Continue to Site

Eng-Tips is the largest engineering community on the Internet

Intelligent Work Forums for Engineering Professionals

  • Congratulations GregLocock on being selected by the Eng-Tips community for having the most helpful posts in the forums last week. Way to Go!

Low Pressure Sewer Model 2

Status
Not open for further replies.

jartgo

Civil/Environmental
Oct 20, 2005
220
I have a low pressure system that I'm about the begin design on...wondering what software would be best to use for a model. We have WaterCad but I always hesitate to use it for various reasons. I like Epanet, I know it's a water program, but it's still pumps and hydraulics, right? I also have XP-swmm....although only a 50 node version and the system will serve at least 250 homes, so I don't think I could model it with confidence using only 50 nodes. Any suggestions?
 
Replies continue below

Recommended for you

I got some free software called Low Pressure Sewer System Design Assistant 6.0 from I think you will probably have to telephone them to request the software.
 
The pump manufacture you are specifying will have software you can use. Becareful with the water programs, I have found that several of these programs will give you negitive pressures at nodes. The programs would not force pumps to pump over high points in line. I have used eones and barnes pump manufacture software and they were easy to learn and use. The pump manufacture will also simulate the system as a double check.
 
Learn WaterCad. Much more powerful and better presentation graphics. You won't be sorry.

I will second the poster who mentioned that most if not all of the modeling programs will not do a good job of catching negative pressures. The reason why is the program does not use pressure for anything. It calculates everything by using hydraulic grade lines in ft. It only presents the pressure numbers in psi as a convenience to the user.

The user has to review the output and make sure it all makes sense. If the program is not handling high spots well, add reservoirs at the high spots so the programs calculate pump heads properly.

Dan Barr, PE
Burgess and Niple
 
Try "stormnet". It has great user interface and promises to be powerful if you could understand the input proceedures.
Good luck
Teddy
 
we use sewercad for multi-pump station and forcemain analysis. Also, the last low pressure sewer we did, the manufacturer actually did the study. I beleive they used KYPIPE.
 
.

Have you tried SWMM5?

.


tsgrue: site engineering, stormwater
management, landscape design, ecosystem
rehabilitation, mathematical simulation
 
I've used SWMM5 through a proprietary interface (XPsoftware). My problem with that is I don't have a big enough node license with that. I've found in my limited past experience that the basic SWMM packages are not easy to use. Is SWMM5 more intuitive?

I'm currently investigating our firms watercad license. I'd really like to use SWMM, but don't have an oppurtunity for a big learning curve.
 
.

jthompson wrote: “I've used SWMM5 through a proprietary interface (XPsoftware). My problem with that is I don't have a big enough node license with that. I've found in my limited past experience that the basic SWMM packages are not easy to use. Is SWMM5 more intuitive? I'm currently investigating our firms watercad license. I'd really like to use SWMM, but don't have an oppurtunity for a big learning curve.”


You do not need to use a proprietary interface or any third-party software for SWMM5. It has a very good GUI (Graphical User Interface) and context-sensitive help.

SWMM5 is very straightforward to use. SWMM prior to version 5 did not have a built-in GUI. Version 5 of SWMM does have a built-in GUI and it is at least as good as several commercial GUIs. There is only one official SWMM package, which is from the USEPA.

I was recently asked to provide a presentation to various government officials on Low Impact Development (LID) stormwater management modeling/simulation using SWMM. Another consultant was there presenting on the use of a spreadsheet model. After the presentation, the other consultant commented to the group that he didn't know SWMM5 had so many features and options or was so easy to use and wondered why his firm had just spent so much money on licenses for Haestad CivilStorm. He was the primary owner/principal of the firm.

There is a very short learning curve with SWMM5. It has a built-in tutorial that guides you through the simulation process. There are many example model scenarios available for download, review, and use. This is all available for free directly from the USEPA. If you have H&H modeling experience, then you should be up, running, and productive within a couple of hours using SWMM5.

There is no node/size limit with the official SWMM5 package.

.


tsgrue: site engineering, stormwater
management, landscape design, ecosystem
rehabilitation, mathematical simulation
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Part and Inventory Search

Sponsor