nodes you'd like to study are included in the selection set selected for "Fire flow nodes". The fireflow routine will only analyze and provide results for nodes in this selection set. If desired, a filter can be used in the fire flow report so that nodes not included in the fire flow nodes selection set are not displayed. Make sure that you are not trying to use the fire flow results browser, if you haven't set up your fire flow alternative to save auxiliary results. Doing so can cause results in the fire flow flextable to show "N/A". This can be fixed by clicking the "reset to standard steady state results" button at the top of the fire flow results browser. Understanding why a node cannot provide the desired fire flow In the fire flow report (flextable), you may notice that one or more fire flow nodes does not satisfy the fire flow constraints. Meaning, the total available fire flow is less than the needed fire flow or below what you expected. There are several reasons why this could occur. First, check the calculated residual pressure field. This is the pressure at the fire flow node, at the total available fire flow. So, if this is equal to the residual pressure constraint, it means that the residual pressure constraint would be violated if any more flow was passed, so the fire flow routine stopped. If the calculated residual pressure is less than the residual pressure constraint, it probably means that the residual pressure was below the constraint even with the base demands (with no additional fire flow added). In this case, you should check the pressures in the model with baseline demands - they should all be above the constraints entered in the fire flow alternative. Next, check the calculated minimum zone pressure field. This is the lowest pressure out of all nodes in the same zone as the fire flow node in question, at the total available fire flow. So, if this is equal than the minimum zone pressure constraint that you entered, it means that the fire flow constrainted would be violated if any more flow was passed. So, the fire flow calculation stopped and reported the total available fire flow such that this would not be violated. If the calculated minimum zone pressure shows as less than the constraint, it probably means that the pressure somewhere else in that zone was less than the constraint, even with only the base demands (with no additional fire flow added). You should check the pressures in the model with baseline demands - they should all be above the constraints entered in the fire flow alternative. To check which specific node had the lowest pressure in the zone, check the "Junction with minimum pressure (zone)" field. In many cases, this may be a node at the suction side of the pump or at some other location that you may not be concerned with. In this case, it is recommended that you assign a different zone to these nodes. For example, create a zone called "low" and use that. This way, it won't be in the same zone as any fire flow nodes and thus won't be considered (unless you're using the minimum system pressure constraint). If you elected to use the minimum system pressure constraint in your fire flow alternative, you'll also need to check the calculated minimum system pressure. This is identical to the zone pressure constraint (see above), except it checks pressure at ALL nodes in the model. You can also check the "Junction with minimum pressure (system)" field to see which node caused the fire flow routine to stop. If you elected to use the Velocity constraint in your fire flow alternative, you'll also need to check the "Velocity of maximum pipe" and "Pipe w/ Maximum Velocity" fields. If the velocity in any pipe inside the chosen "pipe set" selection set exceeds the constraint you entered, the fire flow routine will stop. So, similar to the pressure constraints, you may notice the "Velocity of maximum pipe" is equal to or less than the constraint, indicating the reason why no additional fire flow could be extracted. Lastly, in rare cases, the fire flow routine may stop at a certain Total Available fire flow due to an unbalanced model. Meaning, at certain flow rates, the steady state simulation may not be able to converge on a balanced hydraulic solution within the maximum number of trials. This can occur in large, complex models, with low or near-zero flows, and/or when other data input in the model is not correct. It causes the results to be invalid and the fire flow run to stop. If your available fire flow is less than the upper limit, yet all the constraints described above are not violated, chances are that this was caused by the network becoming unbalanced. To check, try running a manual fire flow analysis on that junction. For the manual run, just make sure the calculation type in your calculation options is set to “Hydraulics only” and that you have entered the value for the total needed fire flow as an additional, fixed demand on that junction. Run the analysis and check your user notifications for an unbalanced error. One solution to this is to increase the max trials value in the calculation options, but you should also consider investigating other causes, such as data entry errors. Note: be aware of the presence of local fire flow constraints. At the bottom of your fire flow alternative, you can set node-specific constraints, which override the global constraints set at the top. This could potentially cause confusion when viewing fire flow results. For example, the total available fire flow for a certain node may be less than what you believe the needed fire flow value is, but still showing as satisfying the fire flow constraints. If you had a local "needed fire flow" set to a lower value, this could be valid. So, make sure you include and check the "Fire flow (needed)", "Fire flow (upper limit)" "Pressure (residual lower limit)" and "Pressure (Zone lower limit)" fields in your fire flow report/flextable. Consider the following Fire Flow Flextable, with no minimum system pressure or maximum velocity constraints used: J-10 - This node passed the fire flow test, as indicated by the "Satisfies fire flow constraints?" check box. It reports a Total available fire flow of 2012.68gpm, which is above the total needed fire flow of 462.68. Although the needed fire flow is actually 450.00gpm, we have chosen to add fire flows to base demands, and there is a base demand of 12.68gpm on this node. The total available amount of 2012.68gpm accounts for this base demand as well. Meaning, the total demand on this particular node can be up to 2012.68gpm without violating any fire flow constraints. The reason is because at the upper limit (2012.68gpm), both the residual pressure and minimum zone pressure are 59.2psi, which is above the constraints. The fire flow analysis stopped at the upper limit value to prevent unrealistically high flows from being computed. J-169 - This node passed the fire flow test with a reported total available fire flow of 557.82gpm. This is above the needed fire flow but below the upper limit. The reason why the fire flow test stopped at this flow is because a higher flow rate would violate the zone pressure constraint. As you can see, the calculated minimum zone pressure (lower limit) is equal to the user-entered minimum zone pressure constraint of 20psi and the "junction w/ minimum pressure (zone)" shows J-170. This means that although the residual pressure at J-169 (24.3psi) is above the constraints, J-170 is in the same zone as J-169 and had the lowest pressure, 20psi. J-171 - This node passed the fire flow test with a reported total available fire flow of 489.28gpm. This is above the needed fire flow but below the upper limit. The reason why the fire flow test stopped at this flow is because a higher flow rate would violate the residual pressure constraint. Although the minimum zone pressure of 23.5psi is above the 20psi constraint, the residual pressure (calculated pressure at J-171) is equal to the residual pressure constraint of 15psi. At a higher flow rate than 489.28gpm, the residual pressure would drop below 15psi, which would violate the pressure constraint. So, the fire flow analysis reports the maximum flow available without violating the constraint. J-159 - This node failed the fire flow test, as indicated by the unchecked "Satisfies fire flow constraints?". This is because the total available fire flow is 327.06gpm, which is less than the total needed flow of 453.17gpm. The reason why this node can only supply 327.06gpm is because of the residual pressure constraint. As you can see, even though the minimum zone pressure (60.4psi) is well above the zone pressure constraint, the calculated residual pressure is equal to the residual pressure constraint. This means that the pressure constaint would be violated at a flow any higher than 327.06gpm. J-154 - This node failed the fire flow test, because the available fire flow of 289.24gpm is less than the needed fireflow of 455.39. The reason it can only supply this much flow is because of the minimum zone pressure constraint. As you can see, although the residual pressure (28.5psi) is above the constraint, the minimum zone pressure is equal to the constraint, with J-158 as the "junction w/ minimum pressure (zone)". This means that J-158, which is in the same zone as J-154, is preventing any additional flow from being extracted, without violating the minimum zone pressure constraint. J-1 - This node failed the fire flow test with a total available flow of zero. This means that even without any demand at all on J-1, the baseline pressures in the model fall below the constraints. This is indicated by the calculated residual pressure of -1.4psi. This means that with zero demand on this node, the pressure at J-1 is -1.4psi. Since this is well below the constraint of 20psi, the fireflow test fails and the available fire flow is reported as zero. This particular junction is located on the suction side of a pump station, so it probably should be excluded from the fire flow nodes selection set. Meaning, it is probably unnecessary to compute fire flow for this node. J-2 - This node also failed the fire flow test with a total available flow of zero. In this case, it is because the minimum zone pressure constraint was violated. This means that without any demand at all on this node, the pressure at J-1 is -1.4psi. J-1 is in the same zone as J-2 and as seen above, it is at the suction side of the pump. So, assigning a new zone to J-1 should resolve this problem, since it would no longer be considered during the check of zone pressure. J-3 - This node, along with other junctions below it, show "N/A" for all calculated fields. This is because these nodes are not included in the fire flow nodes selection set , set in the fire flow alternative. Fire flow results browser not working If you attempt to use the fire flow results browser tool, you may run into problems if it is not configured correctly. Symtoms could be: Nothing showed up in the list. Some results show "N/A" in the properties/flextables after clicking a fire flow node from the list. This is caused by improper configuration in the fire flow alternative. Open the fire flow alternative and check the "Auxiliary output Settings" section. If you'd like to be able to check auxiliary results for any fire flow node, regardless of whether it passed or failed the "needed fire flow", select "All nodes" for the "Fire flow auxiliary results type". Doing this will ensure that all nodes show up in the list. At this point, at a minimum, you will be able to see auxiliary results for pipes adjacent to the fire flow node that you select in the results brower. If you'd like to see results for more elements, you'll need to choose a selection set for the "Auxiliary output selection set". If you want to be able to see auxiliary results for all nodes, you can create a selection set of all nodes. To do this, close the fire flow alternative, go to Edit > Select All. Right click anywhere in the drawing pane, choose "create selection set" and give it a name, such as "ALL ELEMENTS". Then, select this in your fire flow alternative for the output selection set. Now, when you compute the fire flow simulation, you'll be able to check results for all elements in the model, for your fire flow nodes. Note: the more fire flow nodes available in the list and the more elements included in the output selection set, the longer the calculation will take to perform and the more disk space it's saved results will take up. See Also WaterGEMS V8 Automated Fire Flow FAQ Product TechNotes and FAQs Haestad Methods Product Tech Notes And FAQs [[General WaterGEMS V8 FAQ|General WaterGEMS V8 FAQ]] WaterGEMS V8 Modeling FAQ Hydraulics and Hydrology Forum Whats new in WaterGMES SS6 SCADAConnect Simulator for WaterGEMS SS6 Simulating a Fire Response in SCADAConnect Simulator

Applies To Product(s): Bentley WaterGEMS, Bentley WaterCAD Version(s): 08.11.XX.XX Environment: N/A Area: Original Author: Jesse Dringoli & Mark Pachlhofer, Bentley Technical Support Group Problem How does the Automated Fire Flow analysis work? Solution The automated fireflow analysis routine will perform a series of independent steady state calculations, with the various extra demands applied to your fireflow nodes. It first runs a steady state analysis on the scenario in question, with the "needed" fireflow applied only to one of your fireflow nodes. It checks the resulting pressure at that node, at other nodes in the same zone and (if desired) pressure at all other nodes in the model and velocities in the pipes. If these are within the constraints specified in your fireflow alternative, it will add a little bit more demand to that node, check the pressures, and repeat, until the pressure constraints are violated or the demand reaches the "upper limit" that you specify. Then it reports this "available" fireflow and moves on to the next fireflow node, performing the same steps. If you are looking for step by step direction on how to setup the automated fire flow analysis please refer to the quick start lesson titled "Automated fire flow analysis" that is located in the help documentation that comes with the software (Help > Quick Start Lessons). See Also Understanding Automated Fire Flow Results WaterGEMS V8 Automated Fire Flow FAQ

Applies To Product(s): Bentley WaterGEMS, Bentley WaterCAD Version(s): V8i or V8 XM Environment: N/A Area: N/A Subarea: N/A Original Author: Scott Kampa, Bentley Technical Support Group Overview The purpose of this technote is to discuss the Criticality feature available in the Bentley WaterGEMS and WaterCAD. Additional information can be found in the Help menu for the products. There is also a Quick Start Lesson available for Criticality until Help > Quick Start Lessons. Background Bentley WaterGEMS V8i provides the user with a flexible tool to evaluate and identify the most critical elements in a water distribution system. Using this process, the user can shut down individual segments of the system and view the results on system performance. This is simulated in a single run rather than in a series of different scenarios. A variety of indicators is reported for each outage during the criticality analysis. Depending on the type of run, criticality analysis can report the flow shortfall, volume shortfall, or pressure shortfall in the distribution system for each segment outage. Getting Started Before conducting a criticality analysis, the segments to be removed from service during the analysis must be identified. Often this will be defined by the valves in the system, wherein a closed valve will disrupt service to parts of the model. Included in this, the user must identify which types of valves will be used in the analysis. The user will also have to decide which scenario will be used for the analysis. Once identified, this information will be entered into the Criticality manager. The steps to do this and compute the criticality analysis are detailed below. Running a Criticality Analysis Segmentation Analysis: The Criticality manager can be opened by going to Analysis > Criticality, or by clicking the Criticality icon in the toolbar. This will open the following dialog: Next, click the Options tab. In this section, you will identify how the segments in the analysis will be defined. The recommended procedure is to place isolation valves on the pipe elements. If you don’t have sufficient data on the location of isolating valves, each pipe element can be isolated. In this case, each distribution segment consists of a single pipe, not including the nodes at each end. You can set this up by way of the “Consider Valves?” option at the top of the page. By default, this item is checked. When it is checked, the segments are defined by the valves. If it is unchecked, the pipes are isolated individually. When the “Consider Valves?” option is selected, the default status of the valves is available. By default, these will be set to “Always Use.” If you have some valve types that you don’t want used in the criticality analysis, change this field to “Do Not Use.” Note: if you don’t have a given valve type in the model, you can leave this with the default setting. There is a valve override section at the bottom of the page. This item is used in cases where an individual valve will not be considered in the analysis, such as if the valve is broken open. Once the options are set as needed, click the New icon in the upper left and choose the scenario you will be using in the analysis. Once this is done, you will have to select the segmentation scope of the analysis. You can either choose a subset of the model or the entire network. With Subset is selected, you can select the subset by clicking the ellipsis button. If you choose Entire Network, all elements in the model will be used. Next, click the green Compute icon. You may be prompted about update valve placement data. Typically, you will click Yes for this. The criticality analysis will then run. The results will be available in the Segmentation Results tab. In the middle pane will be a list of all of the segments. In the right pane, you will see the distribution of segments and their properties, such as the number of pipes in a segment and the number of affected nodes. The displayed results are governed by the highlight segment in the middle pane. Note: this is true of viewing results for the Outage Segments and Criticality sections below as well. You can view the segments graphically by clicking the Highlight Segments icon at the top of the middle pane. If you minimize Criticality manger, you can then view the segments on the model itself. Analyzing Outage Segments: Once the segmentation is completed, you then do an outage analysis. This allows you to determine which segments are affected when a certain valve is closed. To do this, highlight “Outage Segment” in the left pane and select the green Compute icon. The results from this section will show you how an outage affects a model, including the number of affected elements. You can also view these outage segments graphically in the model. Highlight one of the outage segments in the middle pane and select the Highlight Segment icon. When you minimize the window, the outage segment chosen will be highlighted. Criticality Analysis: The final step is to see how the outages affect the demand. This is the most important function of the criticality analysis. It will determine if the system can supply the needed demand if a section is closed, and if it cannot, how much demand shortfall there is as a result of the closure. Highlight “Criticality” in the left pane. At the top of the right pane is an item called “Run Hydraulic Engine?” If this is unchecked, the model will check the connectivity of the model when certain segments are closed. If you select the green Compute icon, you will be able sort the results to see which outage segments will cause the largest disruption by looking at the “System Demand Shortfall” column. If you place a check in the “Run Hydraulic Engine?” icon, the program will hydraulically compute the model as well. If the demands are not met in that segment, the check box in the column “Are all demands met?” will not be checked. Is there a downfall to not using isolation valves in a Criticality analysis? Yes, the downfall is that you will have a higher demand shortfall than you would without isolation valves because the segments will be longer. See Also Product TechNotes and FAQs Haestad Methods Product Tech Notes And FAQs [[General WaterGEMS V8 FAQ|General WaterGEMS V8 FAQ]] Hydraulics and Hydrology Forum External Links Bentley SELECTservices Bentley LEARN Server

Applies To Product(s): Bentley WaterGEMS Version(s): V8i SELECTSeries 2 and later Environment: N/A Area: N/A Subarea: N/A Original Author: Scott Kampa, Bentley Technical Support Group Overview The purpose of this technote is to discuss the Pipe Renewal Planner feature available in the Bentley WaterGEMS V8i Select Series 2. Additional information can be found in the WaterGEMS Help menu. For a free webinar demonstration Pipe Renewal Planner, use the link in the "See Also" section at the bottom of this article. Background It is often advantageous to know about vulnerable parts of a system so that potential problems can be fixed before they cause system disruptions. Pipe Renewal Planner provides the user with a method to calculate a weighted score for each pipe based on user-defined aspects of the model. Pipe Renewal Planner can give the user guidance to determine which pipes in the model may be most vulnerable and allow them to remedy issues that have caused the pipe to have a high score. This is a new feature included with WaterGEMS V8i Select Series 2 (build 08.11.02.31) or later. It is available as a licensing add-on for WaterCAD V8i Select Series 2. Before using Pipe Renewal Planner Pipe Renewal Planner provides the user with a method to calculate a weighted score for each pipe based on user-defined aspects of the model. Pipe Renewal Planner can include any aspect that can be entered for a pipe or calculated for the pipe. These include capacity, projected pipe breaks, material, and depth of cover, among others. Scores determined by Pipe Renewal Planner are highly dependent on the specific system and on the availability of data. Before using Pipe Renewal Planner, the user needs to identify which aspects will be used in scoring pipes and which properties are going to be used as a basis for calculating the aspect scores. It may be necessary to define new properties in User Data Extensions and import values for properties from external data sources using ModelBuilder or copy/paste features. In order to import values, it is essential that there exist a common key field shared by the WaterCAD V8i model and the external data source. Calculation of raw scores for aspects such as capacity (fire flow) and criticality (deamnd shortfall) can be time consuming such that it may be advisable to have already computed these analyses before computing Pipe Renewal Planner. However, if any properties are changed that may affect scores, it is possible to recompute the scenario from within Pipe Renewal Planner. Also, keep in mind that doing the default Pipe Renewal Planner analysis will use fire flow (capacity), criticality, and segmentation, and pipe break results. It is recommended that this information is reviewed beforehand, as this technote will only touch on these in general terms. Please review the available technotes or Help items on these features for more information. Using Pipe Renewal Planner You can access Pipe Renewal Planner by selecting Analysis > Pipe Renewal Planner or picking the Pipe Renewal Planner icon from the toolbar. This opens the welcome dialog if no analyses have already been run. To start a new analysis, click the New icon in the upper left. A new pipe renewal planner label will appear in the list on the left, while the section to the right will be populated with default aspects: pipe break, criticality, and capacity (fire flow). Each aspect has a select number of properties associated with them. The Selection Set column allows you to choose either the entire network or a predefined selection set of elements for the aspect analysis. The Weight column is a way for you to decide how much emphasis will be placed on a certain aspect in Pipe Renewal Planner. The Scenario column defines which scenario the data for the individual aspect comes from. These different scenarios can be computed ahead of time, which will save some computational time for the Pipe Renewal Planner analysis itself. Computing the scenario ahead of time will also allow you to verify that the results for the aspects are reasonable. However, if you have not computed the scenario, you can put a checkmark in the Compute Scenario column and Pipe Renewal Planner will compute the scenario during the analysis. In addition to the default aspects, you can also add new aspects for the pipe renewal planner to account for. To do this, either click the New icon below the General tab or simply click in the empty cell beneath the default aspects. Then click in the cell and select the ellipsis button. This will open the Aspects manager. Select the New icon to create a selection. Then select which property you would like to be considered in the analysis. Whether you use the default aspects or create new ones, you will need to select the Representative Scenario for the analysis. This does not need to be the current scenario. The representative scenario will be used as the source of element properties and the location to save results except where another scenario is explicitly called out. Note: Two Pipe Renewal Planner configurations cannot share the same representative scenario. If a scenario is selected, it is not available as the representative scenario from the pulldown menu for other Pipe Renewal Planner configurations. Computing and Viewing Results The individual aspects will need to be set up before computing the Pipe Renewal Planner analysis. For information on how to run a fire flow , criticality , segmentation , and pipe break analyses , please review posted information in Help or in the technotes found in the Hydraulics and Hydrology Technotes page. Note: The raw score for capacity (fire flow) for a given pipe is equal to the difference between the "target" velocity (the "Pipe velocity greater than" field in the fire flow alternative) and the maximum velocity in that pipe (over all the fire flow events). In order for a pipe to be considered during this part of the calculation, it must either be adjacent to a fire flow node or be included in the "auxiliary output selection set" in the fire flow alternative. Once you have your aspects selected and applied, you will be ready to compute Pipe Renewal Planner. Click the green Compute icon in the Pipe Renewal Planner manager. Note: If you have not computed the scenarios associated with the aspects, you will be prompted to do so. You can either compute the scenarios individually or put a checkmark in the Compute Scenario column for the different aspects. If you click the Results tab, you will see the results of the analysis. The overall score for the pipe is found in the Pipe Score column. It is the weighted sum of the individual aspect scores. A higher value indicates a pipe with potential problems in need of repair, rehabilitation, replacement or some other remedial action. Scores are presented on a 0 to 100 scale unless the user has set up some different scaling. Other data included in the results tab include the scores and results for the individual aspects. The data can be sorted by right-clicking on a column header and choosing the Sort function. By choosing “Sort Descending,” the highest score will be at the top. You can also view the data graphically in the drawing pane by setting up color coding in the Element Symbology manager. Open this by clicking View > Element Symbology. Right-click on Pipe and select New > Color Coding. This will open a new manager. Choose “Pipe Score” from the Properties pulldown and select the range. You can initialize the color coding on the right side of the manager. More information on color coding can be found under Help. See Also Free Webinar demonstration Pipe Renewal Planner Understanding Automated Fire Flow Results Running a Criticality Analysis Product TechNotes and FAQs Haestad Methods Product Tech Notes And FAQs [[General WaterGEMS V8 FAQ|General WaterGEMS V8 FAQ]] Hydraulics and Hydrology Forum External Links Bentley SELECTservices Bentley LEARN Server

Applies To Product(s): Bentley HAMMER Version(s): 08.11.XX.XX Environment: N/A Area: Original Author: Mark Pachlhofer, Bentley Technical Support Group Problem Modeling a valve opening in HAMMER with no initial transient Solution To model this start the valve as initially closed by setting the "Status(Initial)" property to 'Active' and set the Headloss Coefficient, discharge coefficient, valve characteristics curve, pressure, flow setting, or hydraulic grade appropriately (what it's set at depends on the value type and information that you have). This should probably be done with a TCV, but you can apply this logic to any other type of valve. Set the pattern (Valve Settings) to fixed and choose the valve type. Then set the Transient "Operating Rule" by clicking the option in the Transient (Operational) section. This will open the patterns manager where you will create an Operational (Transient, Valve) pattern. The 'Starting Relative Closure' of the pattern should be set to 100%, which indicates the valve is fully open. We're doing this to prevent an initial transient wave from occurring at the beginning of the simulation. Next close the valve slowly over a period of time (59 seconds). Once closed and the with the transient settled open the valve over 10 seconds or whatever period of time your valve opens over. After you're done you would click "Close' at the bottom of the Patterns manager then select the new pattern that you created in the cell next to the 'Operating Rule' property. Now run the model and check the results in the transient results viewer to examine the results. If you need to adjust your pattern to elminate the transient wave at the beginning of the model do that now. We also have information that might be useful for determining the exact time period you need to close a valve in to eliminate or reduce you transient wave under the "Wave Propagation and Characteristic Time" help document found within the software. If you were to use the other method by starting the valve Status (Initial) as 'Closed' and open the valve slowly you get a similar results. Below is what the pattern setup would look like:

MPachlhofer, Thank you so much. I'll look into it more detail! Thanks, Dang

I've taken a deep look at your model using the same version you have and found that part of the problem does appear to involve the multiple VSPs and VSPBs discharging to the same pressure zone, but there are other factors as well. Below I've listed some of the areas that have problems: 1) "Devon Manor" and "US Steel" are both VSPs with different target HGL and discharge into zone "D-2", but they currently turn on at different times. The reason why they appear to operate at full speed with the target node's HGL higher than the setting is because if they try to ramp down their speed, the other pumps and the tank in this zone provide enough head to maintain the target HGL at the target node. Therefore they go into "fixed speed override" and operate at full speed. For example if you perform a steady state simulation with "Is Variable Speed Pump?" set to "False" for pump "US Steel" and set the relative speed factor to 0.7, you'll see that the pump cannot pass any flow and the HGL at the target node is already higher than the target HGL, because of the head provided by other elements in the model. For example create a profile between that pump and tank "Parkway West", which is at 657 ft (compared to the target of 605). I also noticed that there appears to be a path between the zones marked as D-2 and D-3, through "Copperstone FCV". Even though the setting is only 30 gpm, there might be a significant amount of head added by pump "Hummelstown Hi HSP #3" that can makes its way through this FCV. Also, VSPB "East Park Dr" discharges out of this pressure zone and is on at the same time as the other two, which could possibly lead to similar stability issues (where "Devon Manor" and "US Steel" aren't the only influence on the HGL at their target nodes). 2) "East Park Dr" and "Hummelstown Hi HSP #3" are both VSPs with different target HGL, and are seen on at the same time and discharge into zone "D-3". "East Park Dr" has a HGL target of 613 ft whereas "Hummelstown Hi HSP #3" has a target of 720 ft. The numerical solver was not designed to work in this configuration, which is part of why you're encountering problems with these particular pumps. Here is a related article on this subject: http://communities.bentley.com/products/hydraulics___hydrology/w/hydraulics_and_hydrology__wiki/10118.vsp-or-vspb-not-properly-maintaining-target-hgl 3) The reporting timestep is set to 1 hr, so you will miss details between timesteps in graphs. I suggest setting this to "all" for troubleshooting. 4) Three tanks become full during the simulation, which engages an automatic altitude valve that closes the adjacent pipe, which can cause issues and disconnections. These tanks do not appear to have any controls set to prevent this from happening. Offending tanks: “Oberlin”, “chambers hill reservoir”, “spring garden” 5) There are appear to be other missing controls and settings: - PRV "Pennswood" is set to active with a pressure setting of zero. If this should be closed (as the Notes seem to indicate), it would be best to set the initial status to Closed. - PSV "US Steel PSV", "Devon Manor PSV", "Colorado PSV" and "Locust Lane PSV" have controls to close, but no control to reopen. - there is a control set to turn off "Blue Meadows #2" based on tank "Blue Meadows", but no control to turn the pump back on. - there may be other similar issues 6) The slowdown in calculation progress is a clear indicator of stability problems. The model has a difficult time converging on a balanced solution and requires additional timesteps. A good tool to help with this is the Intra-Trial Status Messages tab in the calculation summary. This can give you clues as to what the model is having trouble with. In your model, for the timesteps that see excessive timesteps (greater than ~40), I observe dozens, in some cases hundreds of intra-trial status messages. The elements that show up here multiple times, switching back and forth between status, indicate that they are "fighting" against other elements and should be investigated. Many of your PRVs, PSVs, pumps and check valve show up. 7) There are several areas that have two PRVs in parallel, which can be difficult to solve. For example Latsha 6" and Latsha 2". It is suggested that you combine these into a single PRV, to reduce calculation complexity. See below article: http://communities.bentley.com/products/hydraulics___hydrology/w/hydraulics_and_hydrology__wiki/18158.i-have-prv-s-in-parallel-that-are-both-open-at-the-same-time-and-when-i-go-to-compute-my-model-i-get-a-user-notification-that-says-network-unbalanced-how-do-i-resolve-this With that said, I realize that this is not necessarily a complete solution, but rather a list of things that appear to need attention. Once you've had a look at these and implement any necessary changes on your end (you may need to use your own judgment for this, given the assumptions presented), I'd be happy to meet with you to discuss further.

If you need precise measurement tools when laying out elements (for example to lay out a conduit a specific distance, angle, etc) you can take advantage of StormCAD's interoperability with MicroStation or AutoCAD. For example when using StormCAD for MicroStation, you can use Accudraw when laying out elements. There is also a tooltip customization option you can set up in MicroStation integrated mode (referenced in the help and in this article ) where a certain attribute (like length or area) will pop up when you hover your mouse over an element. If you just want to quickly see length and area of existing elements, another thing to consider is annotations . You can annotate on the conduit length and catchment area to see the value in the drawing pane plan view.

Applies To Product(s): Bentley WaterGEMS, Bentley SewerGEMS, Bentley HAMMER Version(s): 08.11.XX.XX Environment: ArcMap, WaterGEMS for ArcMap, SewerGEMS for ArcMap Area: Layout and Data Input Subarea: Original Author: Mark Pachlhofer, Bentley Technical Support Group Problem Description How do you make elements inactive so they change color like you can do in the WaterGEMs standalone?? And/Or How do I use and display the "Active Topoplogy" for elements on the ArcGIS/ArcMap Platform? Background The display inactive topology setting in WaterGEMS for ArcMap works differently than it does in WaterGEMS standalone. In standalone when you use the tool it makes the pipes inactive and changes their color to whatever color you have set in the Tools > Options on the global tab under the layout section (default color is grey). In WaterGEMS for ArcMap when you use the option for the active topology all it does is make the elements property found in the flextable/geotable switch status from active to inactive or vice versa. WaterGEMS for ArcMap can't do this automatically because the color coding is a feature of ArcMap and you must use one of the two options below to change the physical color. Resolution Note: The following resolution uses WaterGEMs for ArcMap as an example, but the same applies for SewerGEMS for ArcMap and HAMMER for ArcMap There are actually two ways to do this. Option 1 1. First make sure the WaterGEMS Renderer and Auto Refresh are on. A checkmark next to the feature lets you know it's enabled. (WaterGEMS toolbar > View > WaterGEMS Renderer / Auto Refresh). 2. Now that you have the Renderer active if you had any elements that were already set as inactive they should no longer be displayed in your drawing pane or should be displayed as a different color. This color can be controlled by going to WaterGEMS toolbar > Tools > Options and changing the "Display Inactive Topology" color. **Note that If you don't want your inactive elements to display just make their color the same as the background color or uncheck the box for "Display inactive Topology" if it's currently checked. To check which elements are inactive you can add the 'Is Active?' field to your Geotable. You'll have to start an editing session in order to do this. Option 2 The second way you can make elements inactive, so they don't display in your drawing pane is to create a color coding. 1. Locate the layer that you want to make elements inactive for and right click on it. Select 'Properties' on the pop up dialog box and click on the Symbology tab of the layer properties dialog. 2. Click on the 'Categories' option on the left side of the dialog box (see image above). The 'Categories' - 'Unique values' should be chosen by default. 3. In the value field choose "Is_Active" from the drop down menu and click the 'Add All Values' button to populate the symbol area. You should now see two symbols: a) - False or 0, indicating this symbol is linked to the color coding for the elements that are inactive and you don't want to be displayed in your drawing pane b) True or 1, indicating this symbol is linked to the color coding for the elements that are active and you would like to be displayed in your drawing pane. 4. Either uncheck the checkbox to the left of or you can double click on the symbol to the left of . Double clicking the symbol allows you to set the color to "No color". Click the 'OK' button to close the box when finished. Finally, you will select 'Apply' and then 'OK' in the Layer Properties dialog box to display your layer colors.

Applies To Product(s): Bentley WaterGEMS, Bentley WaterCAD Version(s): 08.11.XX.XX Environment: N/A Area: Modeling Original Author: Scott Kampa, Bentley Technical Support Group Customer Meter Element Customer meter elements provide a way for users to maintain customer water demand data within WaterGEMS and WaterCAD. It provides the user access to features such as element symbology and the ability to visualize customer location and assignment of demand to node elements. The new customer meter element is represented by a house icon as pictured below and the association of the element with a node or pipe is shown as a dashed line. The main steps for using the customer meter elements are entering demands for the element and assigning the customer metering element to a hydraulic model element, such as a junction. This is done by clicking on the drop down button in the “Associated Element” field from the properties grid or the FlexTable then choosing “Select Associated Element…” The customer meter element can also be imported or updated from eternal data sources using ModelBuilder. More information can be found on ModelBuilder by this link: https://communities.bentley.com/Products/Hydraulics___Hydrology/w/Hydraulics_and_Hydrology__Wiki/building-a-model-using-model-builder The external data source should contain a label, the x-y coordinate and demand data for the new element. If the data source is a shapefile, the spatial data is included already, so x-y coordinates are not needed. Demands can be entered manually by entering values in the property grid, the customer meter FlexTable, and the Demand Alternative under the Customer Meter tab. Demands from a customer meter element must be assigned to the associated hydraulic modeling element in order to be used in the calculations. The demand control center is not used for the customer meter element because there can only be a single demand and unit demand for a customer meter. Lastly, LoadBuilder can be used to assign the customer meter element to the hydraulic modeling element using one of the allocation methods located within the “Customer Meter load data” in the first step of the LoadBuilder process. The different methods that can be chosen are, "Nearest node", "Nearest pipe", or “Customer Meter Aggregation”. The "Model Node Layer" will usually be set to ‘Junction\All Elements’, but it can also be any selection set of node elements that have “Demand (Base)” as a property. The "Customer Data" is usually set to Customer\All Elements although it can also be any selection set of customer meter elements. If the customers are being assigned based on nearest pipe method, in addition to specifying the Model Node Layer and Customer Data, the user must also specify the Model Pipe Data which identifies the pipes to be considered. This enables the user to use a selection set which can ignore large transmission mains with no customers. NOTE: When using Loadbuilder to assign customer meters to junctions, the user should update the existing Demand alternative rather than create a new one. If a new Demand alternative is created, the demand data imported through ModelBuilder will be lost. Customer meter elements are not directly used in hydraulic calculations so there are no hydraulic results for them. The user should find results in the node to which the customer element is associated. External Customer Meter Data Manager A new External Customer Meter Data manager have been added so that external source data can be added to the Customer Meter element. This allows the user to see detailed information about the location that the Customer Meter element represents. Similar to ModelBuilder, the user can select from a number of source file types, such as database files and Excel files, and import the data into the External Customer Meter Data manager. This can be important in keeping track of demand information that will be applied to the Customer Meters. For a free Webinar on using the Customer Element, click this link . If this link does not work, navigate to the main H&H Webinar directory and scroll down to the entry from Sep 2014 entitled "Improved hydraulic modeling of customers and their water demands"

Thanks Jonathan, the link is now fixed.

thanks alot sir , actuly i looking for a tool to manually measure the distance like in autocad

i hope to find a simple way to measure the distance (simple ruler) and i hope you add it in the next release

The simple work around: have conduit length annotation set up. Lay out the conduit for the distance you want. Read the length off the annotation or use the property grid. Delete the conduit. How often and why do you need these measurements?

Hi Mahmoud, It's in the current release, you just need to use the MicroStation or AutoCAD integrated version. The Standalone version is a powerful general purpose modeling platform but when you need precision drawing layout and enhanced printing functionality, etc, the AutoCAD or MicroStation integrated platform is the intended way to get this. Understanding your workflow and why you need to do this may help us understand better.

Hi Layla, Your model only has surface flow coming from one catchment. The rest of the catch basins have the flow entered in the field "Flow (Known)". This is used for identifying a known pipe flow into the piped system. See: Understanding Known Flows If you don't want to use catchments, and you want to insert an external inflow, I recommend one of the following approaches: 1) Using the fields External CA and External Tc See: Entering catchment data directly to a catch basin 2) Use "Flow (Additional Carryover)" See: Understanding Flow (Additional Subsurface) and Flow (Additional Carryover) 3) Use a Fixed Load in the Inflow (Wet) Collection field. You can move all values from "Flow (Known)" to be fixed loads using the Inflow Control Center. To do this: Open a catch basin FlexTable. Sort by Label ascending Highlight and copy all values in the Flow (Known) column. Close the FlexTable Open the Tools menu and select Inflow Control Center Select the Catch Basin tab Select the New icon and then select Add Inflows Select all catch basins and click the check mark. Set Inflow Type to Fixed Load, leave the Fixed Load set to 0cfs, and click OK. Sort by Label ascending. Select the top field in the Fixed Load column, and press to paste the values. Also see help topics: Inflows Flow Definitions for Node Elements Flow at catchbasins

i already use the same procedure, but i find it absurd, a program with that capabilities and it didn't have a simple ruler. my problem was i have a scaled model and i want to add catch basin after 25 m from a manhole, so i searched for a ruler

thanks sir, i try to work on the civil 3d integrated platform but it crushed twice, really i don't like it at all. and i allready work in the main program my problem was i have a scaled model and i want to add catch basin after 25 m from a manhole, so i searched for a ruler

Product(s): Bentley StormCAD Version(s): 08.11.xx.xx Environment: N\A Area: Problem Is it possible to enter catchment data like the C value, area, and time of concentration directly to a catchment, rather than including the catchment element itself? Solution Sometimes the catchment elements are not readily available to include in a drawing, but the data itself, such as C value, area, and Tc, is available. In such a case, it is possible to add the data directly to the catch basin element. In the catch basin properties, you will see property fields for "External Tc" and "External CA". This data can be added directly to the catch basin properties or flextables. You can also import the data through ModelBuilder. Note that the C value and area are not entered separately, but as a single property. If the data you have is separate, you will need to multiple the C and area first, such as in Excel. If you have the flow expected from the catchment available, you could also enter that flow as "Flow (Addition Carryover)". This flow would be captured by the catch basin or possibly passed to a downstream gutter. See Also Catchment polygon visualization after importing from non-spatial data source Understanding Flow (Additional Subsurface) and Flow (Additional Carryover) Understanding Known Flows