Analysis and Design of Gravity and Pressure Networks

Complex sewerage systems consisting of multiple gravity and pressure parts are very common in areas where terrain configuration doesn’t allow us to have gravity networks only (e.g. flat areas, hilly areas, etc.) and especially in areas where terrain configuration changes constantly. If terrain is too flat or have opposite slope than flow direction, completely gravitational network is not a good solution because pipes would have to go too deep to achieve the minimum necessary slope. The best solution for these types of terrain configuration is combination of gravity and pressure networks.

In the next few sections I will show you how these types of sewerage systems can be analyzed with Urbano Canalis software by StudioARS company. Urbano Canalis is BIM ready software that is used for detailed design, analysis and calculations of various pipe infrastructure systems (sewerage – including gravity, pressure and vacuum, water supply and oil/gas). See more in the video below:

In Urbano Canalis there is no topology difference between gravity and pressure parts of sewerage system. You don’t have to create separate networks to have different system types in your project. Some of the benefits of using Urbano Canalis for analysis and design of complex sewerage systems include:

1. Data tables and Selection Sets. Any network data can be previewed in flexible data tables where you can sort, search and filter by any data. Various selection (or search) sets can also be created using the same data.
2. Styles. Urbano offers application of different plan styles. Styles offer the possibility to define the visual style for your network elements – sections (pipes) and nodes (structures). By using different styles, you can visually separate different parts of your network (e.g. gravity and pressure).
3. Profiles. You can draw profiles in many different ways – for each channel/pipeline or from node to node (structure to structure) in any direction, which means that you can draw one profile through multiple gravity and pressure parts of the network. Any network data can be shown in profile table.
4. Automatic Invert Definition. Urbano Canalis offers automatic invert definition functionality according to user defined rules. The rules are based on min. and max. slope, min. and max. invert depth, min. and max. drop values, etc. According to these rules, software can very quickly calculate the optimal solution and draw pipe invert for the whole gravity part of the network. Defining pipe invert for pressure network is not that difficult, as pipe invert can follow the terrain, so we can define a constant depth. We can also edit it interactively with one of the many functions for pipe invert editing, directly in profiles or using data tables (e.g. straighten it to have constant slope).
5. Flow Calculation. Flows can be defined in many different ways for storm and sanitary sewerage systems according to various national standards. Flows through pressure pipelines can be calculated (transit flow through the pipeline from the previous parts of the network) or inputted directly to the pressure pipeline.
6. Hydraulic Calculation. Urbano Canalis offers hydraulic calculation (including pipe sizing if the pipes are not set yet) according to defined flows for both gravity and pressure parts of the network. When calculation is done, the end result is completely defined sewerage system in plan and profiles. The model is completely dynamic so all the styles, labels and profiles will automatically update with calculated results. Beside pipe diameters, all hydraulic values are also calculated (velocities, filling heights, filling percentages, flow times, etc.). For pressure parts of the network, Urbano Canalis also calculates all the linear (major) and local (minor) losses and all the manometric heights that are necessary for sizing the pumping stations.
7. Reporting. The end result is also complete hydraulic report that can easily be copied to Excel and added to your project. All the table configurations are completely customizable so any data can be renamed, added or removed.

In conclusion, Urbano Canalis is great application for fast and easy analysis of complex sewerage systems that consist of multiple gravity and pressure parts. By using Urbano, you can determine optimal solution for pipe invert which will result in different system types (gravity/pressure). By optimizing pipe invert, you can minimize your expenses and reduce the project cost. At the end, you can produce detailed designs and quick informative reports ready for inclusion in your project.

Urbano Canalis works on Autodesk AutoCAD, Map3D and Civil3D 2015-2019.

To watch more videos about Urbano Canalis please go here.

To watch more videos about Urbano software please go to our official YouTube channel.

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