Best Stormwater Modeling Software

[ECnC5280]

thread162-436176

I've used both and Hydrology Studio is by-far the best stormwater modeling software out there. IHO HydroCAD was good back in the day, during the 1990's, but it's out-of-date in terms of user-interface and it basically has little to no graphics. Here's a link to Hydrology Studio so you can compare yourself.

 

[Twinkie]

If it ain't broke....

 

[beej67]

This is the Hydraflow Hydrographs reboot, right?

If so, how does it handle variable tailwater cases? That was (and remains) the biggest reason to run screaming away from using Hydraflow Hydrographs on modern high density urban projects, or projects in flat areas.

Hydrology, Drainage Analysis, Flood Studies, and Complex Stormwater Litigation for Atlanta and the South East -

http://www.campbellcivil.com

 

[psmart]

The 1990's HydroCAD interface is a thing of the past. Although we retained the core capabilities (such as the interactive routing diagram we pioneered in 1986) the software was completely re-written in 2001 as a native Windows application. In addition to a new graphical interface, improved computing speeds and expanded memory allowed us to implement new resource-intensive operations such as dynamic tailwater. We continue to build on that time-tested platform with periodic updates - approximately two per year - continuously adding new modeling capabilities and support for new stormwater products.


Peter Smart
HydroCAD Software

http://www.hydrocad.net

 

[GeoEnvGuy]

What's wrong with free, Epa swmm or HEC HMS

The first stage of site investigation is desktop and it informs the engineer of the anticipated subsurface conditions. By precluding the site investigation the design engineer cannot accept any responsibility for providing a safe and economical design.

 

[beej67]

What's wrong with free, Epa swmm or HEC HMS

I think both of these softwares have their place, but neither is time effective for typical site hydrology design in land development projects, for many areas of the country. HMS lacks certain hydraulic functionality, and SWMM is too complicated and unfamiliar users might be more prone to modeling errors. While both can perform the task, developing the sorts of results output many municipalities like to see has to be done by hand, and information must be extracted from the models in procedures that are time consuming and unwieldy. For projects such as pre/post analysis for land development, HydroCAD, Hydraflow Hydrographs (in Civil3d), and Hydrology Studio all outshine HMS or SWMM.

You can't beat the price though, so if you're not doing these tasks regularly, HMS or SWMM may be a completely valid option.



Hydrology, Drainage Analysis, Flood Studies, and Complex Stormwater Litigation for Atlanta and the South East -

http://www.campbellcivil.com

 

[Twinkie]

UnnamedStateDEP made us redo our SWMM model in HydroCAD because they couldn't understand SWMM.

 

[beej67]

I ran into that a lot with XP-SWMM models. Would get comments like "show me the calculations." So I'd include a stack of text routing output 80 pages thick, and they'd respond with, "no I meant show me a stack of all the hydrographs." Which is very difficult to generate for a XP-SWMM model.



Hydrology, Drainage Analysis, Flood Studies, and Complex Stormwater Litigation for Atlanta and the South East -

http://www.campbellcivil.com