Two interoperable interfaces: Stand-alone and AutoCAD

SewerCAD is available in two compatible and interoperable interfaces: Stand-alone and AutoCAD. Regardless of the platform used, SewerCAD users can collaborate maintaining a single set of modeling files for true interoperability across platforms.

The stand-alone interface provides a straight-forward environment for new and experienced modelers with a wealth of productivity tools that facilitate model building, review, and data editing workflows:

• Choose between a scaled or schematic environment, or both
• Display scaled background layers as a convenient drawing aid
• Lay out with confidence with unlimited undo and redo
• Split pipes, morph elements, and reconnect pipes on the fly
• Set up element prototypes to streamline data entry
• Navigate your model with aerial viewing and dynamic zoom

The AutoCAD interface is ideal for users that are familiar with Autodesk’s CAD environment:

• Snapping, layer management and every other AutoCAD feature becomes a SewerCAD feature!
• Leverage your AutoCAD skills to build SewerCAD models in a familiar environment.
• Use AutoCAD drafting tools to lay out your SewerCAD model with engineering precision. 
• Enjoy 100 percent compatibility between AutoCAD-based and stand-alone SewerCAD models.
• Land Development Desktop data import

Layout, Model Building, and Data Management

Simplify data input, shorten workflows, and streamline your model building and editing process with a wealth of productivity tools:

• Set up element prototypes to streamline data entry
• Use SewerCAD’s customizable engineering libraries for extreme flow factors, section size, material properties, minor losses, and unit-sanitary (dry-weather) loads
• Enter information once, and use it many times with SewerCAD’s engineering libraries
• Build and share your own engineering attribute libraries
• Automatic engineering unit conversion and customizable display precision
• Use flexible tabular reports with global editing and persistent attribute filtering
• Leverage scaled background layers as a drawing reference
• Let SewerCAD automatically enter pipe lengths when working in scaled mode.
• Design your sewer system with confidence with unlimited undo and redo
• Automatic element labeling system
• Split pipes, morph elements, and reconnect pipes on the fly
• Discover topological and connectivity issues and fix them instantly
• Polyline-to-pipe conversion from DXF and DWG files
• Spreadsheet, database, shapefile, and ODBC connections

Comprehensive Scenario Management

SewerCAD’s Scenario Management Center gives engineers full control to configure, run, evaluate, visualize, and compare an unlimited number of what-if scenarios within a single file. Sound decision-making for your sanitary sewer system requires the consideration of multiple engineering scenarios, such as:

• Rehabilitation alternatives for multiple planning horizons
• Pump control strategies for energy-saving operation
• Sewer design approaches with varying peak flow methods
• Overflow scenarios with varying future wastewater flows

Interoperability and Data Connections

SewerCAD allows you to connect with virtually any data source to jumpstart your model building process and maintain your modeling data synchronized with your CAD, GIS, and other data sources.

• Maintain bidirectional connections with shapefiles, databases, and spreadsheets
• Connect with virtually any type of database including ODBC connections
• Automatically create hydraulically coherent models from your existing CAD drawings
• Enjoy a single set of model files for two interoperable interfaces
• Polyline-to-pipe conversion from DXF and DWG files
• Navigate your network to discover topological and connectivity issues
• Find and fix orphaned nodes and dead-end pipes resulting from inconsistent source data

Gravity and Pressure Hydraulics

Engineers can analyze pressure or free surface flow conditions using a robust, gradually varied, standard-step algorithm for solving for subcritical, critical, supercritical conditions, and complex composite profiles. Unlike many gravity flow models, SewerCAD can also model pumps, force mains, and pressure sewers:

• Analyze pressure or free surface flow conditions
• Solve subcritical, critical, supercritical conditions, and complex composite profiles
• Steady-state analysis for extreme flow conditions
• Use SewerCAD's automated design features to find cost-effective sewer designs
• Extended period simulations (EPS)
• Analyze and visualize how the system behaves over time
• Animate results through time to locate hydraulic jumps and surcharging sections
• Use common friction methods like Manning, Kutter, Darcy-Weisbach, and Hazen-Williams
• Calculate structure headloss with a variety of methods including FHWA, HEC-22, and AASHTO
• Analyze flow profiles with capacity and backwater analysis methods
• Simulate real-time controls, turn pumps on and off with customizable controls
• Diversion simulation

Loading, Infiltration and Inflow

Flexible sanitary loading features help you to accurately estimate dry and wet weather contributions to the collection system:

• Dry-weather load assignment using hydrographs, unit loads, and pattern-based loads
• Customizable service area, count, total dry weather discharge, and contributing population based unit sanitary loading library
• Pipe length, diameter, surface area, length-diameter, or user-defined infiltration load type
• Manage and use multiple flow hydrographs for Extended Period Simulations
• Select from pre-defined extreme flow factor methods including Babbit, Harmon, Ten State, and Federov’s, or implement your own

Construction Profiles and Results Presentation

System profiles are just a couple of clicks away. Visualize potential bottlenecks and performance improvement opportunities.  SewerCAD offers a complete range of presentation and visualization tools to understand and present results:

• Build profiles through both gravity and pressure sections
• Animated 3D graphs and profiles
• Animate hydraulic grade lines and annotation
• Customize annotation, fonts, colors, layers, and placement
• Save and recall profiles to avoid recreating them from scratch
• Create templates with your specific design requirements
• Dynamic, multi-parameter, and multi-scenario graphing
• Advanced tabular reporting with FlexTables
• Analyze tabular data with full unit control, built-in filtering, sorting, and statistical analysis
• Use property-based color coding and text annotation
• Visualize overflow locations, diameters, hydraulic gradients, and any other input, calculated or user-defined attribute
• Create diversion network maps
• Automatic project inventory reports
• Build customized reports for each modeling scenario
• Element report and graphs
• Customizable hydrograph graphs

Automatic Design and Cost Analysis

The constraint-based design features in SewerCAD allow modelers to automatically design gravity piping and structures. SewerCAD’s Capital Cost Manager helps users to calculate a planning level estimate of the capital costs associated with an entire system or any portion of a system. This makes it easy to compare the costs associated with various scenarios, thus helping to ensure that the most cost-effective design is chosen:

• Automatically design an entirely new network, or sections of an existing one
• Enter your design restrictions globally or individually for each element
• Minimum and maximum velocities, covers, and slopes
• Pipe and manhole matching offsets
• Allow (or not) drop structures
• Automatically determine cost-effective pipe sizes and invert elevations
• Avoiding unnecessary pipe trench excavation
• Assess capital costs associated with the collection and pumping systems
• Specialized-cost reports
• Capital cost analysis with unit cost management