UDF Program and Hydrant Connectivity using WaterGEMs

Question

Hi, 
 
 I'm looking to create a UDF program with an existing hydraulic model. The problem I'm encountering is that the hydrants and laterals were not physically connected in GIS so when importing the elements into the model, the hydrants are not connected to the system. From an asset management perspective, it may not make sense to split pipes at hydrant taps, so I'm trying to develop the best way to incorporate the locations of the hydrants into the UDF analysis. What you recommend as the best solution to ensure that I maintain a 1 to 1 relationship with GIS? Here is some of my thought process: 
 
 1.) Splitting the pipes in WaterGEMs may affect model updates from GIS and break the 1 to 1 relationship 
 2.) Would creating a selection set of connected junctions nearest to my hydrants be a good option, assuming the location of isolation valves is not compromised by the 'moving' of the hydrant? 
 3.) Is there a way to associate a hydrant with a pipe, similar to how an isolation valve is associated with a pipe, thereby removing the need to split pipes in the model? 
 
 Thanks! 
 
 Mike

Scott Kampa · Answer

Hello Michael, 
 
There are plans to include a feature like what you are looking for in the next release of WaterGEMS and WaterCAD. When this feature is available, the hydrant would attach to the pipe with a lateral element and not split the pipe. 
 
There is a workaround for this. You can include the hydrants in the model as customer meter elements. Customer meters can be connected to pipes using taps and laterals in the current release of WaterGEMS (WaterGEMS CONNECT Edition). Taps and laterals will connect to a pipe without splitting it, allowing you to retain the 1:1 relationship with the GIS source file. 
 
I will send you a private message to get your contact information. That way I can create a service request and link the enhancement to it, and you will receive a message when the enhancement is included in WaterGEMS. 
 
Thanks, 
Scott

Jesse Dringoli · Answer

Michael, your option #2 might also work in the meantime. You could create a pipe prototype with the properties for your hydrant laterals, then connect a pipe between the imported hydrants and the nearest junction.

Regards,

Jesse Dringoli
Technical Support Manager, OpenFlows
Bentley Communities Site Administrator
Bentley Systems, Inc.

Jesse Dringoli · Answer

Just to clarify - if you go with option #2, your comment about isolation valves is indeed important. With a flushing study, location of valves (that may be closed off) can be important, so be sure to consider this 
 After reading your original message again, I'm now not quite certain if the lateral pipes are included in the GIS or not. Are you saying that the hydrants are floating on their own with no lateral polyline represented in the GIS, or that the lateral lines are there but just not "snapped" to the main line at a point/junction? 
 For the latter, one possible solution would be to use the GIS-ID feature to import the main pipes (excluding hydrant laterals) first, then do a separate Modelbuilder run to import the lateral pipes. With the option set to create nodes at pipe endpoints if none found, it will create a junction at the end of the lateral, overlapping (but not connected to) the main pipe. You could then run the batch pipe split tool to split the main pipe and attach the junction. With the use of the GIS-ID feature, the same underlying GIS-ID will be used for the two resulting pipes (from the split) that represent the single pipe in the GIS. Here are some related articles that may help on that subject: 
 Building A Model Using ModelBuilder 
 How to populate or update an existing model with GIS-IDs 
 Junctions appear to overlay a pipe instead of connecting to it