Integrated BIM tools, including Revit, AutoCAD, and Civil 3D
Professional CAD/CAM tools built on Inventor and AutoCAD
Create catchment areas and analyze drainage pipe networks.
Type:
Tutorial
Length:
8 min.
Transcript
00:04
In prospector, expand catchments
00:07
and then expand the storm catchments group.
00:10
In this drawing, we have created some catchment areas for our storm drainage
00:16
catchments are areas of ground which will capture rainfall run off
00:20
and are used to calculate input flows to our network.
00:24
The Cyan Polyline in the drawing is a catchment area that we need to add to our group
00:30
in prospector, right. Click on the storm catchments group.
00:35
You can create a catchment from an object or you can create
00:38
a catchment automatically from a surface by picking a discharge point,
00:43
choose create catchment from object
00:45
and select the Cyan
00:47
Polyline
00:48
on the command line. It's asking you to pick a polyline for the flow path.
00:53
We don't need a flow path for this catchment
00:56
to press escape to skip this step
00:59
in the Great catchment dialogue.
01:01
We'll accept the default name
01:03
group
01:04
and styles
01:06
for the reference pipe network structure.
01:09
Use the select button
01:10
and pick the storm structure in the catchment. As shown
01:14
this should be mh nine.
01:17
The run off coefficient is an estimate of the fraction of
01:20
total rainfall in the catchment that will flow into the network.
01:24
Set this to 0.7
01:26
click. OK. To save the catchment
01:29
and press escape. To end the command,
01:32
we can now run our analysis.
01:36
Go to the analyze ribbon tab
01:38
for a comprehensive drainage analysis,
01:40
you can export the network to external applications
01:43
such as storm sewers or storm and sanitary analysis.
01:48
We're going to run a basic flow analysis in civil 3d.
01:53
Select analyze gravity network
01:56
in the drawing press enter to select the network from a list
02:01
in the select pipe network dialogue,
02:03
select the storm one network and click. OK.
02:07
There are three types of analysis that we can run.
02:11
We can analyze flows in the pipes and resize the pipes and reset the inverts.
02:17
We can calculate the energy and hydraulic rate lines
02:21
and we can analyze inlets to check capacity.
02:25
Select the 1st and 2nd options
02:28
for the outfall. It has automatically selected the head wall structure
02:32
based on the structure type.
02:35
Select hold outfall, invert
02:39
the tur water condition, calculates the water level at the outfall.
02:44
We will use elevation and leave this at zero
02:49
for rainfall data. Click on the browse button
02:53
and choose the sample fhaif file.
02:58
These are intensity duration, frequency curves
03:01
and provide rainfall information in tabular form.
03:05
Click open
03:06
now, click on the intensity table button
03:10
here you can see the tabular rainfall data.
03:13
The columns contain rainfall values in inches per hour,
03:17
split into different storm durations.
03:21
The rows indicate the probability of the storm event occurring in any given year
03:26
select the row one in five for our storm
03:30
and then click save and return.
03:33
Now click on the settings button.
03:36
Set the minimum velocity to 5 ft per second
03:40
and set the maximum velocity to 30 ft per second.
03:45
Set the minimum cover depth to 3 ft.
03:50
Set the default N value the friction coefficient for the pipe to 0.013.
03:57
The minimum crown drop
03:59
should be 0.1.
04:02
The minimum time of concentration will be 10 minutes.
04:06
This is an estimate of the time taken for runner flows to reach the network.
04:11
Click save and return.
04:14
Now click on the network details button.
04:18
This displays a summary of all of the inputs for the analysis.
04:22
Items not grayed out can be edited.
04:26
Time of concentration
04:28
has been calculated based on the catchments
04:31
note that where it is less than 10 minutes,
04:34
then the default of 10 minutes will be used.
04:38
The catchments, the catchment and areas for each structure are listed.
04:42
If there are any direct inputs into the network
04:45
such as additional branches,
04:47
these can be entered as known flows.
04:51
Click back to return to the analysis.
04:55
Now click the analyze button to run the analysis
04:59
in the results. You can see that some of the pipes are shown as flooded
05:03
and so the network has failed.
05:06
Click start over,
05:08
go back to the settings and change the minimum velocity to 3 ft per second.
05:14
Click save and return
05:16
in the outfall deselect hold outfall invert.
05:20
Now click on analyze again
05:23
this time, you can see that some pipes are surcharged.
05:27
In other words, the water level is above the crown of the pipe.
05:31
However, the manholes are not flooded.
05:34
The pipe diameter columns show the pipes that have
05:36
been re sized to handle the storm flows.
05:40
Note the items colored in red do not meet
05:42
the minimum requirements for either velocity or pipe slope.
05:48
In the top right corner, click on the profile button
05:52
and in the drawing pan to the profile viewer show and pick the view,
05:57
review the changes to the network,
06:01
press escape to return to the results.
06:05
Now click on the report button,
06:09
browse to your project reports folder
06:12
and save the report with your chosen name.
06:16
The report may take some time to save
06:21
if Excel is installed,
06:23
the report should open automatically
06:29
review the report and then close it
06:35
to commit the changes to the network.
06:37
Click apply
06:39
again, it may take some time to save the changes.
06:43
Once the changes are made, pipe network will update in the profile views,
06:49
close the analyzed dialogue.
06:53
Now you can review the pipe network in the profile view.
06:57
When you look at the profile view, youll see extra lines have been added.
07:02
The magenta line represents the energy grade line from the analysis.
07:07
The green dash line
07:09
represents the hydraulic red
07:11
line.
07:12
You can see where the hydraulic grade line
07:15
is running above the pipe indicating the pipe is surcharged.
07:20
If I select a pipe and look at the pipe properties,
07:23
you can see the information from the analysis
07:26
has been added into the pipe properties.
Video transcript
00:04
In prospector, expand catchments
00:07
and then expand the storm catchments group.
00:10
In this drawing, we have created some catchment areas for our storm drainage
00:16
catchments are areas of ground which will capture rainfall run off
00:20
and are used to calculate input flows to our network.
00:24
The Cyan Polyline in the drawing is a catchment area that we need to add to our group
00:30
in prospector, right. Click on the storm catchments group.
00:35
You can create a catchment from an object or you can create
00:38
a catchment automatically from a surface by picking a discharge point,
00:43
choose create catchment from object
00:45
and select the Cyan
00:47
Polyline
00:48
on the command line. It's asking you to pick a polyline for the flow path.
00:53
We don't need a flow path for this catchment
00:56
to press escape to skip this step
00:59
in the Great catchment dialogue.
01:01
We'll accept the default name
01:03
group
01:04
and styles
01:06
for the reference pipe network structure.
01:09
Use the select button
01:10
and pick the storm structure in the catchment. As shown
01:14
this should be mh nine.
01:17
The run off coefficient is an estimate of the fraction of
01:20
total rainfall in the catchment that will flow into the network.
01:24
Set this to 0.7
01:26
click. OK. To save the catchment
01:29
and press escape. To end the command,
01:32
we can now run our analysis.
01:36
Go to the analyze ribbon tab
01:38
for a comprehensive drainage analysis,
01:40
you can export the network to external applications
01:43
such as storm sewers or storm and sanitary analysis.
01:48
We're going to run a basic flow analysis in civil 3d.
01:53
Select analyze gravity network
01:56
in the drawing press enter to select the network from a list
02:01
in the select pipe network dialogue,
02:03
select the storm one network and click. OK.
02:07
There are three types of analysis that we can run.
02:11
We can analyze flows in the pipes and resize the pipes and reset the inverts.
02:17
We can calculate the energy and hydraulic rate lines
02:21
and we can analyze inlets to check capacity.
02:25
Select the 1st and 2nd options
02:28
for the outfall. It has automatically selected the head wall structure
02:32
based on the structure type.
02:35
Select hold outfall, invert
02:39
the tur water condition, calculates the water level at the outfall.
02:44
We will use elevation and leave this at zero
02:49
for rainfall data. Click on the browse button
02:53
and choose the sample fhaif file.
02:58
These are intensity duration, frequency curves
03:01
and provide rainfall information in tabular form.
03:05
Click open
03:06
now, click on the intensity table button
03:10
here you can see the tabular rainfall data.
03:13
The columns contain rainfall values in inches per hour,
03:17
split into different storm durations.
03:21
The rows indicate the probability of the storm event occurring in any given year
03:26
select the row one in five for our storm
03:30
and then click save and return.
03:33
Now click on the settings button.
03:36
Set the minimum velocity to 5 ft per second
03:40
and set the maximum velocity to 30 ft per second.
03:45
Set the minimum cover depth to 3 ft.
03:50
Set the default N value the friction coefficient for the pipe to 0.013.
03:57
The minimum crown drop
03:59
should be 0.1.
04:02
The minimum time of concentration will be 10 minutes.
04:06
This is an estimate of the time taken for runner flows to reach the network.
04:11
Click save and return.
04:14
Now click on the network details button.
04:18
This displays a summary of all of the inputs for the analysis.
04:22
Items not grayed out can be edited.
04:26
Time of concentration
04:28
has been calculated based on the catchments
04:31
note that where it is less than 10 minutes,
04:34
then the default of 10 minutes will be used.
04:38
The catchments, the catchment and areas for each structure are listed.
04:42
If there are any direct inputs into the network
04:45
such as additional branches,
04:47
these can be entered as known flows.
04:51
Click back to return to the analysis.
04:55
Now click the analyze button to run the analysis
04:59
in the results. You can see that some of the pipes are shown as flooded
05:03
and so the network has failed.
05:06
Click start over,
05:08
go back to the settings and change the minimum velocity to 3 ft per second.
05:14
Click save and return
05:16
in the outfall deselect hold outfall invert.
05:20
Now click on analyze again
05:23
this time, you can see that some pipes are surcharged.
05:27
In other words, the water level is above the crown of the pipe.
05:31
However, the manholes are not flooded.
05:34
The pipe diameter columns show the pipes that have
05:36
been re sized to handle the storm flows.
05:40
Note the items colored in red do not meet
05:42
the minimum requirements for either velocity or pipe slope.
05:48
In the top right corner, click on the profile button
05:52
and in the drawing pan to the profile viewer show and pick the view,
05:57
review the changes to the network,
06:01
press escape to return to the results.
06:05
Now click on the report button,
06:09
browse to your project reports folder
06:12
and save the report with your chosen name.
06:16
The report may take some time to save
06:21
if Excel is installed,
06:23
the report should open automatically
06:29
review the report and then close it
06:35
to commit the changes to the network.
06:37
Click apply
06:39
again, it may take some time to save the changes.
06:43
Once the changes are made, pipe network will update in the profile views,
06:49
close the analyzed dialogue.
06:53
Now you can review the pipe network in the profile view.
06:57
When you look at the profile view, youll see extra lines have been added.
07:02
The magenta line represents the energy grade line from the analysis.
07:07
The green dash line
07:09
represents the hydraulic red
07:11
line.
07:12
You can see where the hydraulic grade line
07:15
is running above the pipe indicating the pipe is surcharged.
07:20
If I select a pipe and look at the pipe properties,
07:23
you can see the information from the analysis
07:26
has been added into the pipe properties.
How to buy
Privacy | Do not sell or share my personal information | Cookie preferences | Report noncompliance | Terms of use | Legal | © 2025 Autodesk Inc. All rights reserved
Sign in for the best experience
Save your progress
Get access to courses
Receive personalized recommendations
May we collect and use your data?
Learn more about the Third Party Services we use and our Privacy Statement. May we collect and use your data to tailor your experience?
Explore the benefits of a customized experience by managing your privacy settings for this site or visit our Privacy Statement to learn more about your options.